The coating industry is keen to develop a fully biobased coating in order to respond to the climate objectives as well as market demand. The ZCORE (from Seaweed to COating REsin applications) project is specifically working on 100% biobased alkyd resins. So far, a content of 50-60% biobased has been achieved because no bio-aromatics were available on a sufficiently large scale. ZCORE changes this.
Shortened route
In addition to doubling the sustainability, ZCORE also brings potential cost reductions because Biorizon has developed a unique shortened route for the production of functionalized bio-aromatics compared to the fossil production route. Finally, the bio-aromatics also bring improved properties including superior wear resistance, gloss and UV resistance.
These three advantages allow this bio-coating to be competitive with fossil-based coatings. With a global coating market of 4 Mton on an annual basis, this means a huge breakthrough in the field of 100% biobased coatings and this will accelerate the realization of a biobased economy.
Entire valuechain
The ZCORE project brings together the entire value chain for the valorization of seaweed in bio-aromatics and its application in coatings.
The SME partners Sea Harvest Holland and Engineering Chemicals, together with 5 leading coating producers, form an important link to practice with their knowledge of seaweed production and applications of bio-aromatics in industrially relevant applications (such as coatings). The knowledge institutes TNO, Avans and Maastricht University have leading knowledge and technology in the field of biorefining, bio-aromatics production, coating resins and sustainability analyses. In addition to it/s function as headquarters, the Green Chemistry Campus is also involved in dissemination activities and interaction with SMEs.
The ZCORE project is made possible by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the provinces of Noord-Brabant, Zeeland and Limburg in the context of OPZuid.
Image: Sebastian Duda/Shutterstock
