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Polyurethane Foams Based on Biopolyols from Castor Oil and Glycerol

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Abstract

In this work, the synthesis of biopolyols derived from castor oil and different glycerols was performed by chemical glycerolysis with sodium hydroxide as catalyst at 225 °C. The biopolyol obtained from high purity glycerol led to predominantly MAG formation, whereas the biopolyol produced using crude glycerol, byproduct from biodiesel industry, resulted in higher DAG, TAG and FFA content due to the higher amount of water. Both biopolyols were employed for the synthesis of polyurethane (PU) foams by bulk polymerization using methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) at different NCO:OH ratios. The foams were evaluated by apparent density, insoluble fraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope and thermogravimetric analysis. The results showed that crude glycerol provided PU foams as much as commercial glycerol, however the characteristics may be different, mainly due to the presence of water in the reaction medium.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank: Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) and Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) for financial support (Grant No. 552251/2011-9); Laboratório Central de Microscopia Eletrônica at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (LCME-UFSC) for SEM images.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering and Food Engineering, Federal University of Santa Catarina, P.O. Box 476, 88040-900, Florianopolis, SC, Brazil

    Daniela Bresolin, Alexsandra Valério, Débora de Oliveira, Claudia Sayer & Pedro Henrique Hermes de Araújo

  2. Department of Chemical Engineering, Federal University of Paraná, P.O. Box 19011, 81531-980, Curitiba, PR, Brazil

    Marcelo Kaminski Lenzi

Authors
  1. Daniela Bresolin
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  2. Alexsandra Valério
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  3. Débora de Oliveira
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  4. Marcelo Kaminski Lenzi
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  5. Claudia Sayer
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  6. Pedro Henrique Hermes de Araújo
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Correspondence to Pedro Henrique Hermes de Araújo.

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Bresolin, D., Valério, A., de Oliveira, D. et al. Polyurethane Foams Based on Biopolyols from Castor Oil and Glycerol. J Polym Environ 26, 2467–2475 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10924-017-1138-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10924-017-1138-7

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