Bio-based Polymers and Resins in Paints and Coatings

Paints and coatings have been used for millennia for decoration and protection of materials. Prior to the advent of the petrochemical industry, binders for paints and coatings were of necessity based on naturally occurring materials such as shellac, oriental lacquers, and vegetable oils. As petrochemicals became available, resins based on vegetable oils such as varnishes and alkyd resins were introduced. Cellulosic materials could also be made that served well as coating materials. While petrochemical resin systems were introduced and quickly grew to supplant many of the bio-based resin systems, today, due to rising interest in sustainability, there is renewed interest in making use of bio-based materials in new types of resin chemistries. Vegetable oils and fatty acids are being transformed into new types of resin structures to yield systems having properties useful for today’s demanding applications. There is also significant activity in deriving new polymer building blocks from lignocellulose biomass having chemical structures, and therefore properties, that cannot be obtained from petrochemicals.