Technology
February 3, 2021
Stockmeier UL Certified Products
STOCKMEIER Urethanes now has UL GREENGUARD and UL GREENGUARD Gold Certified products. Their certified products have undergone rigorous scientific testing to meet some of the world’s most stringent chemical emissions requirements. The GREENGUARD Gold Certification standard includes health-based criteria for additional chemicals and requires lower total VOC emissions levels to help ensure that products are acceptable for use in environments like schools and healthcare facilities.
“Globally, we are dedicated to finding solutions that will create a healthier environment by reducing chemical exposure,” stated, Andreas Schulze Ising, Director of Sales at STOCKMEIER Urethanes USA, Inc. “As chemical manufacturers, we understand the need to produce environmentally friendly solutions to better protect our earth and make us a sustainable company for years to come.”
See the products here: https://spot.ul.com/main-app/products/catalog/?keywords=Stobielast
January 27, 2021
Path to Sustainable MDI
Covestro : receives first delivery of sustainable benzene from Total
Covestro has received its first delivery of 2,000 metric tons of sustainable benzene from Total and by that achieved a further milestone on its way towards a Circular Economy. The ISCC Plus-certified raw material was supplied by Total Refining and Petrochemicals Normandy platform in northwestern France, and transported to Covestro’s Antwerp site. There it serves as a precursor for aniline, an important chemical product from which Covestro produces diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) at the Krefeld-Uerdingen Chempark. MDI is the initial base for rigid polyurethane foam, which for decades has provided highly efficient thermal insulation for buildings and refrigeration equipment, as well as for applications in the automotive and many other industries.
‘Through the partnership with Total, we are supporting our customers in the rigid foam sector to make their production even more sustainable and to position themselves accordingly,’ says Daniel Meyer, Global Head of the Polyurethanes segment at Covestro. ‘They can use this drop-in solution immediately in their existing manufacturing processes without any technical conversion. The product quality is on par with that of petrochemical-based products.’
‘This commercial partnership with Covestro demonstrates Total’s goal to produce and commercialize new sustainable products, helping our clients to reduce their carbon footprint,’ says Jean-François Renglet, Vice President Marketing Base Chemicals Division at Total Refining and Chemicals. ‘It is in line with Total’s ambition to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 for all its activities worldwide, from production to the energy products used by its customers.’ Gradual transition to alternative raw materials
By gradually transitioning its production to alternative raw materials, Covestro aims to replace fossil raw materials and make its value chains more sustainable. Just recently, the company itself received ISCC Plus certification for the production of renewable aniline in Antwerp and MDI in Uerdingen, as well as for the production of polycarbonate at both sites. For Covestro, the project is part of a comprehensive program with which the company, together with partners, aims to propel the transition to a circular economy and ultimately become fully circular itself.
Mass balance certification across the entire value chain makes production more sustainable – reducing the product’s CO₂ footprint and the use of fossil raw materials – and more transparent. The acronym ISCC stands for International Sustainability and Carbon Certification, an internationally recognized system for the sustainability certification of biomass and bioenergy.
January 27, 2021
Path to Sustainable MDI
Covestro : receives first delivery of sustainable benzene from Total
Covestro has received its first delivery of 2,000 metric tons of sustainable benzene from Total and by that achieved a further milestone on its way towards a Circular Economy. The ISCC Plus-certified raw material was supplied by Total Refining and Petrochemicals Normandy platform in northwestern France, and transported to Covestro’s Antwerp site. There it serves as a precursor for aniline, an important chemical product from which Covestro produces diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) at the Krefeld-Uerdingen Chempark. MDI is the initial base for rigid polyurethane foam, which for decades has provided highly efficient thermal insulation for buildings and refrigeration equipment, as well as for applications in the automotive and many other industries.
‘Through the partnership with Total, we are supporting our customers in the rigid foam sector to make their production even more sustainable and to position themselves accordingly,’ says Daniel Meyer, Global Head of the Polyurethanes segment at Covestro. ‘They can use this drop-in solution immediately in their existing manufacturing processes without any technical conversion. The product quality is on par with that of petrochemical-based products.’
‘This commercial partnership with Covestro demonstrates Total’s goal to produce and commercialize new sustainable products, helping our clients to reduce their carbon footprint,’ says Jean-François Renglet, Vice President Marketing Base Chemicals Division at Total Refining and Chemicals. ‘It is in line with Total’s ambition to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 for all its activities worldwide, from production to the energy products used by its customers.’ Gradual transition to alternative raw materials
By gradually transitioning its production to alternative raw materials, Covestro aims to replace fossil raw materials and make its value chains more sustainable. Just recently, the company itself received ISCC Plus certification for the production of renewable aniline in Antwerp and MDI in Uerdingen, as well as for the production of polycarbonate at both sites. For Covestro, the project is part of a comprehensive program with which the company, together with partners, aims to propel the transition to a circular economy and ultimately become fully circular itself.
Mass balance certification across the entire value chain makes production more sustainable – reducing the product’s CO₂ footprint and the use of fossil raw materials – and more transparent. The acronym ISCC stands for International Sustainability and Carbon Certification, an internationally recognized system for the sustainability certification of biomass and bioenergy.
January 25, 2021
Biomass Feedstock Right There With The Urethane Car Tire
New biodegradable polyurethane foams are developed from wheat straw
Every year around 734 million tons of wheat straw are produced worldwide, a large amount of waste, which is cheap and has had no well-defined use until now. Recently, the RNM-271 Chemical Engineering and FQM-383 NANOVAL Organic Chemistry research groups at the University of Córdoba have been able to give a new use to this agricultural excess material, by using it as the foundation in order to manufacture polyurethane foams.
Also known as foam rubber, this plastic material, often manufactured from petroleum by-products, is extremely versatile within the industry and has multiple uses in the construction and automobile sectors as a sealant as well as a thermal and acoustic insulator.
The new paper, published on the cover of Polymers, and on which Chile’s Advanced Polymers Research Center (CIPA) also participated, has found a new purpose for this wheat waste. After this waste is liquefied, polyols are obtained. These polyols are one of the key compounds that play a role in the chemical reaction that makes polyurethane foams.
To date, castor oil has been one of the main candidates in the race to obtain sustainable polyurethane foam that does not require petroleum. The issue, as explained by one of the main authors of the paper, Esther Rincón, is that this vegetable oil “does not offer complete hardness and dryness once exposed to air,” one of the keys to proper rubber foam formation.
For this reason, the new research proposed substituting 50% of this castor oil for wheat straw, with results that offer up very similar characteristics to those generated by traditional manufacturing processes that use non-renewable compounds: “We were able to obtain very desirable parameters in the manufacturing of foam, converting 96% of the wheat used with an almost maximum performance,” explains Esther Rincón. In addition, as pointed out by the researcher, they obtained higher levels of biodegradability than those reached by the products currently on the market, meaning that this material takes less time to decompose.
Use in plant nurseries
While these new polyurethane foams could have infinite applications and even be manufactured with other kinds of biomass, the research group, in the second stage of their study, will use them in plant nurseries to help with plant growth. “Instead of watering the plant, and with the aim of dealing with drought problems and preventing overwatering, we would inject the water into the foam so that the plant can consume it as needed,” explains the researcher.
https://koliasa.com/new-biodegradable-polyurethane-foams-are-developed-from-wheat-straw/
January 25, 2021
Biomass Feedstock Right There With The Urethane Car Tire
New biodegradable polyurethane foams are developed from wheat straw
Every year around 734 million tons of wheat straw are produced worldwide, a large amount of waste, which is cheap and has had no well-defined use until now. Recently, the RNM-271 Chemical Engineering and FQM-383 NANOVAL Organic Chemistry research groups at the University of Córdoba have been able to give a new use to this agricultural excess material, by using it as the foundation in order to manufacture polyurethane foams.
Also known as foam rubber, this plastic material, often manufactured from petroleum by-products, is extremely versatile within the industry and has multiple uses in the construction and automobile sectors as a sealant as well as a thermal and acoustic insulator.
The new paper, published on the cover of Polymers, and on which Chile’s Advanced Polymers Research Center (CIPA) also participated, has found a new purpose for this wheat waste. After this waste is liquefied, polyols are obtained. These polyols are one of the key compounds that play a role in the chemical reaction that makes polyurethane foams.
To date, castor oil has been one of the main candidates in the race to obtain sustainable polyurethane foam that does not require petroleum. The issue, as explained by one of the main authors of the paper, Esther Rincón, is that this vegetable oil “does not offer complete hardness and dryness once exposed to air,” one of the keys to proper rubber foam formation.
For this reason, the new research proposed substituting 50% of this castor oil for wheat straw, with results that offer up very similar characteristics to those generated by traditional manufacturing processes that use non-renewable compounds: “We were able to obtain very desirable parameters in the manufacturing of foam, converting 96% of the wheat used with an almost maximum performance,” explains Esther Rincón. In addition, as pointed out by the researcher, they obtained higher levels of biodegradability than those reached by the products currently on the market, meaning that this material takes less time to decompose.
Use in plant nurseries
While these new polyurethane foams could have infinite applications and even be manufactured with other kinds of biomass, the research group, in the second stage of their study, will use them in plant nurseries to help with plant growth. “Instead of watering the plant, and with the aim of dealing with drought problems and preventing overwatering, we would inject the water into the foam so that the plant can consume it as needed,” explains the researcher.
https://koliasa.com/new-biodegradable-polyurethane-foams-are-developed-from-wheat-straw/
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