Food and beverage processing plants require coating systems that can withstand aggressive environments and provide exceptional durability. In the case of Upstate Farms in Buffalo, New York, Tnemec worked very closely with the painting contractor to fine-tune the application of the coating system specified to be used within the new milk processing plant.
“The Tnemec coating system selected required the use of a heavy-duty spray pump to apply the material, which can be quite a handful,” explained Tnemec coating consultant Dan Fricano. “The contractor had not used this special equipment before, so a Tnemec technical service representative from Kansas City, Missouri, actually came out and trained them in their shop prior to the beginning of construction.”
Protective coatings were specified for the 57,500 square feet of interior concrete block and precast concrete areas of the facility. Series 130 Envirofill, a waterborne cementitious acrylic block filler, was roller-applied to fill the concrete block, followed by a spray-applied and backrolled bonding prime coat of Series 201 Epoxoprime, a high-solids moisture tolerant epoxy.
Series 270 Stranlok, a fiberglass-reinforced 100% solids epoxy, was then spray-applied to the concrete block using the heavy-duty spray pump in a two-pass high-build application, followed by a spray-applied and backrolled intermediate coat of Series 280 Tneme-Glaze, a modified polyamine epoxy. Lastly, Series 290 CRU, an extremely hard, chemical-resistant urethane coating providing excellent gloss retention and resistance to abrasion and washdown conditions, was applied to the concrete block as the finish coat.
The precast concrete areas were brush-blasted and protected by the same coating system as the concrete block minus Series 130. After Series 201 was spray applied and backrolled, Series 270 was spray-applied followed by one coat each of Series 280 and Series 290, both spray-applied and backrolled.
“This monolithic coating system is a big thing for food plants,” noted Fricano. “The finish is smooth and impervious, and they don’t have to worry about impact, chemicals or cleaning. The contractor did a terrific job with the application.”