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A NEW RENEWABLE POLYMER FROM BIO-OIL - PHASE I
Description:
The vast majority of today’s polymers, plastics, foams, synthetic fibers, adhesives, and coatings are made from oil, which is non-renewable, non-biodegradable, depends in large part on foreign sources, is highly sensitive to regional conflicts, and has a large carbon footprint. Unfortunately, today’s selection of renewable polymeric materials is extremely limited and most are low-performance, low-value materials. Thus, the objective of this research is to develop a renewable, high-performance engineering thermoplastic to replace current petroleum-based materials.
Increasing the use of renewable materials will reduce the carbon footprint of the products we use, the challenges associated with waste disposal, and the risk of accumulation of persistent chemicals. It will give future generations alternative materials to make plastics, fibers, and coating when oil will become scarce.
Project Objectives
Fast pyrolysis is one of the thermal processes that is being developed to make biofuel from biomass. It produces a liquid that can be used both as fuel and a source of chemicals. Fast pyrolysis could be a cost-competitive process if (as with petroleum) it can be fractionated and converted both to fuels and high-value chemicals.
The objective of this Phase I SBIR project is to synthesize and characterize a new family of biomimetic polymers that are made from an economic, non-toxic, and renewable monomer. This monomer is a major component (up to 17% wt.) of the bio-oil that is obtained from the fast pyrolysis cellulose. TDA expects that the proposed family of polymers will have exceptional mechanical properties and good processing characteristics and could be used as bio-derived alternatives to replace a wide range of petroleum-based thermoplastic polymers. The proposed polymers also will be environmentally friendly and could be engineered for biodegradability or have long-term stability.
Description of Effort
During the Phase I project, TDA plans to synthesize various stereo-chemical forms of the proposed polymer via chemical and fermentation methods and characterize the chemical, physical, and mechanical properties of the products. TDA also will evaluate their degradation rate under hydrolytic and enzymatic conditions.