Automotive & Industrial Finishing · Ohio, Surrounding States & Beyond

Paint Detackification Programs.

Kill the paint overspray before it fouls your booth. Detackifier chemistry matched to your paint, flocculants that consolidate the sludge, and foam control that keeps the system stable between cleanouts.

Schedule Complimentary Plant Survey Call 24/7: (937) 519-2572
Chemical Engineer-Led · Since 1998
Industrial & Commercial clients across Ohio, surrounding states & beyond
AP Tech · Advantage Controls partners
American-Owned & Operated · Urbana, Ohio
Paint booth sludge pit, with the recirculating booth water below the service grating
Paint Detackification

Sticky Overspray Shuts Paint Booths Down

Every part you spray sends overspray into the booth water, and depending on the booth and the part, that can be 20 to 70 percent of the paint you spray. Untreated, it stays sticky: it plates out on the pit, plugs pumps and screens, feeds foam, and turns cleanouts into full production stops.

A detackification program kills the paint the moment it hits the water. We match the chemistry to the paint you spray, solvent-borne or waterborne, then run the flocculant, foam control, and water balance that keep the booth running between scheduled cleanouts.

Who It's For

If It Gets Painted, the Booth Has This Problem

Any plant that wet-sprays parts is fighting the same sticky overspray, whatever the part is.

Auto & Truck Assembly

Body and paint lines for cars, heavy trucks and buses.

Auto Parts Suppliers

Mirrors, wheels, bumpers, hoods and every painted part that ships to an assembly plant.

Plastics & Fascia

Painted plastic fascia, bumper covers and trim.

Heavy Equipment & Ag

Construction and agricultural equipment, forklifts and the parts that go on them.

Motorcycles, Boats & Buses

Frames, hulls and bodies coming off a wet paint line.

Consumer Products

Lawn mowers, furniture, cabinets and anything else that comes off a paint line.

What Good Looks Like

The Numbers a Booth Program Has to Hit

A detack program either holds these or it does not. We run to them and report against them.

  • Booth water under 100 ppm suspended solids

    Water going back to the booth has to be clean enough that it stops re-depositing paint on the pit, the screens and the piping.

  • Sludge out above 45% solids

    Drier sludge is fewer bags, lighter hauls and a smaller disposal bill for the same amount of paint sprayed.

  • Lower total cost of operation

    Mechanical, operational, chemical. Chemistry is one lever of three, and we look at the equipment and the way the booth is run before reaching for another drum.

The Booth Water Loop

From Overspray to Clean, Recirculating Water

Paint killed on contact, solids consolidated and removed, and booth water that keeps recirculating clean.

Overspray Paint hits booth water Detackify Paint killed on contact Flocculate Dead paint gathers Sludge Out Drier, easier to haul Clean Recirculation Booth keeps running
In a Running System

What a Working Detack Program Looks Like

Photos from running paint systems, from the pit to the bag.

Palin unit used to remove paint solids from booth water
A Palin unit. Treated paint solids float to the top and a timed scraper pulls them off into bags.
Floated paint solids in a Palin unit under the scraper
Paint solids floating in the Palin, ready for the scraper.
Clean water spilling over the Palin unit overflow
Clean water coming off the Palin, headed back to the pit.
Dewatering bags collecting paint solids under a Palin unit
Dewatering bags draining the collected solids.
Dried paint solids in a collection bag
Dried paint solids. The drier they get, the less you pay to haul them.
What's Included

What a Detackification Program Covers

Built around your booth, your paint, and your production schedule.

Detackifier Chemistry Matched to Your Paint

Solvent-borne and waterborne paints kill differently. We test with the paint you actually spray and run the detackifier that works on it.

Flocculants for Sludge Consolidation

Once the paint is dead, the right flocculant gathers the paint solids into a sludge you can actually collect, instead of a haze that circulates forever.

Foam & Defoamer Control

Recirculating booth water wants to foam. We run the defoamer program that keeps it down without upsetting the detackifier.

Booth Water Balance & pH Control

Detackifiers only work in the right water. We monitor pH, conductivity, and solids loading and keep the booth water where the chemistry performs.

Sludge Handling & Disposal Support

Drier, denser sludge means fewer drums and cheaper hauling. We help you get the solids out and coordinate with your wastewater program when booth water is dumped.

Feed Equipment & Automation

Chemical feed equipment and controls so dosing tracks your production schedule instead of relying on someone watching a gauge.

Programs & Products

The Detack Line Behind the Program

We pick the chemistry that fits your paint and your booth. These are the categories a detackification program runs, with the commodity items to back them up.

  • Green Detack chemistry

    Our detackifier is built on cationic corn starch and aluminum chlorohydrate. It detackifies solvent-borne and waterborne paint at a lower dose than older melamine programs: about one part to every 30 parts of high-solids paint overspray, and one to 50 on waterborne.

  • Detackifiers for Solvent-Borne Paint

    Chemistry for solvent-borne overspray that kills the paint on contact, so paint solids stop plating out on the pit and piping.

  • Detackifiers for Waterborne Paint

    Waterborne paints don't kill the same way. We run detackifiers built for them, and adjust the program when your paint line changes.

  • Flocculants & Sludge Conditioners

    Polymers that gather dead paint solids into a dense, drier sludge, easier to rake, pump, and haul, and cheaper to dispose of.

  • Defoamers & Foam Control

    Foam programs that keep recirculating booth water quiet without knocking out the detackifier working alongside them.

  • Biocides

    Paint feeds bacteria. Left alone, they drop the pH, corrode the system, plug lines and make the booth smell. We run a two-part program of bromine and isothiazolinone to keep counts down.

  • Commodity & Ancillary Products

    pH chemicals, booth additives, and the commodity items a finishing operation runs through, supplied as needed so you're not chasing a second vendor.

Before We Quote

We Survey the Booth Before We Recommend Anything

Every paint system runs differently. The program gets built from what we find in yours.

  • Plant and system survey

    Booths, stacks and exhaust, under-booth, supply and exhaust air flow, water flow through the system, supply and chemical pumps, and the feed equipment and lines already in place.

  • Lab testing on your paint and your water

    We jar test the paint you actually spray to pick the chemistry, and test the water for pH, conductivity, alkalinity, hardness, biological activity and suspended solids.

  • Downdraft or side draft, they are not the same job

    A side draft booth scrubs with less water and less turbulence than a downdraft, so it holds a different alkalinity and takes a different dose. The survey tells us which one we are treating.

  • The removal equipment you already have

    Palin unit, centrifuge, filter unit or manual cleanout. Each one takes flocculant at a different point and runs at a different flow, so we set the program to the equipment on your floor.

Where the Cost Comes Out

What Plants Stop Paying For

Areas we have reduced on running paint systems. We track them on the account and document what the changes are worth.

  • Pit and Palin cleanouts, down 50% or more

    A cleanout is lost production. Cutting how often one is needed is usually the biggest single line on the account.

  • Elimination chamber and flood sheet cleaning, down 50% or more

    When paint is killed properly on contact, it stops plating out on the surfaces your crews have to scrape by hand.

  • Maintenance calls, down 50% or more

    Plugged pumps, fouled screens and blocked recirculation lines are symptoms of tacky paint. Fix the chemistry and the calls stop.

  • Solids haul-out, down 25% or more

    Drier solids weigh less. Every gallon of water still trapped in the sludge is weight you pay to haul.

  • Water reuse, 25% or better

    Booth water that stays clean keeps working. Less makeup going in means less blowdown going out to your wastewater program.

After Startup

What You Get Every Week

Once we're running your paint system, you get the numbers in writing every week.

  • A weekly report on your booth water

    Suspended solids, water left in the sludge and biological counts, tested and written up every week.

  • A tracker for the savings

    Every reduction we make gets logged, so you can show the plant what the program is worth.

  • Training for your operators

    We train the people who run the daily checks, and we keep those checks to a minimum.

Bulk chemical feed tanks and a touchscreen control panel installed and serviced by Hoffman Water
In the Field

One Vendor, Feed to Finish

Detack chemistry, feed equipment, and controls installed and serviced together. And because we run boiler, cooling tower, and wastewater programs in the same plants, your booth water isn't handled in a silo. We're a privately owned family company that works at the plant level, so when your paint line changes, the program changes with it.

A chemical feed system installed and serviced by Hoffman Water.

Schedule a complimentary plant survey →

Booth water fighting you?

We'll test with the paint you spray and build a detack program that keeps the booth running.

Schedule Complimentary Plant Survey Call 24/7: (937) 519-2572
Background

How Detack Chemistry Changed With the Paint

Paint formulas keep changing, and detack chemistry has had to follow them.

  • 1970s

    Low-solids solvent enamels. Detack programs were high alkalinity, with the solids sinking to the bottom.

  • 1980s

    High-solids enamels. Clay, aluminum and tannin programs, and the start of pulling solids out of the water.

  • Late 1980s

    Water-based paints arrive. Most programs move to melamine, and solids removal becomes standard.

  • Early 2000s

    2K clearcoats. Melamine still leads, with the first moves toward green chemistry.

  • Mid 2000s

    Water-based primers, basecoats and 2K clear take over. Green chemistry grows and melamine use drops.

  • 2010s to today

    Primerless lines start to appear. Green chemistry is established, though results vary and some programs have gone backward.

FAQ

Paint Detackification Questions

In a wet paint booth, overspray lands in recirculating water. Left untreated, that paint stays sticky and builds up on the pit, pumps, screens, and piping until the booth can't run. Detackification chemistry kills the paint on contact, so the paint solids stop sticking, drop out or float for collection, and leave with the sludge instead of coating your equipment.
Yes. Solvent-borne and waterborne paints behave differently in booth water, and the detackifier has to match. We test with the paint you actually spray, pick the chemistry that kills it, and adjust the program when your paint line changes.
That's one of the main goals. Detackifier plus the right flocculant consolidates paint solids into a drier, denser sludge that's easier to collect and cheaper to haul. Foam control and booth water balance keep the system stable between cleanouts, so cleanouts come less often.
Anywhere from 20 to 70 percent of the paint sprayed, depending on the booth and the part. All of it lands in the booth water, and all of it has to be treated and hauled.
Ours is built on cationic corn starch and aluminum chlorohydrate. It coats each paint particle so it can't stick, and it works on solvent-borne and waterborne paint at a lower dose than older melamine chemistry. A typical feed is one part detackifier to 30 parts of high-solids paint overspray, or one to 50 on waterborne.
The usual causes are low alkalinity, low pH, too little detackifier, or flocculant pulling the detack out of the water before it reaches the paint. Alkalinity breaks each paint droplet up. If it doesn't, only the outside gets treated, and the sticky center shows up when the droplet shears in a pump. Below pH 8.2 the alkalinity shifts to a form that disperses paint poorly. We check alkalinity, pH, feed rates and the pumps themselves before we change chemistry.
Flotation depends on air trapped in the floc. When it fails, the flocculant is usually missing, underfed, fed in the wrong spot or no longer right for the paint. Too much defoamer is the other common cause, since it breaks the bubbles that lift the solids. Conductivity or organics above about 5,000 in the water can do it too, and a partial blowdown usually helps.
Overfeeding detackifier, alkalinity that runs too high, flocculant problems, air pulled in where water drops straight down, and solvents or cleaners in the water. High suspended solids make foam last longer. We fix the cause first and use defoamer sparingly, because too much of it hurts paint capture.
Almost always a lack of entrained air. The water in a Palin should look milky white, like a DAF unit. The transfer pump shears the floc and loses its air, so flocculant has to be fed again ahead of the unit, and a small amount of air on the pump suction helps. Flow that's too high or too low, surface turbulence and air pockets in the transfer line cause it too.

Keep your booth spraying.

Request a site assessment and we'll build a detack program around your paint and your booth.

Schedule Complimentary Plant Survey Call 24/7: (937) 519-2572
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