Zuleica Lozada and Galen J. Suppes. University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, MO
The developments of polyols bio-based are growing for decades and its going to replace petroleum-based polyols. Soy-based polyols are potentially low-cost materials and reduced impact on the environment. In addition, the introduction of natural oils into the polyurethane products can provide an opportunity for suppliers and customers to reduce their dependence on crude oil from petroleum. The present work proposes a few new soy-based polyols which are produced by oligomerization of triglycerides (or derivatives of triglycerides) and have good reactivity with isocyanate in elastomers, rigid and flexible polyurethane foam production. New soy-based polyols have been synthesized based on epoxidation and alcohol moieties attached to bodied soybean oil. Rigid, flexible, and elastomer polyols have been synthesized and reacted to from urethanes with a range of properties. The used of the bodied fatty acid backbone was effective to increase the functionality and/or hydroxyl equivalent molecular weight. Some of the soy-based polyol proposed have disadvantages associated with increase number and/or complexity of process steps, but at least the final product has a good quality. The proposed methods increase the molecular weight of the triglyceride to average values over 1500.