Over the past two years Specialchem4Adhesives readers have dramatically changed their outlook towards adhesives produced from materials obtained from biological sources. As an alternative to petrochemical resources these materials offer a number of advantages. Biomaterials should be largely unaffected by any oil price rises, provide a product with "green" credentials, and offer properties not available to other polymers. Some of the industrys oldest products are based on biological starting materials like starch and protein, so adhesive producers were clearly aware of these advantages. However, as the Click n Vote poll results below show, among those who werent already explicitly intending to exploit them, many now have plans to do so.
Will You Include Bio-based Chemicals in Your Adhesive Developments?
Comparison of Peoples Outlook 2009 INSERT INTO [lzx].[dbo].[tb_new]([id],[type],[title],[source],[personal],[image],[contents],[time],[number]) VALUES (82 members) and 2010 INSERT INTO [lzx].[dbo].[tb_new]([id],[type],[title],[source],[personal],[image],[contents],[time],[number]) VALUES (45 members) Gathered from the SpecialChem4Adhesives community
Most of the renewable materials set to directly replace petrochemicals are based on oils that are triglyceride fatty acid esters, like rapeseed oil or soybean oil. Many such chemicals are already commercially available, like acrylated epoxidized soybean oil (AESO) which is commonly used as a plasticizer and stabilizer for polyvinylchloride polymers. These can be polymerised using UV light to produce pressure sensitive adhesives.
Converting oil-derived fatty acids into polyols that can be used to produce polyurethanes is increasingly common among major chemical suppliers. These often suffer from the issue that they are more stiff than conventional polyols. However, research has recently shown that this can be overcome by limiting the number of alcohol groups on the polymer chain.
The green credentials advantage is readily seen in the trend to replace formaldehyde in wood adhesives. Here, formaldehydes notoriety can readily turn into dislike for all things chemical, so efforts to produce soy flour-based wood adhesives have a distinct marketing advantage. Perhaps the highest profile project here is from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Products Laboratory, so it remains to be seen how commercially successful such products really are.
In developing ever more formulations based on biological materials, the adhesive industry is primed for what could be an explosion of these kind of materials. Whether that potential is filled will depend upon the degree of profitability they bring. Will such products be economical enough to spark their growth? Please share your thoughts using the tools below.
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