Pretreatment suppliers explore the industrial and agricultural markets for phosphorus-free solutions.

This modular snowplow from Arctic Products is pre-processed by Circle-Prosco's Steelcote and processed on a production line built by American Industrial Systems. Image source: Arctic Products

When you have an effective process, you usually have the opportunity to prove that it may also be beneficial to others. This simple concept has guided a pretreatment supplier and finisher based in Indiana on a 50-year path of expansion and success. When Circle-Prosco (Bloomington, Indiana) began to use large amounts of aluminum in the automotive heat exchange industry, the industry began to use large amounts of aluminum, which prompted the company to subsequently develop into the fixed HVAC field. In 2003, the company introduced a professional internal coating, and then became a pretreatment supplier and finisher.

"We have introduced some aluminum pretreatment agents and developed them for steel applications, and have been vigorously developing them in the past few years," explained owner and president Douglas Parker.

Various iterations of Circle-Prosco's Steelcote zirconium-based phosphate-free pretreatment have existed for more than 20 years. In fact, the early version of this product is one of the first products in the country to get involved in zirconium technology.

Steelcote aims to provide paint adhesion and corrosion resistance without the sludge or hazardous waste of traditional phosphate systems. It includes a simple 4-stage process that reduces water and energy consumption, as well as bathtub maintenance.

All components of Circle-Prosco's 4-stage Steelcote process are phosphate-free. Image source: Arctic Products

Parker stated that Steelcote is not a typical representative of some zirconium products on the market. He said that most of them still contain phosphates and have not completely solved the environmental problems related to phosphates in wastewater. At the same time, Steelcote is reported to provide zinc phosphate-type properties, and its process has the simplicity of iron phosphate pretreatment-but no phosphate.

As Circle-Prosco continues to improve and expand its products, it recognizes the potential of other markets.

 "We have the ability to repetitively and robustly run high-volume pretreatment processes with low cost and high performance," Parker said.

The company has turned its attention to the industrial, agricultural and construction markets and has been working with a major paint manufacturer to obtain AAMA 2605 certification. Circle-Prosco's senior sales representative Erik Reinhart said: "We have passed these specifications with our zirconium system, and we are capable of meeting these requirements."

From a performance point of view, Reinhart stated that the company’s phosphate-free solution actually achieves better results than iron phosphate. The results are similar to zinc but more consistent, providing uniform results with no peaks and valleys in coating weight. .

"This is largely related to the ease of use of our system," he said. "It's much easier to maintain."

Steelcote takes simplicity as its design concept. The zirconium bath is durable, which means that whenever it starts to exceed specifications, it is easy to bring it back into range. Another advantage of this system is that it reduces the sludge normally produced by systems based on zinc phosphate and iron phosphate.

"This sludge caused an operational nightmare," Reinhardt said. "The nozzle may be clogged and clogged with sludge. You must have special equipment to remove it to keep the water tank running and running normally."

On an intuitive level, the company knows that it has something to help others. At the same time, Circle-Prosco is a humble company with many people wearing many hats. In order for the company to introduce products to new markets, it makes sense to seek additional guidance from experts already working in these areas.

Darren Howard does not boast that he is a master of finishing. He has extensive experience in long-term management of the paint business for companies such as General Motors and John Deere. He took a look at Circle-Prosco's Steelcote process and recognized the possibilities of the construction and agricultural markets.

Howard joined the Circle-Prosco team in June 2021 because he was excited about the simplicity and performance of Steelcote, and excited about using it for industrial and agricultural applications.

"From the end user's point of view, the zirconium bath is very durable," he explained. "Based on my experience with running iron or zinc phosphate baths, if it is out of specification, I will have to dump the bath and start over. Steelcote makes it easier to bring it back into range without having to lose the entire bath."

According to Howard, it all boils down to performance and corrosion resistance. Of course, this demand is largely driven by the hard work required by agricultural equipment, but it is more than that.

"When people think of agriculture, they don't realize that there are several reasons why farmers really care about performance," he said.

He went on to explain that the equipment not only needs to get the job done, it also needs to maintain its value. Larger agricultural companies will buy agricultural equipment and use it for a year, then sell it to medium farmers who may use it for a few years, and then sell it to smaller farmers (think 1,200 acres). Each of these owners used their equipment for painting in harsh environments because of the exposure of chemicals to pesticides, anhydrous materials, and fertilizers. In short, the resale value of agricultural equipment is part of the industry's operations, and there is no room for rusty barrels.

In addition to performance, an important consideration in the agricultural sector is to protect the environment. In terms of regulations, especially in the agricultural market, phosphate is subject to more and more scrutiny, and restriction of phosphate is the primary issue. 

There are many pretreatment chemicals on the market, and the success of a product requires many factors: it needs to provide high-quality results, it needs to comply with environmental, health and safety regulations, and it needs to be easy to use. According to Reinhart, the beauty of the Circle-Prosco system is its simplicity. He summarized it as follows: "From an environmental point of view, there is no phosphate, which reduces sludge and reduces the number of stages required to process materials."

This easy-to-use method seems to be similar to Circle-Prosco's simple growth strategy.

"We have this technical focus and hope that others can benefit from it," Parker said. "We only roll it out to one customer at a time."

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