SUSBINCO – Sustainable binders and coatings

Background 

To cope with increasing global consumption and climate change as well as health concerns, innovations to substitute fossil-based binders and coatings with bio-based solutions are urgently needed to produce safe alternatives and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and dependency on fossil-based raw materials. 

Objectives  

The overall aim of SUSBINCO project is to develop bio-based alternatives for fossil-based binders and coatings in different applications that are sustainable and safe. The focus is especially on bio-based binders and sustainable coatings, which can be used in multiple applications, such as packaging, barrier materials, paints, adhesives, abrasives and sealants. 

Furthermore, SUSBINCO concentrates on increasing and enhancing the global business opportunities for the Finnish companies and the industries in the consortium and network. 

Work content 

The SUSBINCO project approaches the business opportunities from five perspectives organised in Work Packages (WPs):

• WP1 Production of raw materials for coating experiment  - preparing raw materials and developing bio-based surfactants for the purpose of dispersant, binders, and resins for coatings. 
• WP2 Controlled preparation of aqueous dispersions - formulating and analysing the aqueous bio-based coating dispersions by bringing together the expertise of research organisations and companies. 
• WP3 Introduction and progress on Lignin-based coatings​ – developing innovative crosslinking methods without any toxic chemicals for the lignin-based resins used primarily in coating materials. 
• WP4 Application and testing – testing and optimizing the functionality of the novel bio-based dispersions in the coating and converting processes. 
• WP5 Environmental impacts, end-of-life, and safety matters - testing and evaluating environmental impacts, end-of-life and safety aspects of new materials developed in the project for sustainable binders and coatings as well as final products. 

In co-operation with  

SUSBINCO is a Business Finland funded co-innovation project. 

The industrial partners, called as core partners, include  

• CH-Polymers, Metsä Board, Mirka, Montinutra, Teknos, UPM 

The industrial partners, called as collaborative partners, include 

• Brightplus, CH-Bioforce, Kiilto, MetGen, Valmet Technologies

The research organisations taking part in the consortium are 

• Åbo Akademi (ÅA), Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology (LUT), Natural Resources Institute of Finland (Luke), Tampere University (TAU), University of Eastern Finland (UEF), University of Oulu (UO), VTT Technical Research Center of Finland (VTT) 

Final report

SUSBINCO final report is available here.

Contact

If you are interested in knowing more about the SUSBINCO activities, please contact  

Aila Maijanen, aila.maijanen@clicinnovation.fi, +358 50 375 1182, Coordinator of SUSBINCO
Taina Kujanpää, taina.kujanpaa@clicinnovation.fi, +358 44 0202 777, Co-Coordinator of SUSBINCO
Chunlin Xu, chunlin.xu@abo.fi, +358 44 036 2088, Director of the public project 

Official website: https://www.abo.fi/fi/projekti/sustainable-binders-and-coatings/