Self‐cured Alkyd Resin Using Non‐Drying Avocado Seed Oil as a Material of Regenerative Resource

Abstract

Self-cured alkyd resin was synthesized from avocado seed oil (ASO) via a two way alcoholysispolycondensation method. The raw ASO was evaluated for its physical and chemical properties and further epoxidized, hydroxylated, and dehydrated to obtain a desaturated ASO. The fatty acids present in the raw ASO were evaluated with GC-MS while structural composition of the raw ASO, desaturated ASO and ASO based alkyd resin were evaluated with FTIR analytical technique. A surrogate kinetic model was used to approximate the acid functional group conversion in the alkyd reactor. FTIR and GC-MS results confirmed that the oil was predominantly saturated. The oil content of avocado seed is found to be 55% wt which justifies its availability as an industrial crop. The FTIR result further confirmed esterification reaction of the oil with acid anhydrides. The results of iodine values show that the unsaturation level of the oil increased significantly. The alkyd resin C produced met the requirements of standard drying test (ASTM 1640-D) in presence of nano-ZnO pigment at 32 C; exhibiting excellent adhesion, abrasion and chemical properties. The kinetic study further discloses that conversion (82%), viscosity (269 cP) and molecular weight average (4434 g/mol) were within the desired value in the state variable space.