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Adhesives and coatings are an integral part of everyday wood-based consumer products. However, most adhesives and coatings currently on the market are produced using fossil-based and harmful chemicals, which conflicts with the EU-level goal of protecting the health and well-being of citizens and the environment.
As a solution, the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) has funded SuperBark – a research and demonstration project that will develop sustainable adhesives and surface coatings from pine and spruce bark, which are major industrial side streams of the forest industry. SuperBark is coordinated by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, and the project’s interdisciplinary consortium consists of 12 partners from eight countries. SuperBark kicked-off on 1st September 2023 and will run until August 2027.
The project aims to develop, test, and validate adhesives and coatings with ≥ 95% bio-based content that will replace fossil-based solutions currently used in consumer products in the furniture, construction, transport, and packaging sectors. To accomplish this, SuperBark will use polyphenols extracted from tree bark using a new alkaline fractionation technology, as well as cellulose nanofibrils converted from cellulose-rich bark residues.
“SuperBark aims to replace formaldehyde-based products and eliminate chemical emissions, to which consumers are exposed indoors. By combining digital technologies in process design, system dynamics modelling and data analysis, we can accelerate the development of adhesives and coatings into products with a long-lasting impact on human health and the environment,” says Marc Borrega, Senior Scientist and Project Manager from VTT.
Throughout SuperBark, the partners will evaluate the safety, sustainability, technical as well as economic performance of the adhesives and coatings to initiate further R&D actions towards commercialization of the developed processes and products, which will reduce the demand for fossil-based, hazardous chemicals and polymers typically used in wood coatings today.
To learn more about SuperBark, please contact Project Coordinator Marc Borrega, marc.borrega@vtt.fi, +358 40 4820 837, or info@superbark.eu
Press release on BusinessWire.
About SuperBark
SuperBark is a four-year initiative funded by the CBE JU under the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme for €4.5 million. The project started on 1st September 2023. SuperBark is coordinated by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, and the consortium has 12 partners from eight countries. The partners’ profiles include four industrial partners: Adler-Werk Lackfabrik Johannberghoffer GmbH & Co KG, Metsä Group, Goricane Tovarna Papirja Medvode d.d, Kastamonu Entegre, six research and technology organisations: Fraunhofer Gesellschaft Zur Forderung Der Angewandten Forschung EV, Rigas Tehniska Universitate, Holzforschung Austria Osterreichische Gesellschaft Fur Holzforschung, Luxembourg Institute Of Science And Technology, Institut Za Celulozo In Papir, Fundacion Tecnalia Research & Innovation, and one small and medium size enterprise: CLIC Innovation Oy.