Impact
BIO-SUSHY project will develop innovative coating solutions that meet the EU’s chemical strategy for sustainability and its ambition of a safe environment.
The project aims to develop new biofriendly ways to obtain durable water and oil repellent coatings that will be validated in three target markets: textile, food packaging, and packaging for cosmetic applications. The project will also aim to decrease environmental impact by 25% through the use of R&I coating development, computational modelling for performance, toxicity assessment, and SSbD methodology.
Additionally, the project will also contribute to the development of new standards to facilitate market acceptance and will aim to optimize the outputs through a program of data harmonization and management.
BIO-SUSHY data-driven design to support SSbD concepts
The BIO-SUSHY project aims to develop advanced coatings using computational tools, predictive models, and data-driven simulations.
It will use data from similar coatings to predict directions for further development and improvement of the materials and will use data-mining scripts to retrieve all available data from existing coatings.
The project will also use a data infrastructure that follows open-science and FAIR principles to guarantee harmonized sharing of the data in the project and allow public sharing at the earliest possible time.
3 Novel organic or hybrid coating materials with hydrophobic & oleophobic properties
The BIO-SUSHY project aims to develop eco-friendly organic/hybrid coating materials that are water and oil-repellent.
These materials will be alternatives to PFAS based coatings and will be designed to be compatible with several substrates and end-user requirements. They will also be developed using SSbD concepts and modelling and will use life cycle assessment tools and toxicology studies as eco-design tools.
The project aims to reduce the environmental impact by 25% and the production cost by less than 20%.
The developed materials will be validated in pre-industrial environments, and it is anticipated that the first coated materials will reach the market about two years after the end of the project.
Development of Safe- and Sustainable-by-design (SSbD) criteria
The project will use a multidisciplinary approach to integrate sustainability strategies and eco-design principles into the organic and hybrid coating formulations to ensure safety concerns and sustainability criteria are addressed in the early stages of the innovation process.
The safety of the coatings will be ensured by minimizing toxicity and environmental and human impact. At the same time, sustainability will be addressed by reducing environmental impact criteria such as climate change, resource use, and biodiversity.
The coatings will also comply with regulations and certifications related to the target applications.
Enhance social acceptance of new materials
BIO-SUSHY project aims to enhance the social acceptance of the new developed materials by compiling evidence-based data on consumer attitudes towards and willingness to pay for products that are less harmful to the environment and sustainable.
Certification programme
BIO-SUSHY is developing a certification programme along the whole value chain.
The programme will ensure conformity to legal norms and technical standards and compliance with final consumer requirements and international and regional directives.
The certification programme will include a series of evaluation tests and a list of components to be avoided in the coating material composition and will comply with REACH regulation and certification bodies of the end-use cases targeted by BIO-SUSHY. This will be performed in order to safeguard the technical aspects that are of particular relevance while satisfying requirements such as safety and toxicity.
Process and method Standardization
BIO-SUSHY project will integrate existing standards and will be linked with ongoing standardization work in different areas like plastics, packaging, bio-based products and textiles.
This integration will support the exploitation of the project and its results, getting feedback from the stakeholders organized in standardization and to contribute to the development of new standards.
A roadmap will be prepared to provide for complete standardization of the BIO-SUSHY results regarding PFAS-free materials and coatings, starting from the obtained standardization results during the project and explaining the further activities needed.
UNE will lead these activities supported by IFTH regarding textile applications.
Reduction of PFAS in the environment
One of the goals of the BIO-SUSHY project is to eliminate the use of PFAs (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) in the textile and packaging industry, where more than 30,000 tons per year are currently being utilized by the apparel industry alone (source).
The project aims to demonstrate the effectiveness and performance of alternative solutions with limited impact on production costs and a strong positive impact on the environment and human health.
The project aims to contribute to the global reduction of the amount of PFAs in the environment and the consequent positive impact on human health and the environment.
Boosting EU research, development and innovation
The BIO-SUSHY project aims to boost research, development, and innovation in the EU by developing new coatings for controlled wettability properties without PFAs at laboratory and pre-industrial scale.
The modulable character of the coating materials will make it possible to quickly adapt them to an extended area of substrates and end-uses. BIO-SUSHY will provide new material concepts that will improve the recyclability of the coating materials thanks to the replacement of fluorine-based components.
The project also aims to provide data from physical modelling and experimental work as input for QSAR data-driven modelling tools that will be available for large-scale research and development in material science.
Provide business opportunities to EU’s SMEs
The BIO-SUSHY consortium project aims to provide business opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through developing new products.
Six of the 14 partners in the consortium are SMEs, who will be directly provided with new product opportunities for their portfolio through the project.
