Bio-based and non-toxic coating instead of PFAS

The EU project TORNADO EU PFAS substitution assessments, led by the Spanish institute Tecnalia, will develop and test new coatings to replace the use of PFASs.

The coatings will be both water and grease repellent and will be developed in line with the framework developed by the EU to ensure that new chemicals and products are neither persistent nor toxic to humans and the environment (safe and sustainable by design, SSbD).

The project will contribute to a safe circular economy in the future, by developing and testing new coatings, and by evaluating the implementation of the SSbD framework. SSbD affects how products are designed, produced, used and treated at the end of their life, i.e. throughout their entire life cycle.

In TORNADO, biomonomers – i.e. bio-based molecules – will be functionalized to give them the right properties. They will then be used to create polymerized surfaces with applications in textiles, packaging and kitchen equipment. The biomonomers and coatings will be scaled up in an industrial environment and the surfaces created will be tested for functionality and validated according to current requirements and specifications.

The environmental benefits and the improved circularity will be evaluated using different life cycle assessment methods (LCA, LCC, s-LCA). Infrastructure for the efficient use of different computational tools for e.g. toxicity, biodegradability and physiochemical parameters of the substances produced will be created, in order to efficiently provide information on potential hazardous properties, transport and distribution of the new substances in the environment.