Almost everything around you is painted or has a coating. Water-based paint is increasingly the norm, but this paint is also not completely free of components made from oil. Hanneke Siebe, researcher at the University of Groningen, is working on a completely sustainable paint based on gum arabic.
This is reported by the University of Groningen. Walls, tables, floors or the lenses of your glasses. If you look around you, you will most likely see something with a layer of paint or a coating. Such a layer provides protection and extends the lifespan of products.
We often use water-based paint because it dries quickly, smells less strongly and water is a solvent that is not harmful to your health. The disadvantage is that this paint contains ingredients that are extracted from fossil oil.
“In my project I make a new type of water-based paint, with vegetable raw materials,” Siebe writes about her research. “We use gum arabic as a binding agent. Gum arabic is extracted from two types of acacia trees and is a renewable raw material that dissolves very well in water. It is safe to use and is even edible: it is used in the food industry as an ingredient in chewing gum, licorice and ice cream.”
Additional feature: robust drying
“The paint I want to make has an extra property that the paints that currently use gum arabic do not have. We want the paint to work just as well as existing commercial paints. They undergo a chemical reaction during drying. This reaction causes a change in the properties of the paint; Once the paint dries, it no longer dissolves in water. That is useful, it provides a more robust layer that is not easily washed off. It is a feature I also want to add to my paint: we create a paint made with safe, renewable raw materials that lasts as long after drying as current commercial paints.”
Source: University of Groningen
