Biogenic coatings and films for transportation protection

 
The European "Green Deal" serves as a transition to a sustainable and climate-friendly economy, which pose major challenges, also for the transport sector. Therefore, it is crucial to minimize the dependency on limited petrochemical raw materials and to maximize the recyclability of the final products. This can be achieved via a sustained increase of biomass in production, and the transition to a circular economy. The surface condition and appearance of many industrial goods is of crucial importance for the end user. The most common solution or this problem are non-reusable petrochemical protective films. This required surface protection generates a significant amount of waste before the actual product is even used.The aim of this research project is the development of a biodegradable coating system based on chitin - the second most common biogenic polymer - and its derivative chitosan as a tool for temporary protective layers. Especially with enzymatic functionalization of the amine groups of chitosan unique film properties can be achieved. As a result, biomass in industry can be increased and the dependence on petrochemical products - an origin of microplastics - can be reduced.