Exploitation of Natural and Recycled Biomass Resources to Get Eco-friendly Polymer

Recently, substitution of primary resources by renewable alternatives is strongly concerned. With this stream, new environmental-friendly polyester is prepared using natural oleic acid and biomass resources, for the first time. A biomass (BM) waste mixture was subjected to liquification reaction with polyol, then the liquefied biomass (LBM) was reacted with natural oleic acid to get LBM-based polyester (PES-LBM). The exothermic properties showed longer period of curing that allows easier processing. PES-LBM has minimum emitted temperature during crosslinking, compared with other commercial types. FTIR emphasized liquification of biomass, and its reaction with oleic to form PES-LBM. XRD showed change in structure after reacting crystalline LBM with oleic acid getting polyester phase. The obtained PES-LBM polymer has improved thermal properties, due to thermal decomposition at higher temperatures with lower weight loss. DSC shows transitions of polyester segments. Furthermore, the hardness of PES-LBM is enhanced by 6.4% compared with the reference polymer taken. The characterization sentence approved the successful preparation of novel polyester with improved properties, as long as the environmental impact.

Automated summary

In this study, a new environmental-friendly polyester was prepared for the first time using natural oleic acid and biomass resources. The resulting PES-LBM exhibited improved thermal properties and hardness. The liquification reaction of biomass and its reaction with oleic acid successfully led to the formation of the LBM-based polyester with longer curing period and lower emitted temperature during crosslinking.