Waste Fatty Acid-Based Methyl Tetraglycol Ester Derived from Dimer Acid Manufacturing as an Efficient and Biodegradable Plasticizer for Poly(vinyl chloride)

Increasing evidence has shown that plasticizer pollution and waste fatty acid contamination are serious environmental issues in our daily lives. Herein, an environmental friendly plasticizer (waste momomer fatty acid-based methyl tetraglycol ester, WMA-MTE) was designed and prepared via the direct esterification of waste momomer fatty acid derived from dimer acid manufacturing and methyl tetraglycol. The resulting WMA-MTE was used as a potential alternative for toxic petro-based dioctyl phthalate (DOP) in plasticizing poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC). The properties of plasticized PVC including low temperature capability, tensile properties, thermal stability, and migration resistance were dependent on the content of WMA-MTE. Among them, the overall performances of PVC plasticized with 100% WMA-MTE (PVC/WMA-MTE) were better than others, which could be attributed to the excellent abilities of oxethyl units in WMA-MTE in both improving the compatibility and flexibility. Importantly, WMA-MTE could be biodegraded only by being buried in soil. All the above results suggest that WMA-MTE is an attractive alternative to DOP in the PVC industry.

Automated summary

An environmentally friendly plasticizer WMA-MTE was designed as a potential alternative to toxic DOP in PVC, improving its performance and offering biodegradability.