Circular and Safe-and-Sustainable PFAS-Free Coatings for Corrosion Protection and Easy-to-Clean Applications on Metals, Plastics, and Glass

SAFECOAT is an industry-driven project, where SMEs and LSEs cooperate with leading research and technology organisations to deliver robust and scalable Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD) strategies for PFAS-free coatings. The project focuses on two critical industrial applications: PFAS-free corrosion protection coatings for metals and PFAS-free E2C hardcoatings for glass and plastics in the automotive and construction sectors. We will not only develop stand-alone PFAS-free alternatives for the market but will deliver “ready-to-use” coating materials scaled up to industrial scale processes (TRL7) ready for market launch and full commercial deployment for the targeted sectors and beyond. The SAFECOAT targeted combined global PFAS-free coatings market, for the sectors SAFECOAT project can address as outcome, are projected to reach +1.7 billion EUR in value by 2030. To quantify this further, 1.7 billion EUR, translates to 34.000.000 kg of coating material used per year. SAFECOAT will establish a structured SSbD stage-gate framework, integrating hazard and exposure analysis, Life-cycle assessments (LCA)/ Social-LCA (s-LCA), Life Cycle Costing (LCC)/ Techno-Economic Assessment (TEA), and circularity criteria into coating formulation, optimisation, and scale-up.