Europe and Its Potentials in Bio-based Formulations

Bio-based chemicals, which include many of relevance to the paint and coatings sector, are already established as a major global market according to Polaris Market Research. The company valued the market at $81 billion in 2020. In 2023, it projected that the European market for bio-based chemicals of all kinds would command 37% of the global market, making it the leader on a regional basis. Trailing at some distance behind is North America on 26%, and even further behind is the Asia Pacific region on 23%.

The pecking order and market shares are not expected to alter much throughout the remainder of the 2020s, suggesting that growth will be uniform across all regions. World growth in the segment, according to Polaris, is placed at 10.4% p.a. The over-arching picture painted by Polaris is summarized in the pie chart.

The main attraction of bio-based raw materials is the opportunity to harness natural products of marine and vegetable origin, thereby reducing dependency on fossil fuel sources. Many potential areas are open for cultivation by the coatings sector, including bio-based acids, solvents, alcohols and surfactants. Surfactants in the coatings sector find applications in wetting agents and emulsifiers, among other things. Raw materials are increasingly drawing on bio-based technologies, recycled materials and waste products. Many of the achievements in these areas have come from Europe.

Bio-based coloring agents derived from vegetable or plant sources continue to attract research, particularly carotenoids for pigments and indigo for dyes. To this end, the modification of the molecular and polymeric structures obtained, particularly with regard to different structure-activity relationships, is another potential opening out within the sector. The challenges here are balancing the input for modifications compared to performance benefits, as mentioned later.

Considering the sphere of coatings additives, many of these are already natural products but are extracted from the earth. To this end, weight is thrown behind a different approach for green additive selection that favors recycled material over the use of virgin material. Opportunities in these areas often focus on materials such as nano-clays and recycled calcium carbonate, the latter a previous achievement for AkzoNobel.

Bio-based Coatings Market

A recent study by MarketsandMarkets on bio-based coatings shows that the global market for these products should grow by 9.5% p.a. in the period up to 2027. Last year, the world bio-based coatings market was valued at US$11.5 billion; by 2027 it will be worth an estimated US$18.2 billion. That’s an increase of nearly 60% in five years. Although Europe is leading developments in bio-based coatings, Asia-Pacific is envisaged as the major growth market, especially where architectural applications
are concerned.

In the industrial coatings sector, bio-based wood coatings have seen a rapid rise in development, possible owing to their lack of pigmentation and therefore simpler formulations. Italy’s Industria Chimica Adriatica has commercialized the development of its BIO water-based wood and glass coatings. These are based on recycled materials and have set superior standards in terms of performance and quality, while at the same time displaying all the eco-credentials that are demanded of a modern coating.

Recently, in a move that reflects the desirability for foreign companies to be close to Europe and its eco agenda, Industria Chimica Adriatica was bought by Sherwin-Williams. Other developments in this area have come from Lignopshere in Finland, which has used waste lignin in the development of a new eco-friendly wood finish.

Meanwhile the EU has another project ongoing – PERFECOAT – targeting the development of next-generation wood and decorative coatings that have more than 25% bio-based content. The segments being targeted are wall paints, trim paints and UV-curable clearcoats, clearly disposing the project towards acrylics. With the arrival of increasing numbers of bio-based raw materials on the market (see below), this technology balloon will rise further and faster over the next ten years. Indeed, the majority of bio-based raw materials available to the paint and coatings sector in terms of is in the domain of coating resins.

Bio-based Acrylics

The versatility of acrylics in terms of emulsion formulation and industrial coating formulation makes for an attractive segment for bio-based developments and substitutions. Here, much work has been completed by Arkema in their development.

Sustainable Polyurethanes

The concept of bio-based – perhaps sustainable – polyurethanes is also an attractive one in terms of versatility of application and performance. Access to eco-friendly polyurethane technology differs markedly from other green synthesis routes insofar as bio-based PU starts by exploiting carbon dioxide as opposed to plant-based chemicals. Companies such as Covestro that are able to crack this area open more fully will find routes into a host of industrial coatings applications, including wood, aerospace, marine, ACE and other uses. According to a market study from Grand View Research, this is a market growing by nearly 6% p.a; up until 2028, when demand will reach more than US$52 million. Coatings generally represent 14 to 16% of the polyurethane products market.

Balancing the Energy Equation

One of the drawbacks of bio-based coatings is the relative cost of the processes that they entail in their production, for example in terms of recycling or treatment for reclamation or extraction, depending upon what they are taken from. Regular readers of this column will be familiar with the fact that the EU is painfully aware of the “eco-costs” that are incurred in the development of bio-based materials in the drive to enhance circularity in the chemical markets within Europe. No point in trying to save the environment if the net cost to it is as process-induced loss.

To this end, the objectives of harnessing clean power (solar, wind) into facilities become even more attractive. Many of the major European chemical companies and some of the paintmakers have been investing in clean power generation on their sites, e.g. CIN and Kansai Helios, in order to offset their annual emissions. These trends towards green power in industrial production will take a much stronger hold as the EU pushes forward with progress in its Green Deal objectives over the next
25 years.