Abstract
The aim of this work is to evaluate the influence of bio-polyol synthesized from used cooking oil on selected properties of rigid polyurethane foams. Application of bio-polyol allows utilization of used cooking oil in the preparation of polyurethane foams according to circular economy. In our work, bio-polyurethane foams were obtained by replacing 20, 60 and 100% of petrochemical polyol with bio-polyol from waste oil. It was observed that the introduction of the bio-polyol caused an increase in the reactivity of the polyurethane system during the foaming process, which was also confirmed by dielectric polarization changes. A complete replacement of petrochemical polyol with the bio-polyol caused cell opening in the foams. A replacement of 20 wt% of petrochemical polyol with the bio-polyol allowed preparation of polyurethane foams with improved thermal insulating properties. The introduction of 20% of the bio-polyol resulted in an increase of the compressive strength in a parallel direction compared to the reference material. The dimensional stability of bio-foams was very high since none of the dimensions differed by more than 0.5% upon treatment with an elevated temperature (70 °C).
Highlights
In recent years, the use of polyurethane (PUR) materials has been attracting increasing attention, especially in such industry branches as: construction, refrigeration, automotive, aviation, mining and medicine [1,2,3,4,5]
A modification of a reference system with bio-polyols based on fresh natural oil or fillers has an influence on the foaming process as we reported in our earlier work [35,36,37]
In the experiment described in this paper, the introduction of the waste cooking oil-based polyol into the PUR composition resulted in a change in the foaming process and an increase of the mixture reactivity
Summary
The use of polyurethane (PUR) materials has been attracting increasing attention, especially in such industry branches as: construction, refrigeration, automotive, aviation, mining and medicine [1,2,3,4,5]. The highest share in the PUR materials market is related to PUR foams, which are divided into flexible, semi-rigid and rigid. Rigid foams are mainly used to fill empty spaces in building constructions, doors and window frames, for the Department of Chemistry and Technology of Polymers, Cracow University of Technology, Warszawska 24, 31‐155 Kraków, Poland. Faculty of Materials Science, Warsaw University of Technology, Wołoska 141, 02‐507 Warszawa, Poland. Rigid foams with a closed-cell structure are mainly used as insulation materials due to the low thermal conductivity coefficient (lower than that of foamed polystyrene or mineral wool), high dimensional stability, good mechanical properties and low apparent density [9]
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