1. The Start and Stage Division of Water based Industrial Paint in the Chinese Market
Sprout exploration period (1980-2014, conceptual stage, small-scale pilot)
Domestic laboratory research on water-based resins began in the 1960s, but the true commercialization of water-based industrial paints began in the 1980s.
In the early days, only electrophoretic paint (automotive primer) was industrialized and belonged to a special water-based system; Metal anti-corrosion, steel structure, and general water-based industrial paint for engineering machinery are almost blank.
Starting from the 1990s, overseas water-based acrylic acid and water-based epoxy technologies were introduced; Foreign investment (BASF, AkzoNobel) took the lead in layout, while domestic enterprises mainly focused on tracking research and development.
Core pain points: resin dependence on imports, poor salt spray resistance of paint films, slow drying, narrow construction windows, and extremely high costs; The market generally forms a stereotype that ‘water-based performance is far inferior to oil-based’.
Promotion features: There are no mandatory environmental protection policies, only a few foreign-funded car companies and high-end equipment enterprises are conducting small-scale trials, with an overall penetration rate of less than 5%. The industry considers water-based industrial paint as an alternative solution.
Policy driven start-up period (2015-2019, the wave of oil to water conversion began)
Turning point: With the implementation of the new Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law, VOCs have officially been included in statutory supervision. The Blue Sky Defense Campaign and the Comprehensive VOC Management Plan for Key Industries have been implemented. The Beijing Tianjin Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, and Pearl River Delta regions have begun to restrict high VOC solvent based industrial coatings.
In 2008, Shanghai General Motors built the first water-based coating line for vehicles in China, marking the beginning of water-based coating in the automotive industry;
The container, furniture, and construction machinery industries have been listed as key VOC control industries, forcing factories to start experimenting with water-based industrial paint replacement;
Local paint enterprises (Zhanchen, Sankeshu, Huayi, etc.) increase the independent research and development of water-based epoxy and water-based acrylic lotion; The upstream water-based resin and additive industry chain has taken initial shape. Characteristics of this stage: passive transformation is predominant, many enterprises have only scratched the surface, and a large number of “pseudo water-based” products are circulating in the market.
Comprehensive high-speed development period (from 2020 to present, i.e. in recent years, large-scale substitution)
The “14th Five Year Plan” VOC emission reduction target, the new mandatory national standard for industrial coatings GB 30981, environmental protection tax, and solvent based coating consumption tax are combined with multiple policies; With the breakthrough in the localization of upstream raw materials, water-based industrial paint has shifted from an “optional solution” to a mainstream compliant solution.
2. Core development achievements of water-based industrial paint in the past five years (2021-2026)
(1) Rapid increase in market size and penetration rate
The overall industrial coatings market in China is approximately 11.5 million tons per year; The proportion of water-based industrial paint will increase from 35% in 2021 to 52% in 2025;
1. Segmentation and implementation in specific fields:
- Passenger car OEM: water-based primer and intermediate coat>90%;
- Container industry: basically completed comprehensive oil to water conversion;
- The water-based conversion rate of furniture, woodworking, and engineering machinery has exceeded 60%;
- Large scale popularization of steel structure anti-corrosion, wind power tower, and water-based solutions for agricultural machinery and equipment;
2. Changes in market pattern: The monopoly of foreign investment in the high-end market has been broken, and local water-based industrial paint has occupied the mid to low end market, and continues to break through to the high-performance anti-corrosion track.
(2) Significant breakthrough in domestication of upstream industrial chain (most critical achievement)
Corresponding to the acrylic lotion and water-based auxiliary system that you have paid attention to for a long time:
- 1. Waterborne acrylic lotion, waterborne epoxy dispersion, and waterborne PU resin are mature in localization, leaving the dependence on imports completely; Domestic styrene acrylic, pure acrylic and self crosslinking lotion are widely used in anti-corrosion, fire prevention and industrial finishing paint;
- 2. The domestic substitution of water-based supporting additives such as wetting and dispersing agents, defoamers, film-forming aids, pH adjusters, etc. is accelerating, and the comprehensive cost of raw materials continues to decline;
- 3. Complete supporting process materials: water-based anti rust pigments, chromium free passivation solution, and a complete water-based sealing primer system.
(3) Complete technical performance and narrow the gap with oil-based paint
- 1. Two component waterborne epoxy and waterborne polyurethane anti-corrosion system, with salt spray resistance of up to 800-1500 hours, meeting the anti-corrosion requirements of most steel structures and equipment;
- 2. Mass production of low-temperature curing and fast drying water-based industrial paint to solve the pain points of high energy consumption during winter construction and baking in northern China;
- 3. More diversified system: single component water-based acrylic acid, two-component PU, water-based alkyd, water-based fireproof coating, water-based coil coating continue to mature;
- 4. Standardization of construction plan: temperature and humidity control, substrate treatment, recoating interval, flash evaporation process to form mature construction specifications.
(4) Complete standard system and standardized industry
GB 30981.2-2025 (implemented in June 2026) tightens VOC limits for industrial coatings; The Technical Requirements for Low VOC Coating Products and the emission standards for industrial coatings in various regions have been updated one after another, distinguishing between true and false water, and curbing the proliferation of high solvent “false water paint”.
(5) Mature supporting equipment
The popularization of water-based specialized spray guns, dehumidification and drying spray rooms, wastewater circulation treatment systems, water-based paint centralized supply equipment, and standardization of coating production line renovation plans.
3. Environmental changes caused by paint to water paint (oil to water)
Important premise: Water based paint ≠ zero pollution, only significantly reducing pollutants at the source. There are still a small amount of film-forming agents evaporating and coating wastewater problems, but compared to solvent based paint, it achieves a reduction in order of magnitude.
1. Air pollution: Significant reduction of VOCs, improvement of ozone and haze pollution
- Data comparison: Traditional solvent based industrial paints generally have VOCs ranging from 450-800 g/L; Most qualified water-based industrial paints have VOCs<50 g/L; After completing the source substitution, the VOC emissions from the painting process decreased by 75% to 90%.
- Fundamental improvement of pollutant structure: Oil paint emits a large amount of benzene, toluene, xylene, and heavy aromatic hydrocarbons (toxic aromatic hydrocarbons, high carcinogenic and high ozone generation potential); The volatile compounds of water-based paint are mainly composed of water and a small amount of alcohol ether film-forming agents, and aromatic hydrocarbons are basically eliminated. The potential for photochemical ozone generation is significantly reduced;
- Regional governance effectiveness: Monitoring of furniture clusters (Nankang, Jiangxi, Wuyi, Hebei) and engineering machinery industrial parks shows that the concentration of unorganized waste gas in the comprehensive oil to water conversion park has decreased by more than 80%, and the odor in the spraying area has been basically eliminated.
2. Occupational health (the most intuitive change in the micro environment of the workshop)
- Oil painting workshop: Strong irritant odor, long-term exposure can easily cause leukemia, respiratory diseases, skin poisoning, and high occupational disease risk;
- Water based system workshop: significantly reduced odor, basic elimination of exposure risk to benzene based substances, and significant reduction in occupational hazards for frontline spray painting workers; Reduce the risk of occupational disease prevention and control in enterprises.
3. Reduced fire safety risks
Solvent based paints and diluents belong to Class A flammable liquids, and explosions and fires occur frequently in spraying workshops; Water based paint is non flammable, significantly reducing fire safety hazards in painting enterprises and minimizing secondary pollution caused by fires.
4. Dialectical analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of waste and water and soil environment
Conclusion: Oil to water conversion achieves the transformation of pollutants from “high-risk atmosphere+high-risk hazardous waste” to controllable wastewater pollution, significantly reducing the difficulty of treatment and environmental risk levels.
4. The comprehensive value impact of oil to water conversion (environmental value, economic value, industrial value)
(1) Ecological environment value (top-level value)
- Assist in reducing the total VOC emissions nationwide, supporting the blue sky defense campaign, ozone pollution prevention and control, and dual carbon goals;
- Reduce the migration of persistent toxic pollutants such as aromatic hydrocarbons into the atmosphere and soil circulation;
- Reduce environmental risks throughout the entire chain of transportation, storage, and use of large quantities of hazardous chemicals.
(2) Enterprise side economic value (duality)
- Avoid the risks of high environmental fines, daily fines, and production restrictions and shutdowns;
- The cost of hazardous waste disposal has significantly decreased (the amount of waste solvents generated has sharply decreased);
- Some regions provide subsidies for production line technological upgrades and green factory policies;
- Green products are more likely to enter large state-owned enterprises, infrastructure, and new energy supply chains (low VOC water-based coatings are generally required for bidding of wind power, photovoltaic, and energy storage equipment).
- The unit price of raw materials for water-based coatings in the initial stage is higher than that of oil-based paints with the same properties;
- The spraying plant needs to add dehumidification and heating equipment, and the one-time production line renovation requires high investment;
- Workers need to retrain their construction techniques, as poor paint film and rework may occur during the transition period.
(3) The value of domestic industries in the industrial chain (the most important long-term transformation)
- Backward force domestic R&D investment in water-based resins, lotion and additives, get rid of foreign monopoly on high-end paint raw materials, and form an independent chemical industry chain (directly related to the track of acrylic lotion, dispersants, defoamers, etc. you are concerned about);
- Promote the coating industry to shift from simply “manufacturing and selling coatings” to integrated technical services of coatings and coating processes;
- Eliminate a large number of small and outdated coating factories that rely on low-priced and low-quality solvent based products for survival, promote industry supply side clearance, and increase industry concentration.
(4) Social Value
- Reduce the incidence of occupational diseases among frontline workers in the manufacturing industry;
- Promote the popularization of green manufacturing concepts throughout society;
- Enhance the green export competitiveness of domestic equipment, engineering machinery, and steel structure products, and meet the increasingly strict overseas environmental regulations of the European Union and Southeast Asia (many overseas countries restrict the import of high VOC oily products).
5. Objective Existing Industry Challenges (Complete Perspective Reference)
- 1. There is still a gap in performance under extreme working conditions: long-term heavy-duty anti-corrosion, underwater equipment, ultra-low temperature outdoor scenarios, high-end water-based systems still have shortcomings compared to top-level solvent based polyurethane/fluorocarbon;
- 2. Construction in low-temperature and high humidity environments in the north is still limited;
- 3. The market is flooded with low-priced and low-quality “pseudo water-based paint” (adding a large amount of organic solvents to reduce costs, which cannot achieve true emission reduction);
- 4. The treatment of painting wastewater has become a new focus of environmental control, and many enterprises only attach importance to exhaust gas and ignore wastewater treatment.
6. Brief Summary
Water based industrial paint has gone through more than 30 years of development in China, from laboratory research and development, foreign pilot projects, policy pressure, to the large-scale implementation of independent technology; In recent five years, relying on the localization of upstream lotion and resin, explosive substitution has been welcomed. ‘Paint to water paint’ is not just about replacing materials: achieving a reduction in pollutant levels at the environmental level, significantly reducing the risk of toxic substances and hazardous waste in the atmosphere; At the industrial level, the emergence of a complete upstream and downstream new material industry chain for waterborne acrylic acid and waterborne epoxy; In the long run, it is the core transformation path for China’s coating manufacturing industry to move towards green and low-carbon, and to achieve independent and controllable chemical new materials.
Post time: Jul-31-2026