A novel PU foam manufacturing process with reduced isocyanate content

This EU-funded project is proposing to develop and evaluate a unique, homogeneous reactive mixture for polyurethane foaming purposes where reactants are physically separated using functionalised microcapsules of isocyanate conveniently dispersed in the polyol component.

The reactive system will allow an increase in the mixture reactivity due to the increased compatibility and homogeneity between isocyanate and polyol components, while decreasing the exposure of workers to harmful emissions by lowering the residual monomer content in the foam, thus avoiding the emissions and migration of such components from the foams.

In addition, this technique will create a decrease in the volume of waste generated due to bad cell homogeneity and low product density as consequence of bad mixing process. The expected results include:

•    New method for isocyanate encapsulation
•    New PU foam formulation based on polyols and micro-encapsulated isocyanate
•    New foaming method for PU foam manufacture

FreeFoam brings together a consortium of nine organisations to deliver the project led by CETEM (Science & Technology, Spain) and includes Inspiralia (Research, Spain), PolymerExpert
(Research & Development, France), Tagra (Research & Development, Israel), Plama-pur (Flexible PU producer, Slovenia), Cosmetic Valley (Research & Development, France), Lesarki grozd (Wood Industry Cluster, Slovenia), ZCHFP (Chemical & Pharmaceutical Association,-Slovakia), and the British Furniture Manufacturers’ Association (BFM), UK.
Having commenced in May 2013 the project has a planned duration of three years.

Further information can be found at
www.freefoam-project.eu