bright coatings

creating green coatings from biomass residues

In this project the large scale production of sustainable and high quality/performance bio-aromatics will be established and its applications will be demonstrated. In order to do so, a consortium led by Relement which consists of various SME’s and other companies within the bio-aromatics and coatings value chain has been formed. The consortium ,which is strongly centred around the South-Netherlands/North-Brabant region, includes representatives from biorefineries all the wat to coatings developers and users. Their shared resources, knowledge and experience will be put to use in order to create and solve the last missing link in creating a 100% biobased, sustainable production of coatings. By creating a high performance, sustainable and biobased alternative, the industry will become much less dependent on fossil resources. The result is an industry that is able to close the resource chain and is able to use and valorize residual streams of biomass in order to transition to a circular, biobased economy. Additionally, the properties of this high performance coating will be tested and demonstrated, further proving to other industries the opportunities presented by biobased alternatives for fossil-based aromatic compounds. 



The innovation in this project is the scale-up towards (sub)commercial scale (>100kg) production of the bio-aromatic bio-MPA, which as of today has not been done before. The production of a bio-aromatic compound which can be used as high performance, competitive alternative for currently fossil based compounds will revolutionize the resins and coatings market by allowing coatings of 100% renewable origin, and has the potential to ignite revolutions in any other industries that use aromatic compounds as binders. The production of a biobased coating of 100% renewable origin is highly innovative in and of itself, with the bio-aromatic compound forming the missing link in its production as these aromatics are currently only available from fossil feedstock. Further innovations are the establishment of a local (Zuid-Nederland) value-chain for the conversion of residual biomass to bio-aromatics, which will be the first of its kind. Via this conversion process, a high value platform molecule is formed which independently may provide other industries with essential chemical building blocks of a renewable origin that are as of yet not readily available in the Zuid-Nederland region. 

The societal value of this project is that through the use of bio-aromatics as alternatives for fossil phthatlic anhydride the dependency on fossil resources will be severely reduced and aid in establishing a sustainable economy. As the world is increasingly looking for sustainable alternatives for fossil resources due to the negative environmental impacts, this biobased alternative is exactly that. Next to the important reduction in use of fossil feedstocks, the use of bio-aromatics will lower overall CO2 emissions for non-recyclable products such as coatings For biorefineries, the possibility of valorizing their residual biomass streams by prociding as them as a feedstock for the production of high value chemicals offers an immense opportunity for the business case. On the other side of the value-chain, the use of bio-aromatics for the production of sustainable resins and coatings with high(er) performance will revolutionize the paint and coatings industry, meaning that the consortium partners will be among the first parties globally to move into the sustainable coatings market. The progress made within this project will allow The Circular Biobased Delta and the Green Chemistry Campus to aid in maintaining and further strengthening the Netherlands’ position as a global leader in innovations regarding coatings. 



It is expected that the Bright Coatings project will have a massive positive impact on the local economy as well as any industry that is reliant on the use of aromatics. This industry and market has been waiting for a long time on All technical and economic data in this document are confidential. 3 

Bright Coatings 

sustainable aromatic solutions. Through the establishment of the aforementioned local value-chain from biomass to coatings, the North-Brabant region will benefit greatly from this project. The business case is focused on the following themes: 



• Industrial scale production of bio-aromatics 
• Additional beneficial properties of bio-aromatics compared to fossil-based aromatics 
• Development and production of 100% biobased alkyd resins and coatings 
• Valorization of local residual biomass streams