Environmental & sustainable polymers for adhesives, paints & coatings

There are several biopolymers available, already for years, that are biobased and biodegradeable. Some general examples are:

• Polysaccharides
  • Sugar
  • Starch
    • Wheat
    • Potato
    • Tapioca
• Polypeptides,
  • Casein
  • Protein adhesives
• Polynucleotides
  • No examples on industrial scale

Sustainable Synthetic polymers

Many polymers for adhesives, paints & coatings are made from monomers acrylics, Vinyl Acetate and Styrene. It is technical possible to make Acrylics from Corn and Vinyl acetate from wood sidestreams (bio acetic acid).

An efficient way to use biobased raw materials is to use these in excisting production plants. The scale of these plaints is large, enableing a high energy efficiency and use of production capital like reactors and infrastructure (pipelines, railway, shipping). Therefore the biomass balance concept is probably a good start to enable to grow the biobased market supply and production chain.

Once the biomass balance is succesfull, and volumes are available, it makes sense for large production sites to introduce a dedicated biobased production line.

The advantages of VAE

Vinyl acetate – Ethylene copolymers have many advantages for the future:

• Being (water) soluble, therefore enableing seperation of assembled products (like carpet) before recycling
• Being thermoplastic, enableing VAE to be recycled with other plastics
• Having very low VOC values (only someacetic acid, but no styrene for example)
• Supporting technologies, like solvent free, biocide free

Furthermore, VAE is already available as 50% biobased versions by mass balance, with the use of biobased acetic acid. Technically it would be possible to also use biobased ethylene (from e.g. sugar). Commercial, Biobased ethylene is not yet available on large scales.

Do you want a product, for example a blend of starch, proteine and/or VAE to meet your adhesive or coating? Just contact us with your company details and your inquiry details.