Advances in Low-Density Flexible Polyurethane Foams by Optimized Incorporation of High Amount of Recycled Polyol.

An industrially manufactured recycled polyol, obtained by acidolysis process, was for the first time proved to be a possible replacement of the reference fossil-based polyol in a low-density formulation suitable for industrial production of flexible polyurethane foams. The influence of increasing recycled polyol amounts on the properties of the polyurethane foam has been studied, also performing foam emission tests to evaluate the environmental impact. Using 10 pbw recycled polyol in the standard formulation, significant differences of the physical properties were not observed, but increase of the recycled polyol amount to 30 pbw led to a dramatic decrease of the foam air flow and a very tight foam. To overcome this drawback, N,N'-bis[3-(dimethylamino)propyl]urea was selected as tertiary amine catalyst, enabling the preservation of foam properties even at high recycled polyol level (30 pbw). Foam emission data demonstrated that this optimized foam formulation also led to an important reduction of volatile organic compounds. The results open the way for further optimization studies in low-density flexible polyurethane foam formulations, to increase the reutilization of the polyurethane waste and reduce the amount of petroleum-based raw materials.

Structure-property relationships on recrystallized ß-cyclodextrin solvates: A focus on X-ray diffractometry, FTIR and thermal analyses.

The goal of the study was to evaluate the influence of the solvent properties on the crystal characteristics of ß-cyclodextrin (ß-CD) recrystallized from alcohol-water solvent mixtures, with possible applications for the preparation, purifying and complexation of ß-CD. For the first time, structure-property relationships (QSPRs) between the hydrophobicity of alcohols or dielectric constant of solvents used for recrystallization of ß-CD and its properties (such as crystallinity index, CI) have been obtained. Recrystallized ß-CD from water and C1-C4 alcohol-water solutions provide ß-CD with higher CI values of 99.4(±5.9)% for ethanol-water (1:4, v/v) as recrystallizing system. This property has a parabolic variation with the logP (octanol/water partition coefficient) of the alcohol (r2 = 0.998). Solvent parameters also influence the ß-CD crystal characteristics, as was demonstrated by X-ray diffractometry refinement, infrared spectroscopy and thermal analyses.

Recovery of Flexible Polyurethane Foam Waste for Efficient Reuse in Industrial Formulations.

Ester polyurethane (PU) foam waste was reacted at atmospheric pressure in an autoclave and using microwaves with diethylene glycol (DEG) at different PU/DEG ratios in the presence of diethanolamine as a catalyst to find the glycolysis conditions that allow for the improved recovery of the PU foam waste and enable the recycling of the whole glycolysis product in foam formulations suitable for industrial application. The recycled polyol was characterized by dynamic viscosity, hydroxyl number, water content, and density, while thermal stability was assessed using thermogravimetric analysis. In the PU foam formulation, 1% and 5% of the glycolyzed material was reused. The relationship between the reuse level of the recycled polyol and the physical properties of the foam was thoroughly investigated. It was observed that both hardness and air flow decreased with increasing recycled polyol content, particularly for the polyester type foam, while tensile strength and compression strength increased. Depending on the amount of recycled polyol and catalyst used, polyether-based foams could be obtained with a low air permeability, needed in special applications as sealed foams, or with higher air permeability desirable for comfort PU foams. The results open the way for further optimization studies of industrial polyurethane foam formulations using a glycolysis process without any separation stage.

Biodegradation Pattern of Glycopolymer Based on D-Mannose Oligomer and Hydroxypropyl Acrylate.

Glycopolymers are polymers with sugar moieties which display biodegradable and/or biocompatible character. They have emerged as an environmentally-friendly solution to classical synthetic polymers and have attracted significant research interest in the past years. Herein, we present the synthesis of a D-mannose based glycopolymer with biodegradable features. The glycopolymer was synthesized by radical copolymerization between a D-mannose oligomer bearing polymerizable double bonds and 2-hydroxypropyl acrylate, in a weight ratio of 1:2. The copolymerization kinetics was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and the activation energy of the process was comparatively assessed by Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose and Flynn-Wall-Ozawa methods. The obtained glycopolymer displayed good thermal behavior, fact proven by thermogravimetrical (TG) analysis and it was submitted to biodegradation inside a bioreactor fed with water from the Bega River as the source of microbial inoculum. The glycopolymer sample degraded by approximately 60% in just 23 days. The biodegradation pattern of the glycopolymer was successfully fitted against a modified sigmoidal exponential function. The kinetic model coefficients and its accuracy were calculated using Matlab and the correlation coefficient is more than promising. The changes inside glycopolymer structure after biodegradation were studied using TG and FTIR analyses, which revealed that the sugar moiety is firstly attacked by the microbial consortia as nutrient source for proliferation.

Moisture evaluation of ß-cyclodextrin/fish oils complexes by thermal analyses: A data review on common barbel (Barbus barbus L.), Pontic shad (Alosa immaculata Bennett), European wels catfish (Silurus glanis L.), and common bleak (Alburnus alburnus L.) living in Danube river.

The moisture content of ß-cyclodextrin/Danube fish oils complexes (common barbel, Pontic shad, European wels catfish, common bleak) was evaluated by thermal methods. Saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids were the most concentrated in fish oils (25.3-30.8% and 36.1-45.0%). ω-3 And ω-6 fatty acids were identified in low concentrations of 2.8-12.1% and 4.1-7.1%. The moisture content was significantly lowered after ß-CD complexation, as revealed by thermogravimetric (TG) analysis (13.3% for ß-CD, 2.5-6.5% for complexes). These results are consistent with the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) data for the peaks corresponding to dissociation of water (calorimetric effect of 536Jg-1 for ß-cyclodextrin and 304-422.5Jg-1 for complexes). Furthermore, both TG and DSC results support the formation of inclusion complexes. This is the first study on the nanoencapsulation of Danube fish oils in ß-cyclodextrin.

Compatibility study between ketoprofen and pharmaceutical excipients used in solid dosage forms.

Thermogravimetry/derivative thermogravimetry (TG/DTG) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) techniques were used for assessing the compatibility between ketoprofen (KT) and several excipients as: corn starch, microcrystalline cellulose (PH 101 and PH 102), colloidal silicon dioxide, lactose (monohydrate and anhydre), polyvinylpyrrolidone K30, magnesium stearate and talc, commonly used in the pharmaceutical form. In order to investigate the possible interactions between the components, the thermal curves of KT and each selected excipients were compared with those of their 1:1 (w/w) physical mixtures. For KT, the DSC curves have shown a sharp endothermic peak at 96.8 °C which corresponds to the melting process (literature value: 94-97 °C), respectively the TG curves demonstrated a simple stage of mass loss in the temperature range of 235-400 °C. FT-IR spectroscopy and X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) were used as complementary techniques to adequately implement and assist in interpretation of the DSC results. On the basis of thermal results, a possible interaction was found between the KT with polyvinylpyrrolidone K30 and magnesium stearate, which could influence the stability of the KT in the binary mixtures. These possible incompatibilities were confirmed by FT-IR and X-ray analysis.