Biologically-based products derived from renewable resources have the potential to replace products based on petrochemical feedstock, as well as to reduce the emission of hazardous pollutants. However, in order to penetrate large markets and overcome the entrenched barriers to change, the bio-based products must provide superior performance and economics along with the environmental benefits. This project will develop technology for the production of products with superior performance for major industries, such as coatings and paints, which traditionally have relied on petrochemical based solvents. In particular, high performance coatings formulations, using biosolvents with resins and bio-based materials, will be developed for large volume applications. Phase 1 will establish the initial feasibility of biosolvent-based formulations for high performance coatings with polyester and polyacrylate resins, establish a higher loading capacity, conduct preliminary property evaluations, develop a comparative economics model, determine the best potential formulations, and develop long-term test and scale-up plans.
Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: The U.S. coatings industry has sales exceeding 19 billion dollars per year. In 2004, the total solvent consumption for these product formulations was 525 million gallons, or approximately 4.7 billion pounds. The successful implementation of a few major biosolvent formulations could penetrate 20% of this application within 5 to 10 years. The use of renewable resources to produce the solvents could displace oil consumption by 1 billion lb/yr, an energy savings of 15 trillion Btu/yr
