Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PERFECOAT (High Performance Bio-based Functional Coatings for Wood and Decorative Applications)
Período documentado: 2021-05-01 hasta 2023-11-30
The pursuit of a climate-neutral Europe and a truly circular economy requires attention to virtually all fields of production if fossil-based materials are to be eliminated. This relates not only to manufactured goods but also the paints and coatings used to protect them.
Of the almost 1 million tonnes of paints and coating produced in Europe each year, more than 80% are derived from fossil resources. Reducing the impact of these coatings would represent a major advance in Europe’s climate ambitions.
To address this challenge, the BBI/CBE-JU project PERFECOAT, funded under call identifier BBI2020.SO3.R5: Improve the sustainability of coatings, develops and validates a new generation of industrial wood and decorative coatings with more than 25% bio-based components.
The project thereby addresses three important markets for coatings, i.e. high-volume, UV-curable clear coatings, waterborne trim paints for DIY, and waterborne wall paints.
These coatings are planned to reach, and even surpass, the current quality and sustainability standards.
When successful, the PERFECOAT project will be able to offer bio-based coating ingredients from climate neutral sources and processes.
This will help encourage the uptake of sustainable coatings, with a positive impact for the environment and help mitigating climate change.
The overarching objective of the PERFECOAT project is to develop novel sustainable coatings that will ultimately be available to the public.
Within this, the project will pursue a number of specific objectives:
• From an environmental perspective, the PERFECOAT project will contribute to reducing Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions by developing new industrial bio-based coatings for wood with more than 25% of bio-based components produced from climate neutral sources and processes.
• From an economic perspective, the PERFECOAT project will help to prepare the coating market for new formulations that will be of at least equal performance than existing fossil-based products.
• From a social perspective, the project will demonstrate the potential for creating new job opportunities in the bio-based sector in rural and coastal areas, where urban migration remains a challenge.
In addition, the project will enhance European leadership in the biotechnology sector and strengthen the EU’s leadership in adopting renewables.
The PERFECOAT project is performed by a project consortium of 12 partners from 7 European countries, led by SINTEF, Norway.
The project started on May 1, 2021, with a project period of 41 months and estimated project costs of 6.25 million Euros, of which EU funding is 5.0 million Euros.
Of the almost 1 million tonnes of paints and coating produced in Europe each year, more than 80% are derived from fossil resources. Reducing the impact of these coatings would represent a major advance in Europe’s climate ambitions.
To address this challenge, the BBI/CBE-JU project PERFECOAT, funded under call identifier BBI2020.SO3.R5: Improve the sustainability of coatings, develops and validates a new generation of industrial wood and decorative coatings with more than 25% bio-based components.
The project thereby addresses three important markets for coatings, i.e. high-volume, UV-curable clear coatings, waterborne trim paints for DIY, and waterborne wall paints.
These coatings are planned to reach, and even surpass, the current quality and sustainability standards.
When successful, the PERFECOAT project will be able to offer bio-based coating ingredients from climate neutral sources and processes.
This will help encourage the uptake of sustainable coatings, with a positive impact for the environment and help mitigating climate change.
The overarching objective of the PERFECOAT project is to develop novel sustainable coatings that will ultimately be available to the public.
Within this, the project will pursue a number of specific objectives:
• From an environmental perspective, the PERFECOAT project will contribute to reducing Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions by developing new industrial bio-based coatings for wood with more than 25% of bio-based components produced from climate neutral sources and processes.
• From an economic perspective, the PERFECOAT project will help to prepare the coating market for new formulations that will be of at least equal performance than existing fossil-based products.
• From a social perspective, the project will demonstrate the potential for creating new job opportunities in the bio-based sector in rural and coastal areas, where urban migration remains a challenge.
In addition, the project will enhance European leadership in the biotechnology sector and strengthen the EU’s leadership in adopting renewables.
The PERFECOAT project is performed by a project consortium of 12 partners from 7 European countries, led by SINTEF, Norway.
The project started on May 1, 2021, with a project period of 41 months and estimated project costs of 6.25 million Euros, of which EU funding is 5.0 million Euros.
Within the first 31 months, the PERFECOAT project has made good progress towards achieving its objectives and technological aims.
• Scalable processes for the efficient production of selected microbial polymers, lipids, and terpenes, as well as extraction of polymers from abundant biomass residues have been developed. Downstream processing regimes have been developed to derive relevant building blocks for their subsequent functionalization.
• The conversion of the base compounds into new binders for UV-curable coatings and waterborne paints by means of bio-catalysis or chemical functionalization is ongoing activity in the project, but has already revealed promising candidates that are currently subject for further optimization to match performance requirements.
• The field of microbial fillers for the target applications of PERFECOAT has been systematically explored, lately also extending to the field of functional fillers that can provide added value for their use in paints and coatings.
• A wide range of microbially produced pigments ranging from red, orange to green and blue has been produced by applying advanced genetic engineering on different producer strains, and stability, compatibility, and scalability issue have been addressed.
• Functional nanomaterials based on Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane (POSS) and microfibrillated cellulose have been shown to be able to contribute to property and performance improvements of new biobased paints and coatings.
• Efficient feedback loops of synthesis, testing, and modification of compounds have been implemented towards identifying and producing the most suitable paint ingredients for formulation and demonstration in the final phase of the project.
• Safety and sustainability assessments of the new ingredients and formulations developed in the project, including both environmental, economic, and social aspects, are an integral part of the project.
• Visibility of the project and its activities, as well as efficient exploitation of its results is ensured by a communication, dissemination, and exploitation strategy that uses multiple platforms to inform and involve all relevant stakeholder groups.
• Active collaboration with other international research projects within the same topic and programme as PERFECOAT is instrumental in maximizing the impact of the project.
The latest update on project progress and news can be obtained from the PERFECOAT website at www.perfecoat-project.eu.
• Scalable processes for the efficient production of selected microbial polymers, lipids, and terpenes, as well as extraction of polymers from abundant biomass residues have been developed. Downstream processing regimes have been developed to derive relevant building blocks for their subsequent functionalization.
• The conversion of the base compounds into new binders for UV-curable coatings and waterborne paints by means of bio-catalysis or chemical functionalization is ongoing activity in the project, but has already revealed promising candidates that are currently subject for further optimization to match performance requirements.
• The field of microbial fillers for the target applications of PERFECOAT has been systematically explored, lately also extending to the field of functional fillers that can provide added value for their use in paints and coatings.
• A wide range of microbially produced pigments ranging from red, orange to green and blue has been produced by applying advanced genetic engineering on different producer strains, and stability, compatibility, and scalability issue have been addressed.
• Functional nanomaterials based on Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane (POSS) and microfibrillated cellulose have been shown to be able to contribute to property and performance improvements of new biobased paints and coatings.
• Efficient feedback loops of synthesis, testing, and modification of compounds have been implemented towards identifying and producing the most suitable paint ingredients for formulation and demonstration in the final phase of the project.
• Safety and sustainability assessments of the new ingredients and formulations developed in the project, including both environmental, economic, and social aspects, are an integral part of the project.
• Visibility of the project and its activities, as well as efficient exploitation of its results is ensured by a communication, dissemination, and exploitation strategy that uses multiple platforms to inform and involve all relevant stakeholder groups.
• Active collaboration with other international research projects within the same topic and programme as PERFECOAT is instrumental in maximizing the impact of the project.
The latest update on project progress and news can be obtained from the PERFECOAT website at www.perfecoat-project.eu.
The PERFECOAT project goes well beyond state-of-the-art with respect to the design and production of more sustainable, bio-based paint ingredients by involving advanced genetic engineering, bioprocess development, and chemical synthesis, and using underutilized feedstock for their production.
The platform being generated by the project through in parallel developing more sustainable paint ingredients of different classes, including binders, fillers, pigments, and functional compounds, is unique, provides flexibility in application, and ensures progress beyond state-of-the-art on a broad basis within the field of bio-based paints and coatings.
Until the end of the project, it is expected that the PERFECOAT project will reach its main goal of demonstrating new paint and coating formulations with at least 25% bio-based content.
Several promising ingredients will be developed at TRL4/5 that can improve the bio-based content of paints and coatings for bulk applications in the future.
It will thereby contribute to a quicker transition of the coatings market from still predominantly using fossil-based ingredients and formulations to more sustainable solutions, while preserving performances expected by customers.
The PERFECOAT project is aimed at delivering a number of impacts that will contribute to the wider goals of the CBE-JU. These will include:
• Creating a new cross-sectoral connection in the bioeconomy, linking the industrial biotechnology sector and the wood and decorative coatings sector.
• Establishing a value chain platform, integrating several value chains that deliver more sustainable ingredients for bio-based coatings. This will bring together several economic sectors and bio-based economy actors –the biomass refinery sector, the chemical industry sector, the coating industry sector, the research and consultancy sector, and innovative biotechnology and nanotechnology companies.
• Demonstrating new consumer products based on bio-based chemicals. These will be in the form of binder and additive materials as well as innovative bio-based coatings.
• Validating an improved processing technology reflecting a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) gain in various products. The technology will move from TRL 2-4 at the project‘s start to TRL 4-5 at its end.
The platform being generated by the project through in parallel developing more sustainable paint ingredients of different classes, including binders, fillers, pigments, and functional compounds, is unique, provides flexibility in application, and ensures progress beyond state-of-the-art on a broad basis within the field of bio-based paints and coatings.
Until the end of the project, it is expected that the PERFECOAT project will reach its main goal of demonstrating new paint and coating formulations with at least 25% bio-based content.
Several promising ingredients will be developed at TRL4/5 that can improve the bio-based content of paints and coatings for bulk applications in the future.
It will thereby contribute to a quicker transition of the coatings market from still predominantly using fossil-based ingredients and formulations to more sustainable solutions, while preserving performances expected by customers.
The PERFECOAT project is aimed at delivering a number of impacts that will contribute to the wider goals of the CBE-JU. These will include:
• Creating a new cross-sectoral connection in the bioeconomy, linking the industrial biotechnology sector and the wood and decorative coatings sector.
• Establishing a value chain platform, integrating several value chains that deliver more sustainable ingredients for bio-based coatings. This will bring together several economic sectors and bio-based economy actors –the biomass refinery sector, the chemical industry sector, the coating industry sector, the research and consultancy sector, and innovative biotechnology and nanotechnology companies.
• Demonstrating new consumer products based on bio-based chemicals. These will be in the form of binder and additive materials as well as innovative bio-based coatings.
• Validating an improved processing technology reflecting a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) gain in various products. The technology will move from TRL 2-4 at the project‘s start to TRL 4-5 at its end.