Renewable content in the manufacture of polyurethane polyols - an opportunity for natural oils
2007
Veenendaal, Bert
This paper is a follow-up on a presentation given to the XV International Conference on Palm Oil in Contagena Colombia. The summarized conclusions at that time were that: 1. The polyurethane (PU) industry has always used renewable content; 2. While there is a large potential for natural oils in the manufacture of polyurethane polyols, the current penetration is minimal and changing this will take time; 3. There is growing interest from supply and consumer side for renewable content; 4. The application of NOPs (Natural Oil Polyols) will be always a relatively minor one; 5. Nevertheless, major natural oil stakeholders are directly involved in the development. These conclusions remain valid despite new developments. Its is observed that initially the use of natural content in PU was widespreded many substances while recent developments did focus more narrowly on natural oil polyols. Now the scope is broadening again, leading to a more wide-spread evaluation of the use of renewable content in the PU industry. Before comming to a discussion on recent developments, some chemical insight is provided. Not only the basic PU chemistry is revisited but also the chemical structure on oleochemicals and their derivatives because its chemical understanding is a cornerstone for development geared toward substitution. The industry's requirements are based on specifications derived from petrochemical feedstock and oleochemical replacements need to meet of exceed standards and criteria achieved with petrochemical technology. The actual composition of oleochemicals makes this somewhat of a challenge and extensive chemical modification and process fine-tuning is required to make natural oils suitable for use in polyurethanes.
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