Characterization of polyurethane foams prepared from liquefied sawdust by crude glycerol and polyethylene glycol

The aim of this study was to investigate polyurethane foams (PUF) properties obtained from crude glycerol (CG) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) based liquefaction of sawdust. The four types of foam were prepared by producing polyols from different weight loadings of PEG to CG as the liquefaction solvent. The produced polyurethane foams showed densities from 0.042 to 0.08 g/cm(3) and compressive strengths from 200 to 311 kPa. The foams obtained from CG/PEG based liquefaction, had more uniform and regular cell structure than foams derived from liquefaction by CG. Also with the increasing percentage of PEG to CG in liquefaction, closed cell content of the synthesized foams increased and the size of cells decreased. The thermal conductivity of the produced foams was between 0.031 and 0.040 W/m K. Foams produced from liquefaction by binary solvent had lower thermal conductivity. However all foams showed approximately similar thermal degradation curves; maximum thermal decomposition temperature was seen for the foam produced from higher weight ratio of PEG to CG in liquefaction. PU foams produced from PEG/CG based liquefaction process had improved properties over from foams derived from sawdust liquefaction by CG.