Germany. Following the trend of increased demand for sustainable eco-friendly products, Fraunhofer scientists are working on the development of advanced materials for adhesives and paints that are made from bio-based raw materials, avoiding the use of petroleum-based thermosetting epoxy resins.
By using epoxides from vegetable oils, an organic version of conventional epoxy resins, which are obtained from vegetable oils with a high proportion of unsaturated fatty acids, "remarkably resistant" plastics can be created, according to the company. But the chemical composition of raw materials extracted from oilseeds can vary greatly, resulting in a problem for manufacturers.
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for the Microstructure of Materials and IMWS Systems addressed the problem by investigating the properties of newly developed bio-genetic resins, "from the micro to the macro level," says Andreas Krombholz, group leader at IMWS, looking at how the aforementioned variations affect resins and identifying how to give them specific properties.
It should be noted that the use of vegetable oil epoxides increases the organic content of adhesives by 86%, because the materials contain a high percentage of vegetable oil and the hardening agent is based on organic substances instead of petroleum derivatives, an important advance, because to qualify as a sustainable material, at least 35% of its ingredients must come from renewable sources.
"Together with the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB, we switched from epoxidation to a new enzyme-based process. This means we can process vegetable oils without using petrochemicals. The enzyme treatment is done at 40 degrees Celsius instead of 100 degrees Celsius as in the past, so we are also conserving energy," concludes Krombholz.
Source: Fraunhofer.
