Engineering high performance biocoatings from renewable reactive building blocks

UV curable polyurethane (PU) coatings play a major role in a wide range of industries, due to their versatility, excellent performance and energy-efficient production and application. The global PU coating market was valued at USD 17.4 billion in 2021. Unfortunately, PU coatings still largely depend on fossil-based raw materials.

Biobased alternatives are restricted to a negligible market volume, and, to date, there is no high-performance alternative with a biogenic content above 50% available.

BIORING proposes a synthesis platform that combines biobased monomers and crosslinking agents to produce high-performance UV-curable PU coatings with >95% biogenic content.

To reach this ambitious goal, we will develop the key pieces required to produce fully biogenic PU coatings from currently available biobased components.

Our modular approach allows to fine-tune the characteristics of the coatings and adjust them to the requirements of highly demanding European industries.

Furthermore, the platform will be able to adapt to future developments of new biobased building blocks.The development process will be guided by process simulations and modelling of product properties.

We will demonstrate our approach for two use cases: automotive and construction, including not only functional validation, but also an economic analysis for future scale-up, where the components can be produced within a biorefinery.

We will assess biodegradability as well as different recycling scenarios for coated products, according to the respective industry demands and standards.

BIORING includes a thorough LCA and LCC.The BIORING consortium is composed of 12 partners, including RTOs, SMEs, large enterprises and an industrial association, from 5 European countries.

The participation of producers and end users will guarantee access to stakeholders and open the doors to future scale-up. BIORING will allow companies to comply with European legislation and make them more competitive globally.