TAGS: Sustainability / Natural Coatings
An Interview with Patrick Van Waes, Global Marketing Director at Covation Bio|PDO
The coatings industry transitions from fossil fuel-based raw materials to renewable alternatives. The base building blocks for coatings play a crucial role in making this shift happen.
Propanediol - a 100% bio-based USDA certified building block. Key features of this product include:
- It is a pure, plant-based, petroleum-free diol.
- It is renewable & sustainable sourced.
- It is used as reactive monomer for a variety of polyols and resins or additives and as bio-solvent.
It finds its uses in architectural, industrial, wood, UV, and powder coatings but also in coatings additives, adhesives, and inks.
We recently had a chance to interview Patrick Van Waes, the Global Marketing Director at Covation Bio|PDO. He sheds light on the company's vision for the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. And how adding 1,3-propanediol to your coatings can do wonders to reduce environmental impact.
#1. Tell us a bit about your company’s background. How has Covation Bio|PDO evolved as a supplier of sustainable ingredients over the years?
Covation Bio|PDO is the former DuPont Tate & Lyle Bio Solutions JV that has been spun off and launched as a new JV in June 2022. As DuPont Tate & Lyle the company has a long-standing experience with the development of 100% bio-based 1,3-propanediol and especially its usage in a variety of applications through the brands:
- Susterra® for industrial applications such as coatings
- Zemea® for cosmetics
#2. How is Covation Bio|PDO aligning with the prominent sustainability trends in coatings? Can you discuss the company’s vision for the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development?
The coatings industry, like all industries, is in a transition from fossil fuel-based raw materials to renewable materials. Plant-based materials such as our
1,3-propanediol are key to making that transition happen. Base building blocks from renewable plant-based sources will be crucial to transform the coatings industry into a sustainable industry.
At Covation Bio|PDO we are aligned with the following UN’s SDGs. Climate action and life on land are close to our hearts. Using PDO to replace petroleum-based feedstock has a direct positive impact while the industrial dent corn from the mid-west USA we are using has no land use change impact hence preserving nature and biodiversity.
#3. Please share your thoughts about plant-based performance polymers, the latest concept in the industry. What are, in your opinion, the main benefits and constraints of using these materials across various industries?
Important to understand is that it is not just plant-based but plant-based from renewable sources, in our case dent corn. The benefit is that dent corn is available in large quantities and that through regenerative farming the yield per acre is still growing. In this way, PDO can serve mass markets and not just niche bio-based applications.
The main constraint currently is the lack of speed of adoption. Bio-based applications tend to be a bit more expensive, and many companies are risk-averse although consumers in the B2B2C value chain are willing to pay a premium if they understand well what the benefits are and if the quality and performance are equally or better than the petroleum alternative.
#4. The innovative Susterra® Propanediol is Covation Bio|PDO’s response to petroleum-based alternatives. What applications can it be used for?
✓ In the coatings industry, PDO can be a monomer building block for polyols such as polyethers (PO3G).
✓ It can be used to produce polyesters and PU-resins.
✓ It also has the capability of a bio-solvent replacing, for instance, PG and EG or sometimes replacing 2 glycols for one.
#5. What are the specific performance benefits of Susterra® for coatings applications?
The benefits depend on the type of application. For instance:
- In the production of an epoxy-polyester powder coating by replacing 2 glycols with Covation Bio|PDO the formulation became easier and simpler.
- In architectural waterborne coatings, Covation Bio|PDO has witnessed a longer opening time which is an advantage for applying paint on warm days. It is really formulation-specific.
About Patrick Van Waes 
Patrick Van Waes is the Global Marketing Director at Covation Bio|PDO. He was born in Belgium and continues to live there. He has a master's in industrial engineering and organic chemistry and is a marketing practitioner with an entrepreneurial spirit.
Patrick is a 35-year international experienced professional with various B2B – B2C product and business development assignments and marketing responsibilities within companies such as AKZO NOBEL (R&D Chemist waterborne architectural coatings), DuPont Titanium Technologies (Technical Service Specialist, Brand licensing and sales roles), and Kraton (Global Marketing Manager Coatings).
At Kraton (Tall Oil Fatty Acid Producer) the passion for the shift to sustainable and renewable materials got ignited and continues in the work at Covation Bio|PDO. Track and Field are his other passions as a hobby.
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