Zijian Chen¹, Rui Hou, Jianbing Cheng, Fengjie Fang, Donglin Tang^*, Guangzhao Zhang

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.6, No.6, pp. 584-590, 2018, DOI:10.32604/JRM.2018.00120

Abstract Biobased urea nowadays attracts increasing attention as a biomass resource with giant potential, which benefits from the development of biobased ammonia and ecological sanitation system. Urea is an ideal feedstock for chemical industry and developing new urea-based pol ymer materials can take advantage of the urea resource. In this work, a class of renewable linear polyesters, nam ely polyisocyanuratoesters (PICEs) were synthesized from a urea-based monomer bis(2-carbomethoxyethyl) isocyanurate and biobased aliphatic diols. Compared with conventional aliphatic polyesters, PICEs containing isocyanurate rings in the polymer chain backbone exhibit outstanding flame retardancy that both PICE-4 (the number ‘4’ refers to the number… More >

Claudio Gioia*, Maria Barbara Banella, Grazia Totaro, Micaela Vannini, Paola Marchese, Martino Colonna, Laura Sisti, Annamaria Celli

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.6, No.1, pp. 126-135, 2018, DOI:10.7569/JRM.2017.634191

Abstract New fully biobased polyether/esters have been synthesized by a one-pot polymerization reaction of ricinoleic acid (RA), vanillic acid (VA) and ethylene carbonate (EC). In particular, EC selectively reacts with the phenolic group of VA to obtain in-situ 4-(2-hydroxyethoxy)-3-methoxybenzoate (EV), suitable for subsequent copolymerization with RA. The procedure was carried out in a single step, without any solvent. Chemical structure and thermal properties of the new materials were studied in order to explore relationships between composition and final performances. The combination of EV, bearing a rigid aromatic structure, with RA, characterized by high flexibility and potential biocidal activity, allows the production… More >

S.H. Hassan^1,2, Lee Hwei Voon^1*, T.S. Velayutham^2*, Lindong Zhai³, Hyun Chan Kim³, Jaehwan Kim³

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.6, No.1, pp. 1-25, 2018, DOI:10.7569/JRM.2017.634173

Abstract Cellulose is a renewable biomass material and natural polymer which is abundantly available on Earth, and includes agricultural wastes, forestry residues, and woody materials. The excellent and smart characteristics of cellulose materials, such as lightweight, biocompatibility, biodegradability, high mechanical strength/stiffness and low thermal expansibility, have made cellulose a high-potential material for various industry applications. Cellulose has recently been discovered as a smart material in the electroactive polymers family which carries the name of cellulose-based electroactive paper (EAPap). The shear piezoelectricity in cellulose polymers is able to induce large displacement output, low actuation voltage, and low power consumption in the application… More >

Shegufta Shetranjiwalla, Shaojun Li, Laziz Bouzidi, Suresh S. Narine^*

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.5, No.5, pp. 333-344, 2017, DOI:10.7569/JRM.2017.634102

Abstract The impact of polymerization protocol on phase structure and properties of entirely lipid-derived thermoplastic poly(ester urethane)s (TPEU)s was investigated. The TPEUs were synthesized from 1,7-heptamethylene diisocyanate, polyester diols and 1,9-nonanediol (ND) as chain extender. A two-stage polymerization method was used to prepare two TPEUs; one in which ND was added in the first stage of polymerization as part of the prepolymer and another in the second stage after the prepolymer was formed. Two very different morphologies exhibiting different degrees of phase separation were obtained, driven by the sequence of addition of the chain extender. The incorporation of the chain extender… More >

Nicole Segura Salas¹, Felipe Orozco Gutiérrez³, Luis Daniel Mora Murillo², Yendry Corrales Ureña³, Shakira Johnson¹, José Vega Baudrit³, Rodolfo Jesús González-Paz^3*

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.5, No.3-4, pp. 313-322, 2017, DOI:10.7569/JRM.2017.634122

Abstract Vegetable oils are being used for the production of biodegradable polymers, opening new possibilities for the synthesis of greener materials that could compete in national markets with petroleum-based polymers. In this study, castor oil and a catalyst (cobalt[II] naphtenate as promotor and MEKP as initiator) from local stores and styrene in different ratios were used to produce thermostable polymers. The kinetics of the polymerization reaction was followed by infrared spectroscopy. A polymeric material was synthetized which presents good mechanical properties. Therefore, composites were produced using 1 wt% of microcellulose extracted from biomass waste as reinforcement or 1 wt% microsilica to… More >

Daniel Brenes-Granados¹, Jorge M. Cubero-Sesin^1,2, Felipe Orozco Gutiérrez³, Jose Vega-Baudrit³, Rodolfo Gonzalez-Paz^3*

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.5, No.3-4, pp. 280-289, 2017, DOI:10.7569/JRM.2017.634118

Abstract In this work, rigid polyurethane foams were synthesized from renewable sources using different catalysts to study their effect on the mechanical, thermal, chemical and surface properties of the foams. A commercial foam pattern was used as the reference pattern to compare the aforementioned properties. Concentrations of the commercial catalysts were optimized to obtain foams with similar mechanical properties to the commercial foam. Morphological characterization of the foams was performed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was employed to investigate the characteristic functional groups. Thermal characterization was performed by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric… More >

M. Kirpluks^1*, D. Kalnbunde¹, Z. Walterova², U. Cabulis¹

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.5, No.3-4, pp. 258-270, 2017, DOI:10.7569/JRM.2017.634116

Abstract In this study, polyols with high average functionality were synthesized from a renewable resource, rapeseed oil, as raw material for rigid PU foam production. A well-known method of rapeseed oil fatty acid double bond epoxidation was used to introduce oxirane rings into rapeseed oil structure. The temperature influence on epoxidation reaction conversion rate was studied by volumetric and FTIR spectra analysis. After epoxidation of rapeseed oil, an oxirane ring-opening reaction was carried out to obtain high functionality polyols. Diethylene glycol, a conventional oxirane ring-opening reagent, was compared to amine-based polyfunctional alcohols, diethanolamine and triethanolamine. The introduction of tertiary amine groups… More >

Luis Daniel Mora-Murillo¹, Felipe Orozco-Gutierrez², José Vega-Baudrit², Rodolfo Jesús González-Paz^2*

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.5, No.3-4, pp. 220-230, 2017, DOI:10.7569/JRM.2017.634112

Abstract Nowadays, green polyurethane (PU) foams are mostly synthesized by replacing an amount of petrochemical polyol with biobased polyol. Here we report five different families of isocyanate prepolymer formulations that were prepared with biobased sources and the correlation between the structure of chains and the properties of the produced PU foam. Foam behavior in tension, torsion, compression, shape memory tests and physical properties were studied by dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA); interactions in the polymer chains were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR); and thermal analysis was performed by thermogravimetry (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results showed that… More >

Louis C. Muller^1*, Sanette Marx¹, Hermanus C.M. Vosloo²

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.5, No.1, pp. 67-80, 2017, DOI:10.7569/JRM.2016.634130

Abstract This work reports a study of polyol synthesis through liquefaction of technical lignins in crude glycerol by means of 1H and 31P NMR spectroscopy. The polyols are intended for preparation of polyurethane foam; thus, it is important to know how different lignin types as well as crude glycerol influence and contribute to the final polyol hydroxyl contents. Polyols prepared from organosolv lignin, kraft lignin and lignosulphonate had hydroxyl numbers suitable for rigid foam of 435, 515 and 529 mgKOH/g, respectively. The polyols differed in composition with glycerol, showing significant variation. During liquefaction the glycerol content was mostly reduced through bonding… More >

Ananda S. Amarasekara^*, Muhammad A. Hasan, Eve Larkin

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.5, No.1, pp. 62-66, 2017, DOI:10.7569/JRM.2016.634129

Abstract Condensation polymerization of renewable resources-based monomers, 4-ketopimelic acid and glycerol, were studied using two different catalysts; p-toluenesulfonic acid and Sb2O3. The highest polymer yield of 96% was achieved by using a 3:4 mole ratio mixture of 4-ketopimelic acid and glycerol, with Sb2O3 (0.5 mol% relative to 4-ketopimelic acid) as catalyst and heating at 23–210 °C, under N2 for 1 h; then 210 °C, vacuum, 12 h. The poly(4-ketopimelic acid-glycerol) formed is insoluble in all common organic solvents and is shown to contain a branched polymeric structure with ketal and ester links by using FT-IR, 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy. More >