Soybean oil is one of the most sustainable, bio-renewable, abundant and economical materials capable of competing with petroleum-derived products. For over 60 years, it has been used as a drying oil for solventborne alkyd coating resins. Due to environmental regulations, the coatings industry has been under pressure to develop environmentally friendly formulations including low-VOC solventborne alkyd coatings, waterborne, high-solids and powder variations.
As a result, coatings scientists have revisited three key attributes of soybean oil: hydrophobicity, unsaturation and carbon chain lengths. The hydrophobic nature of soy contributes to a variety of performance improvements in coatings, while the C18 carbon chains improve flexibility in the coating film.