How Stort can help with new diisocyanate regulations

Last year, we wrote about the changes made to isocyanate regulations in September 2021. These regulations outlined training requirements for all professional and industrial users of polyurethane products with a total monomeric diisocyanate concentration over 0.1%. As of 24^th August 2023, these regulations will be in force and training certificates will be required!

However, there is an alternative. Sapici’s innovative Polurgreen offers excellent polyurethane performance whilst keeping diisocyanate levels below 0.1% and removing the need for training and new labelling.

Why Diisocyanates?

Diisocyanates are a key ingredient in the production of polyurethane foams, coatings, adhesives and more. It is highly reactive, making it preferrable for industrial applications, but can also cause issues. In 2019, it is thought that >5,000 cases of occupational asthma were caused by diisocyanate exposure in Europe alone. Aside from this, they can also cause skin and respiratory irritation and allergies through roller/brush and spray applications. The aim of the new training requirements is to minimise these adverse health effects along the entire supply chain.

Training vs Polurgreen

From 24^th August 2023, training certificates will be required for all professional and industrial users of polyurethane. Although these certificates should be relatively low cost and last 5 years this can present difficulties.

For example, monitoring training of staff can be difficult should you have a high staff turnover or use temporary employees. More obviously, training costs money and time and following new regulations, customers may deem these systems “outdated”.

Polurgreen offers an opportunity to update and potentially improve your formulations! With a diisocyanate concentration of less than 0.1% available in TDI, HDI or MDI types, no training will be required to use producers will not need to add a training warning to the labels. The below table shows the standard levels of diisocyanates vs Sapici’s Polurgreen.

For further information, please contact our sales team who will be happy to help you make the switch to ultra-low free monomer Polurgreen!