HELSINKI, Finland – Coatings manufacturer Teknos is participating in a project to develop bio-based binders and coatings as sustainable alternatives for fossil-based materials. A consortium of Finnish companies and research institutes have formed the SUSBINCO project with the aim of developing novel and bio-based product portfolios for manufacturing and commercialization in global markets. SUSBINCO will support Finland in the goal to become a development and market leader in bio-based solutions. It has received funding from the Finnish export promotion institute, Business Finland.

“Sustainable binders and coatings are becoming more and more important. To combat climate change and resource scarcity, companies in all industries need to develop low-carbon, bio-based alternatives to fossil-based materials. In the coatings industry, the availability and price of materials as well as the high technical requirements have limited the usage of bio-based solutions. Therefore, it is important to develop new bio-based alternatives,” said Pasi Virtanen, Group R&D Manager, Innovations, at Teknos.

The SUSBINCO project aims to develop binders and coatings that can be used in packaging, paints, adhesives, sealants and abrasives. The objective is to achieve 80-100% bio-based content in the developed binders and coatings. The project began in autumn 2021 and ends in 2023.

 “The ambition of this project is very high; enabling products with at least 80% of bio-content means doubling the current available bio-level. By the end of the project, we hope to have a range of polymers with high bio-based content that we can utilize widely in our own solutions. This is an important project, which also provides excellent support for our current corporate strategy,” Virtanen explained.