Bio-Based Feedstock Substitution for Polyaspartic

Four Technical Routes for Bio-Based Feedstock Substitution in Polyaspartic Environmental Technology

1. Plant-oil–based monomers

Core feedstock: Castor oil (more than 80% of bio-based PAE is synthesized from this source)

Chemical route: Castor oil → Hydrolysis → Ricinoleic acid → Sebacic acid → 1,10-Decanediamine → Bio-based PAE monomer

Advantages:

• Hydroxy-fatty-acid structure imparts flexibility (elongation at break > 250%).
• Natural hydrophobicity (water contact angle > 95°).

Limitations: Poor low-temperature flow (requires bio-based plasticizers such as tri-n-butyl citrate).

2. Sugar-fermentation monomers

Representative monomers:

• 1,5-Diaminopentane (from lysine decarboxylation) → used to synthesize bio-based PDI (pentamethylene diisocyanate).
• Succinic acid (E. coli fermentation) → used to prepare bio-based chain extenders.

Performance features:

• Aliphatic-chain structure improves hydrolysis resistance (after boiling in water at 100 °C for 240 h, adhesion retention > 90%).
• Reactivity is ~30% higher than petroleum-based PAE (reduces surface-dry time to 8 minutes).

3. Lignin-derived monomers (breakthrough direction)

Technical route: Lignin → vanillin → bio-based aromatic amines → modified PAE.

Innovation value:

• Introduces rigid phenyl rings; hardness increases to 3H (pencil hardness).
• UV-absorbing properties (QUV aging 3000 h, ΔE < 1.5).

Representative research: LigniPoly™ series developed by VTT (Finland), bio-based content 40%.

4. CO₂-derived monomers (frontier exploration)

Technical principle: Captured industrial CO₂ + epoxidized vegetable oils → cyclic carbonates → aminolysis to form PAE.

Environmental value: About 0.3 t CO₂ fixed per ton of resin (LCA carbon footprint can be negative).

Performance-Optimization Strategies for Bio-Based PAE Resins

Technical-Selection Decision Framework for Polyaspartic Environmental Technology

Start from the application need: first decide whether curing above 100 °C is required. If yes, prioritize rigid lignin/FDCA systems and then assess color limits—use lignin direct-modification when color is acceptable, or switch to de-colored lignin plus FDCA when low color is required. If curing above 100 °C is not needed, ask whether fast drying (<10 min) is necessary; if so, choose a sugar-based PDI with a nanocellulose-catalyzed system, and if not, select a castor-oil-based flexible system.

Policy and Certification Essentials

International certifications:

• ISCC PLUS (mass-balance certification).
• USDA BioPreferred® (minimum bio-based content requirement for industrial coatings: 25%).

Directions for Techno-Economic Breakthroughs

Raw-material cost control

• Develop energy-crop oils (e.g., camelina oil) to replace food-grade castor oil.
• Enzyme-catalyzed processes to reduce energy consumption (Evonik’s bio-amination reduces energy use by ~60%).

Performance-premium development

• Incorporate functional components (e.g., graphene for thermal conduction, silver ions for antibacterial effects).
• Develop degradable polyurea (esterase-triggered hydrolysis) for agricultural mulch films.

Latest Developments

The Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has achieved in-situ polymerization with cellulose nanocrystals: hardness of bio-based PAE increased by ~50% with only ~10% cost increase.

Feiyang has been specializing in the production of raw materials for polyaspartic coatings for 30 years and can provide polyaspartic resins, hardeners and coating formulations.
Feel free to contact us: marketing@feiyang.com.cn
 

Our products list:

• Polyaspartic Resin
• Isocyanate Hardener
• Epoxy Hardener
• Special Chemical

Contact our technical team today to explore how Feiyang Protech’s advanced polyaspartic solutions can transform your coatings strategy. Contact our Tech Team