Reduction of Epoxidized Vegetable Oils: A Novel Method to Prepare Bio‐Based Polyols for Polyurethanes

Abstract

A novel method, epoxidation/reduction of vegetable oils, is developed to prepare bio-based polyols for the manufacture of polyurethanes (PUs). These polyols are synthesized from castor oil (CO), epoxidized soybean oil, and epoxidized linseed oil and their molecular structures are characterized. They are used to prepare a variety of PUs, and their thermomechanical properties are compared to those of PU made with petroleum-based polyol (P-450). It is shown that PUs made with polyols from soybean and linseed oil exhibit higher glass transition temperatures, tensile strength, and Young's modulus and PU made with polyol from CO exhibits higher elongation at break and toughness than PU made with P-450. However, PU made with P-450 displays better thermal resistance because of tri-ester structure and terminal functional groups. The method provides a versatile way to prepare bio-polyols from vegetable oils, and it is expected to partially or completely replace petroleum-based polyols in PUs manufacture.

Improvement of Mechanical Ductile Properties of Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) by Using Vegetable Oil Derivatives

“…Currently, these epoxidized vegetable oils are widely used as secondary plasticizers and stabilizers for industrial polyvinyl chloride (PVC) formulations . Other uses in engineering applications include biodegradable lubricants, polyol production, and manufacturing of environmentally friendly polyurethane foams …”

Bio-based reactive diluents as sustainable replacements for styrene in MAESO resin

“…[7][8][9] Among them, soybean oils are one of the most widely investigated platform chemicals to replace petroleum-based chemical in the preparation of biobased thermosets because of their abundant availability, sustainability, and relatively low cost. [10][11][12] Soybean oils are composed of approximately 99% of triglycerides. Soybean oils contain mainly ve fatty acids: palmitic acid (10%), stearic acid (4%), oleic acid (18%), linolenic acid (13%), and linoleic acid (55%).…”

Thermoplastic Elastomers from Vegetable Oils via Reversible Addition-Fragmentation Chain Transfer Polymerization

“…Once epoxidized, vegetable oils can also be used in the production of polyols using ring opening agents, such as methanol or other mono-alcohols, with fluoroboric acid (HBF 4 ) as a catalyst (8). LiAlH 4 was also reported as a catalyst capable of converting epoxidized triglycerides into polyols (9). Additionally, Zhang et al developed a solvent and catalyst-free route to synthesize polyols from castor oil and polyurethanes therefrom (10).…”