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Product Review from Environmental Building News

June 1, 2008

Whey-Based Floor and Furniture Finishes

PolyWhey waterborne furniture and floor finishes use whey protein, a byproduct of the cheese industry, in place of petroleum products.

Whey protein is a natural byproduct of the cheese industry, and now a Vermont company is using this renewable resource to replace petroleum-based ingredients in its coatings. Vermont Natural Coatings makes nationally distributed PolyWhey water-based floor and furniture finishes. Although milk paint has a long tradition of durability (see EBN Vol. 8, No. 2), the use of whey as a polymer in wood coatings is more recent, a result of research that began in 2001 at the University of Vermont’s Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences. The result is a product with low emissions—the finishes have volatile organic compound (VOC) levels of 180 grams per liter, below the California Air Resource Board’s limit of 250 grams per liter.

Bill Tancredi used the PolyWhey furniture finish on bamboo plywood countertops and uprights in the Sprout Natural Parenting store in Burlington, Vermont. He was impressed by the finish, commenting that, because it dried fast and had little odor, workers were able to get back on the jobsite quickly. Though the coating is expensive ($65 per gallon), Tancredi was also pleased with both its coverage and its look. “It spreads on evenly and left us with a nice, hard, shellac-like finish,” he said, adding, “The PolyWhey hid scratches well.” The finish does have quirks. ”You need to work quickly with it or it will gum up,” Tancredi said, and “you have to be careful on the final coat or you can leave brush marks.” Another user EBN spoke with noted that, with its quick drying, the product sprays on better than it brushes.

Achieving durability along with low-VOC content has challenged the floor-coatings industry, but Greg Hebert of Vermont Natural Coatings expects the company’s floor finish to have similar durability to high-end commercial products such as BonaKemi’s Traffic. While long-term performance is difficult to judge with a new product, feedback on PolyWhey so far has been positive. Tony Gates from Discover Flooring says, “The finish is very durable. It goes on easily and dries beautifully,” he says, noting, “We have been using it for two years with no complaints.” Again, the quick dry time is both a blessing and a curse. Gates noted the need to work quickly and carefully, but added that recoating can take place within two hours. The finish cures completely in a week.

Vermont Natural Coatings’ PolyWhey Floor Finish covers 500–600 ft²(46–56 m²) per gallon and is available in semi-gloss and satin finishes in five-gallon ($300), gallon ($62), and quart ($19) containers. The company’s furniture finish has the same coverage and is available in gloss, semi-gloss, and satin finishes in five- gallon ($315), gallon ($65), quart ($20), and pint ($14) containers. Custom finishes are also available for large orders.

– Brent Ehrlich

For More Information:

Vermont Natural Coatings
Hardwick, Vermont
802-472-8700
www.vermontnaturalcoatings.com

DISCUSSIONS

Reader-contributed comments related to EBN: 17:6 - Whey-Based Floor and Furniture Finishes. Comments are listed with newest at the top.

Whey-Based Floor Finish Posted by Brent Ehrlich on Jan 29, 2009, 02:15 PM
Hi again Robert,

Something seemed amiss with the information I was given, so I decided to do some more invesigating. According to the USGBC representative I just spoke with, polyurethanes fall under Clear Wood Finishes as a varnish in table 25. So the VOC limit is a generous 350 g/l. GreenSpec approves polyurethanes based on the toughest SCAQMD standards, which happen to be 275 g/l for these products. PolyWhey's VOC level at 180 g/l is well below both standards. Thanks.

Whey-Based Floor Finish Posted by Brent Ehrlich on Jan 29, 2009, 01:01 PM
Hi Robert,

The language is a little confusing, but under LEED (like California's SCAQMD) floor coatings are defined as "...opaque coatings that are formulated for or applied to flooring; including but not limited to decks and porches, and clear coatings formulated for or applied to concrete flooring, but do not include Industrial Maintenance Coatings." Polyurethanes fall under "Sealers: other" at 200 g/l VOC. So you can resume using PolyWhey! Hope this helps.

Whey-Based Floor Finish Posted by robert cain on Jan 29, 2009, 12:00 PM
We used this product on the floor of a LEED home only to find out that Table 25 of the newest version of the LEED for Homes Rating System requires <100 g/L for "Floor Coatings". Love the product but LEED has separate requirements for floors. It would pass for any other application...millwork, trim, woodwork.

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