Lignicoat - Sustainable COATings based on LIGNIn resins and bio-additives with improved fire, corrosion and biological resistance

LIGNICOAT (compound word made of lignin + coating) is a CBE-JU funded project which wants to demonstrate technical and economic feasibility of the use of lignin as raw material to produce of bioresins for different applications in the field of functional coatings (varnishes, paints, etc.).

What is lignin? Lignin is like the glue inside plants, providing support and protection. It is nature’s second most abundant organic polymer by mass, exceeded only by cellulose. It is made up of various phenolic compounds and it is an underutilized product with a high potential to provide not only economic returns, but also environmental benefits. LIGNICOAT provides new synthetic routes to obtain bioresins “à la carte” based on lignin intermediates for application in coatings and validated in an industrial relevant environment.

The target is not only to increase the biobased content and ensure performance, but also take advantage of lignin specific characteristics to develop bioadditives (enzymes, sugars and other natural polymers), increasing the overall biocontent and providing features such as anticorrosive, fireproof and antimicrobial activities.

What is NORCE doing here?

The coatings industry has been driven by regulatory issues to diminish the content of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to improve indoor and outdoor air quality. In this regard, NORCE will help to add functionality with enzymes. NORCE is leading one of the work packages, assessing the potential of enzymes as bio-additives for self-decontaminating, low-VOC coating formulations. NORCE biotechnology groups will continue to work on enzymes for a greener industry, developing a complete value chain in-house from discovery of new enzymes to production by fermentation and even application.

Additionally, NORCE will also be contributing to test the antiviral effect of different coatings according to standardized methods.

You can find more about the project here:

https://www.lignicoat.eu/