Fractionated lignin as a polyol in polyurethane fabrication

Changgeng Li; Huiqi Jin; Minjie Hou; Xu Guo; Tianyuan Xiao; Xinyu Cao; Wenchao Jia; Pedram Fatehi; Haiqiang Shi

doi:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.128290

Fractionated lignin as a polyol in polyurethane fabrication

Int J Biol Macromol. 2024 Jan;256(Pt 2):128290. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.128290. Epub 2023 Nov 21.

Authors

Changgeng Li¹, Huiqi Jin¹, Minjie Hou¹, Xu Guo¹, Tianyuan Xiao², Xinyu Cao¹, Wenchao Jia¹, Pedram Fatehi³, Haiqiang Shi⁴

Affiliations

¹ Liaoning Key Lab of Lignocellulose Chemistry and BioMaterials, College of Light Industry and Chemical Engineering, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian 116034, China; Liaoning Collaborative Innovation Center for Lignocellulosic Biorefinery, College of Light Industry and Chemical Engineering, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian 116034, China.
² Liaoning Key Lab of Lignocellulose Chemistry and BioMaterials, College of Light Industry and Chemical Engineering, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian 116034, China; College of Light Industry and Textile, Qiqihar University, Qiqihar 161000, China.
³ Biorefining Research Institute, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay P7B5E1, ON, Canada.
⁴ Liaoning Key Lab of Lignocellulose Chemistry and BioMaterials, College of Light Industry and Chemical Engineering, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian 116034, China; Liaoning Collaborative Innovation Center for Lignocellulosic Biorefinery, College of Light Industry and Chemical Engineering, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian 116034, China. Electronic address: shihq@dlpu.edu.cn.

PMID: 37992926
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.128290

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper was to systematically evaluate the effect of lignin, which was fractioned by green solvents into different molecular weights and used as polyol in the production of polyurethane foams (PUF). The results indicated that the foams prepared with the lower molecular weight lignin had uniform and complete pore structure and improved the mechanical strength. However, the higher molecular weight fraction lignin improved the density and thermal stability of the foam more significantly at the expense of inferior mechanical strength and pore structure deficiency. When the substitution degree of lignin in the PUF was 2 %-30 %, 99.13 % of the lowest molecular weight lignin was participated in the reaction to produce PUF, which improved the elongation at break (Eb) and tensile strength (Ts) of PUF to 834 % and 0.90 MPa, respectively. Also, thermal stability and the amount of unreacted lignin in PUF were increased at a higher substitution degree of lignin in PUF.

Keywords: Lignin hydroxyl; Molecular weight; Polyurethane foam.

MeSH terms

Lignin*
Molecular Weight
Polymers*
Polyurethanes*

Substances

polyol
polyurethane foam
Polyurethanes
Lignin
Polymers