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New patented technology for greener urethanes

von Jeff Rowlands, Dr Frans Paap

During 2009, the team at Green Urethanes in the UK, started to discuss how to preserve the essential physical properties of urethane foams which contain small volumes of polyols derived from so called green feedstock – specifically palm oil, soy bean oil, rapeseed and castor oil as well as oils from animal sources. the result was that a total of six patents were applied for during 2009, and in March 2010 these were consolidated into a single application, now published as WO 2010/100421 A2 and WO 2010/100421 A4 (US 2010/0227151 A1). the Green Urethanes patent application has recently been registered in canada, china, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, and brazil. An application has already been lodged in the USA.

Further examinations are planned for russia, India, Indonesia, and Europe. by the end of 2011, Green Urethanes technology will be registered for patent examination in 23 countries worldwide. the patent application shows that the technology developed by Green Urethanes could remove the troublesome low molecular species normally present in natural oil polyols (NOPs) by reacting the NOP with isocyanates using specific catalysts. this results in a molecular weight distribution more similar to that of a conventional petrochemical based polyol. Foams produced using these polyols have processing and physical properties characteristics similar to traditional “non green” foams.