Production of Emulsion House Paint Using Polyvinyl Acetate and Gum Arabic as Binder

In view of the high cost of paints as a result of importation of raw materials and the need to use our locally available raw materials for economic and industrial developments, a study was carried out for the production of emulsion house paint by supplementing imported synthetic binder (polyvinyl acetate, PVA) with a locally available binder (gum Arabic, GA) in six different proportions labelled; Sample A (100% PVA), Sample B (80% PVA: 20% GA), Sample C (60% PVA: 40% GA), Sample D (40% PVA: 60% GA), Sample E (20% PVA: 80% GA) and Sample F (100% GA). Standard emulsion paint formulation and method of production were employed. All the six samples gave high quality emulsion paints in terms of opacity, adhesion, ease of application and coverage. However, it was observed that paint brightness diminished with increased gum Arabic composition; Sample F being badly affected. Samples B to E thus resulted in quality paints without any blemish. Therefore, gum Arabic (Acacia Senegal) can be used as a supplement to PVA in emulsion paint production in all proportions investigated except Sample F.