Engineered Polysaccharides: Alpha-1,3-glucan as a performance additive for coating applications

 
Polysaccharides are important biopolymers with many industrial and consumer product applications. Cellulose, starch and gum derivatives are broadly utilized as rheology additives in the coatings industry, often in combination with polymer binder resins, pigments and other components. Momentum is building for the selection of more sustainable coating chemistries without compromising the current product performance standards. Impacting the sustainability footprint of coatings is primarily focused on the transition towards low volatile content coatings and the use of high solids/multi-component systems - in addition, the use of biobased building blocks and additives may add further to the sustainability position of coating chemistries. DuPont BioMaterials has developed a family of engineered polysaccharides through the selective polymerization of sucrose to provide materials ranging in molecular weights, polymer architecture and particle morphology. The underlying enzymatic polymerization process offers the opportunity to design the polysaccharide structure to provide numerous performance options in combination with typical coating chemistries. This presentation will focus on selected application examples for this new family of additives and will outline several relevant application examples.