Conference Notes

Bio-based Phenolics: Development of New Industrial Polymers for Fibre-Reinforced Composites and PU foams by Elena Benedetti

The company started-up in 2013 and is doing R&D on organic polymers, cascading use of resources following a zero waste concept.

Example given is the work on Cashew Nutshell Liquid (CNSL) to produce bio-based phenolics. Extraction gives cardanol up to 65% of extracted volume. Cardanol can be modified in different ways for industrial usage such as friction particles and resins, hardener for epoxy coatings and flooring as well as PU rigid foams. For the latter a Mannich polyol formulation is used. Less flame-abilty and 20% higher inter-laminar sheer strength are the measured results. AEP participates to SmartLI EU financed project looking for smart technologies for the conversion of industrial lignin, with PU foam in sight amongst other applications.

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