Development and Life Cycle Assessment of Polyester Binders Containing 2,5-Furandicarboxylic Acid and Their Polyurethane Coatings

Abstract: This work presents a new polyester binder based on 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) as precursors of polyurethane (PU) coatings. The new 100% bio-based structure is composed of four different monomers such as glycerine (Gly), 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PD), 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) and succinic acid (SA). The corresponding PU coating was obtained by crosslinking with a conventional polyisocyanate (Vestanat 1890/100). Evaluation of technological performances is present and benchmarked against partially bio-based (75% renewable carbon) polyester binder and fossil-based polyester binder, already developed in one of our previous work. The study showed a stiffer PU coating and a more hydrophilic character leading to better adhesion where a possible potential application may be interesting as an intermediate layer/primer in the field of metal coating (coil coating, automotive). Afterwards, the evaluation of the total impact of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), the total non-renewable energy use (NREU) by the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for the new polyester binder are included on a cradle-to-gate approach, and considering an FDCA production process starting from sugar beet (primary data). The results showed a very noteworthy reduction in terms of GHG emissions (− 36 and − 79%) and a noticeable reduction impact in terms of NREU (− 38 and − 60%) compared to 75% bio-based and fossil-based polyester binders respectively. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis regarding sugar production from beet cultivation was developed through different LCA calculation methodologies. Those methodologies showed a not very significant difference between them. Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.].