www.american-coatings-show.com 14 ; ;
;
not relying on fossil fuel supply. Current
bio-based raw material offerings include
resins, coalescents and additives that
allow the paint manufacturer to develop
new formulations with high bio-based
content. The bio-based content in a finished coating can be tested and certified
through the USDA “BioPreferred” program which, in turn, educates consumers on the bio-based content in a can
of paint. This program has also created
a market for selling bio-based finished
goods within the federal government.
The advantages of using these bio-based
raw materials will continue to drive the
coatings industry to explore use in future
coatings developmental projects.
“It is a Misconception that Bio-based Coatings
are Always Higher Cost”
BIO-BASED PRODUCTS ARE GENERATING MORE INTEREST IN THE COATINGS INDUSTRY
; Continued technical presentations,
articles and papers for the coatings
market are necessary to educate the industry on the advantages of using bio-based raw materials, says Scott Cooley,
North American coatings technology
director at Reichhold.
To what extent do bio-based raw materials satisfy the product requirements
in comparison to fuel-based sources that
have been used for so long?
Scott Cooley: Vegetable oils like soy-
bean and linseed are one example of
a bio-based raw material that offers
unique performance properties in a va-
riety of polymers such as alkyds, epoxy
esters and oil modified urethanes. These
bio-based polymers have the advantage
of being applied at a lower molecular
weight, which allows for excellent flow
and substrate wetting, and then builds
molecular weight through crosslinking
of the oil segment in the polymer to form
hard, durable films. This is not a new ap-
proach, but when combined with
new processing and chemistry
techniques used to design next
generation water-based poly-
mers, performance advantages
over petroleum-based polymers
can be realized. Water-borne
vegetable oil-based polymers
can provide the high gloss, adhe-
sion and durability of higher VOC
solvent-borne polymers that have
been established as the industry
benchmark.
What challenges are producers of bio-based coatings facing?
Cooley: A major challenge is having
end-users overcome the misconcep-
tion that bio-based coatings are always
higher cost and offer inferior perfor-
mance, when in reality, advanced resin
technology allows for coatings that are
not only cost competitive, but provide
performance advantages. To overcome
this market misconception, resin sup-
pliers have had to develop very detailed
performance studies comparing bio-
based technologies to fossil fuel-based
technologies in order to demonstrate the
performance advantages in a finished
coating. These benchmarking studies
not only included compliant water-borne
technologies, but also higher VOC bench-
marks considered to be the industry per-
formance standards that demonstrate
the excellent performance of bio-based
systems. This approach seems to be
working, but continued technical presen-
tations, articles and papers for the coat-
ings market are necessary to educate the
industry on the advantages of using bio-
based raw materials.
What trends will dominate bio-based
coatings and raw materials in the future?
Cooley: Bio-based products are generating more interest in the coatings
industry primarily due to performance
advantages and the added benefit of
Image: Davidus-Fotolia.com
Reichhold
