Increased use of chemicals from renewable resources based on wood in paints & coatings

Important results from the project

The goal of the project was to test the hypothesis that a unique and not much studied chemical from wood source could be introduced as additive or crosslinker in paints & coatings. The raw material itself was not possible to introduce into Sherwin-Williams paint & coating systems. However, the refined raw material could be introduced into the paint & coating systems and thus the hypothesis is proven. Unfortunately it was not possible within the short project time to see any advantages of the novel chemical compared to existing systems.

Expected long term effects

We have found that the raw material itself cannot be introduced into a paint system. Using the correct refinement of the raw material it is possible to formulate into a paint. We have thus proven that the modified chemical can be introduced into a paint formulation which was the goal of the project. Unfortunately it was not possible to find any advantages compared to existing paints. Also the other raw material could be introduced into a paint system but the time was too narrow to find advantages against the reference system.

Approach and implementation

The project evaluated how a chemical from wood source can be introduced in paints & coatings. Sherwin-Williams studied the potential of introducing the chemical in their paint systems. SP further refined the chemical with the aim of increasing the number of possible applications and hence the potential market. The refined chemical (and the other chemical) could be incorporated in coatings but not enough time was available to find advantages against existing systems.