TITLE:
Sustainability by Converting Waste Polyurethane Foam into Superior Polyurethane Urea Coatings
AUTHORS:
Ajay Vasudeo Rane, Mukesh Kathalewar, Vandana Jamdar, V.K. Abitha, Anagha Sabnis
KEYWORDS:
Polyurethane Foam, Recycled Polyol, Isocyanates, Coatings
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.2 No.5,
May
8,
2015
ABSTRACT: Recycling is a crucial area of research in Green Polymer Chemistry and
developments in recycling are driven by environmental concerns, interests in
sustainability and desire to decrease dependence on petroleum based materials.
Sustainability refers to the development that meets the needs of present
without comprising the ability of future generations. Polyurethane foams (PU)
are widely used due to their light weight and superior heat insulation as well
as good mechanical properties. However, large quantities of polyurethane foam
are discharged during manufacturing/ processing as a waste and hence recycling
of PU foam is necessary. In present study polyurethane foam is reacted with an
alkanolamines in presence of a catalystin conventional as well as microwave method, but microwaves proved to be
fast to depolymerise polyurethanes foam as compared to conventional method. The rate of reaction could be made identified by comparing the hydroxyl
values of the two systems. The hydroxyl value increases as the time and microwave
power increases. Further the depolymerised product with specified hydroxyl and
amine groups is further cured with isocyanates for coating application and the
coating formed is evaluated for physical, mechanical and chemical tests.