Industrialization has remarkably improved our life quality at the cost of an increase in the environmental pollution. Social awareness about environmental impact of our actions and the climate change is significantly increasing and environmental regulations are pushing the industry toward the use of non-toxic and environmentally friendly products. Consequently, the number of scientific works dealing with the use of renewable reagents has increased substantially in the last decade. In this context, this chapter highlights the green and sustainable alternatives that have been used so far in the open literature for the production of waterborne polymeric dispersions. A special focus on coatings and adhesives applications has been done. The most relevant renewable resource reagents such as (macro)monomers, surfactants, crosslinkers, chain transfer agents and nanofillers are summarized, paying special attention to emulsion and miniemulsion polymerization processes. In addition, some guidelines for the sustainability assessment of new reagents and processes are presented. Therefore, this chapter serves as guide for scientist interested in the development of sustainable waterborne coatings and adhesives.
Elsevier, Advances in Chemical Engineering, Volume 56, January 2020
