Damir Gagro

Industry experts from Akzo Nobel, Covestro and PPG Industries are expecting further opportunities for bio-based coatings systems. The insiders share their views on the current situation and provide an outlook for this niche segment.

来自阿克苏诺贝尔、科思创和PPG的行业专家期待生物基涂料系统能有更进一步的发展机会. 相关业内人士分享了他们对当前形势的看法，并提供了对这一细分市场的展望。

The market for bio-based paints is expected to grow, since enviromental topics become more and more important.

由于环境问题变得越来越重要，生物基涂料的市场有望增长.

“Bio-based coatings are an emerging market with approximately 5 % market share”, says Mary Ellen Shivetts of PPG. Even though this segment only holds a niche share, it is not neglected by the industry. With rising ecological concerns and increasing consumer awareness for eco-friendly products, bio-based systems are believed to play a larger role in the future.

PPG的Mary Ellen Shivetts说:“生物基涂料是一个新兴市场，约占5%的市场份额。” 尽管这一细分市场的份额很小，但它并没有被行业所忽视.随着对生态环境的不断增加的社会关注和消费者对环保产品意识的提高，生物基涂料系统被认为在未来发挥更大的作用。

Markus Mechtel of Covestro describes the market for bio-based paints and coatings as follows: “More and more companies along the value chains want to develop solutions to global challenges such as climate change and scarce resources and are committed to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. Likewise, an increasing number of consumers are asking for more sustainable products, also in terms of their origin.”

科思创的Markus Mechtel这样描述生物基涂料和涂料市场:“面对气候变化和资源稀缺这些全球挑战,同一价值链上的越来越多的公司希望能开发出解决方案，并致力于联合国的17项可持续发展目标.同样，越来越多的消费者开始要求更可持续的产品，特别是产品的来源的可持续性上。” 

Berta Vega Sánchez, also of Covestro, sees good growth potential for the use of bio-based coatings in general, both in terms of market share and of opening up further applications and industries. The driving forces are an increasing environmental awareness, climate plans like the EU Green Deal and the ongoing transition to the circular economy.

同样来自于科思创的Berta Vega Sánchez认为, 无论是从市场份额还是开发更多的应用和行业方面来看,生物基涂料的使用在总体上有良好的增长潜力. 环保意识的增强、欧盟绿色协议(Green Deal)等气候计划的开展,以及向循环经济的持续转型是推动经济增长的动力.

“The bright opportunities for bio-based coatings are in high-value applications and value chains driven by downstream players, such as brand owners with strong sustainability policies, like the automotive, furniture and packaging industries”, explains Sánchez. “However, in highly fragmented conservative markets like protective coatings, with high industry standards in terms of weather resistance, it might take longer to introduce new products and expand the use of renewable raw materials”, she adds.

Sánchez解释说:“生物基涂料的光明机遇在于高价值的应用和由下游参与者驱动的价值链，如拥有强有力的可持续发展政策的品牌所有者，如汽车、家具和包装行业。”“然而，在防护涂料等高度分散的传统型市场，对耐候性有高要求标准的行业，可能需要花费更多时间才能推出新产品和扩大可再生原材料的使用，”她补充道.

For Shivetts from PPG, all markets within the paints and coatings industry are open to the possibility of bio-based coatings alternatives, however, on some segments, additional research and development work is needed to ensure product performance. “While there are a relatively small number of bio-based paints and coatings within the current market, further research and development will allow greater understanding of bio-based materials and their performance”, Shivetts says.

对于PPG的Shivetts来说，所有的涂料行业市场都对生物基涂料替代品的可能性持开放态度，然而，在某些领域，为确保产品性能,可能需要额外的研发工作.Shivetts说:“虽然目前市场上的生物基涂料和涂料数量相对较少，但进一步的研发将使人们对生物基材料及其性能有更深入的了解。” 

As the market for these coatings is still rather small and as their production – as well as the production of the respective raw materials – is more complex and costlier than that of conventional products, they are still more expensive, explains Sánchez. “The industry is already working on a second generation of biomass, derived from biowaste and cellulose. Both materials are available in huge quantities. This will further broaden the portfolio of bio-based materials.”

Sánchez解释说，由于这些生物基涂料的市场仍然较小，其生产及其相应原材料的生产比传统产品更复杂昂贵，所以它们仍然更加昂贵。该行业已经在研究从生物废料和纤维素中提取第二代生物质.这两种材料都有大量可用.这将进一步拓宽生物基材料的种类。”

Akzo Nobel is exploring the use of bio-based ingredients as an alternative to the fossil-based economy in both the paints and coatings market segments. “When it comes to reducing the carbon footprint of our products, we use both bio-based materials and materials containing recycled content. Since bio-based ingredients still resemble oil-based chemical ingredients, simply finding ways to use them isn’t our goal as such”, an Akzo Nobel spokesperson says. ” Sánchez also sees the performance as crucial: “Bio-based polyurethane coatings and raw materials used therefore must achieve the same high level of quality as petrochemical-based products or even exceed it”.

阿克苏诺贝尔公司正在探索在油漆和涂料市场中使用生物基原料来替代化石基原料。“我们既使用生物基材料，也使用含有可回收成分的材料,从而减少我们产品的碳足迹。由于生物基成分仍然类似于石油基化学成分，我们的目标并不仅仅是找到它们的使用方法。”阿克苏诺贝尔的一位发言人说.Sánchez也认为性能至关重要:“因此，生物基聚氨酯涂料和其原材料必须达到与石化产品同样高质量，甚至超过石化产品质量的表现。”

A similar view comes from Shivetts: “When developing bio-based coatings for our customers, two of the main challenges are consistent: raw material availability at an affordable cost, and performance. The switch to plant-based materials must not result in any compromise in functionality of the paint, which can present a challenge for paint manufacturers to maintain standards”.

Shivetts也有类似的观点:“在为我们的客户开发生物基涂料时，我们面临的两个主要挑战是，能稳定获得价格实惠的原材料,及涂料性能。这两个挑战也是一脉相承的,向植物基材料的转换必须不能有涂料功能上的妥协，涂料制造商为了维持标准可能会面临挑战。” 

Even though these challenges and hurdles are existing, the industry experts are convinced to tackle the tasks. Mechtel is convinced that a future production of larger volumes (economy of scale) will lead to an adjustment of prices, so that the renewable products will be available at lower costs. “This is especially crucial for new molecules (near drop-ins) that need to compete in price with well-established petrochemicals.

尽管存在这些挑战和障碍，但行业专家相信能解决这些问题.Mechtel相信，未来更大的产量(规模经济)将导致价格的调整，因此可再生产品将可以更低的成本获得. “这对于需要在价格上与成熟的石化产品竞争的新分子(接近新兴行业)来说尤为重要。

On the other hand, for drop-in building blocks, mass-balancing is a faster way to integrate bio-based feedstock in the value chain without the need to make large investments and/or adjustments in upstream infrastructure and processes. With mass-balanced drop-in solutions, the implementation of circular products into paint production is also hassle-free with the same processing conditionals at no additional risk”, Mechtel explains.

另一方面，对于嵌入式建筑模块，质量平衡(mass-balancing)方法不需要对上游基础设施和流程做出大规模投资和/或调整,是在价值链中整合生物基原料的一种更快的方式，通过质量平衡的嵌入式解决方案，有着相同加工条件的循环产品不会对涂料生产造成任何麻烦和额外的风险,”Mechtel解释说.

Akzo Nobel recently announced a bio-based innovation developed in collaboration with the Dutch Advanced Research Center Chemical Building Blocks Consortium. It’s a completely new technology that’s able to cure chemicals for paints. “This breakthrough – which uses bio-based monomers and requires just UV light, oxygen and renewable raw materials – is a more sustainable way of making resins. We are on the verge of progressing to the next level of coatings technology, thanks to this example of collaborative innovation in action. We are opening up a new future for paints and coatings by using sustainable building blocks that will enable us to explore and develop some really exciting functionalities for our customers”, the Akzo Nobel spokesperson says.

阿克苏诺贝尔公司最近宣布了一项与荷兰高级研究中心化学积木联盟合作开发的生物基础创新. 这项全新技术可以将颜料用化学物质固化.“这项突破技术使用生物基单体，只需要UV光、氧气和可再生原材料，是一种更可持续的树脂制造方法。多亏了类似这种协同创新，我们正处于迈向下一个水平的涂料技术的边缘.阿克苏诺贝尔发言人说:“通过使用可持续的建筑模块，我们能够为我们的客户探索和开发出特别令人兴奋的功能,从而能为油漆和涂料行业开创一个新的未来，。” 

Nevertheless, the Dutch coatings manufacturer points out that the company still has got a long way to go in terms of exploring the scope of the technology, but it will almost certainly define the future of our products. “By 2040 or 2050, there’s also a good chance we might only be using bio-based monomers in our resin production, which will help us to reduce the overall carbon footprint of our products”.

尽管如此，这家荷兰涂料制造商指出，在探索这项技术的范围方面，公司仍有很长的路要走，但它几乎肯定会定义我们产品的未来.“到2040或2050年，我们很有可能只在树脂生产中使用生物基单体，这将有助于我们减少产品的总体碳足迹。” 

 

英文原文引自:https://www.european-coatings.com/articles/2021/04/bright-future-for-bio-based-coatings

图源: Francesco De Paoli - stock.adobe.com

翻译:九维-VL. 翻译内容未经同意不得转载.