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. 2020 Apr 24;13(8):1985.
doi: 10.3390/ma13081985.

High Functionality Bio-Polyols from Tall Oil and Rigid Polyurethane Foams Formulated Solely Using Bio-Polyols

Mikelis Kirpluks  1 , Edgars Vanags  1 , Arnis Abolins  1 , Slawomir Michalowski  2 , Anda Fridrihsone  1 , Ugis Cabulis  1
Affiliations

High Functionality Bio-Polyols from Tall Oil and Rigid Polyurethane Foams Formulated Solely Using Bio-Polyols

Mikelis Kirpluks et al. Materials (Basel). .

Abstract

High-quality rigid polyurethane (PU) foam thermal insulation material has been developed solely using bio-polyols synthesized from second-generation bio-based feedstock. High functionality bio-polyols were synthesized from cellulose production side stream-tall oil fatty acids by oxirane ring-opening as well as esterification reactions with different polyfunctional alcohols, such as diethylene glycol, trimethylolpropane, triethanolamine, and diethanolamine. Four different high functionality bio-polyols were combined with bio-polyol obtained from tall oil esterification with triethanolamine to develop rigid PU foam formulations applicable as thermal insulation material. The developed formulations were optimized using response surface modeling to find optimal bio-polyol and physical blowing agent: c-pentane content. The optimized bio-based rigid PU foam formulations delivered comparable thermal insulation properties to the petro-chemical alternative.

Keywords: bio-based; high functionality polyols; rigid polyurethane foam; tall oil; thermal insulation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Idealized scheme of bio-polyol synthesis from TOFAs.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Size exclusion chromatography (SEC) graph of neat TOFAs and ETOFAs used for the bio-polyol synthesis.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The possible side-reactions of epoxide rings in acidic medium.
Figure 4
Figure 4
SEC analysis of TOFA bio-polyols. (a) ETOFA_TMP and ETOFA_DEG; (b) ETOFA_TEOA and ETOFA_DEOA.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra of TOFAs, ETOFAs, and the resulting four TOFA-based bio-polyols.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Response surfaces of ETOFA_TMP polyol and c-pentane influence on the developed rigid PU foam apparent density and closed cell content.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Response surfaces of ETOFA_TMP polyol and c-pentane influence on the developed rigid PU foam start time, string time, tack-free time, and sustainable material content.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Desirability response of the rigid PU foam optimization: (a) ETOFA_TMP polyol series; (b) ETOFA_TMP polyol series plotted as three-dimensional (3D) surface; (c) ETOFA_DEG series; and (d) ETOFA_TEOA series.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Thermal conductivity of the optimized rigid PU foam formulations.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Compression properties of ETOFA_TMP polyol based rigid PU foams: (a) compression strength (b) compression modulus.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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