I-Corps: Commercialization Feasibility for a Polymer Technology Based on Renewables

North Dakota State University Fargo, Fargo ND

Investigators

Abstract

The plant oil-based polymer technology developed by the research group possesses some major attributes that will lead to new application opportunities for renewable materials. First, the number of functional groups, such as double bonds, hydroxyl groups, and epoxide groups, per molecule is very high, which has been shown to dramatically reduce cure rates and increase properties such as glass transition temperature, modulus, tensile strength, hardness, and chemical resistance of thermosets. In addition, copolymerization has been used to increase polymer thermomechanical properties, impart desirable solubility/dispersibility characteristics, and to introduce desirable reactive functional groups to polymers. Several of the novel polymers have been shown to meet or exceed the performance of petrochemical-based materials for some applications. At present, about 90% of all chemicals are based on fossil resources. Due to the finite nature of fossil resources, dramatic fluctuations in the price of oil, and concerns about the environment, society has taken a greater interest in the use of renewable resources for applications that currently utilize petrochemicals. Successful further development of this renewable polymer technology has the potential to reduce societies' dependence of fossil resources, while also reducing environmental issues associated with petrochemical-based materials.