Renewable polyols for advanced polyurethane foams from diverse biomass resources

Abstract

Polyols, used for making polyurethane (PU) and polyisocyanurate (PIR) foams, are a topic of interest due to the strong growth of the foam market during the last few decades. Polyols used for their elaboration constitute the majority of polyol consumption worldwide. The large availability of chemicals and compounds from biomass has opened up a vast range of opportunities to develop partially or fully biobased polyols, to be added to foam formulations. This review is focused on recent advances in the synthesis of renewable polyols, used for PU and PIR foams. Polyols have been classified by their chemical structures. The corresponding chemical pathways have been connected with the properties of the final PU-based foams. Correlations were made between the origin of the polyol, the chemical modifications, and the properties and morphologies of the corresponding foams. Recent advances in non-isocyanate polyurethane foams have been also taken into consideration.