Oggetto: PARTNER SEARCH PMI7-EU-BSGSME-26

Richiesta di un centro di ricerca francese alla ricerca di partner italiani da includere in un loro progetto da presentare nel programma CAPACITIES tematica RICERCA PER LE PMI .

codice PARTNER SEARCH PMI7-EU-BSGSME-26, riferimento tegas@apre.it

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<Reference n.: PMI7-EU-BSGSME-26>

<Deadline: 12/03/2008>
<Programme: CAPACITIES>
<Project Title: "POLYGREEN" : Novel polyurethanes and polyesters from
rapeseed and sunflower oils>
<Financial Scheme: >
<Description: Polymers are generally produced from petroleum. These
polyols are useful in a large range of applications such as coatings
agents, adhesives, sealants, elastomers, resins and foams. They are
used in a wide variety of fields including the textile, plastic,
medical, chemical, manufacturing, and cosmetic industry.
Nowadays, there is a growing interest to produce biopolymers for
technical purposes. In recent years, natural oils have attracted
renewed attention as raw materials for the preparation of original
polymeric materials with the objectives to replace petro-chemical
based polymers and also to develop novel materials for specific
applications. Triglyceride oils are the most important sources for
biopolymers. Oil-based biopolymers have many advantages compared with
polymers prepared from petroleum-based monomers. They are
biodegradable and, in many cases, cheaper than petroleum polymers.
Research in recent years has focused on alternative, non-petroleum
based source of polyols. One area of focus has been the production of
polyols from natural oils, with vegetable oils being of particular
focus. Among these vegetable oils, linseed, sunflower, castor,
soybean, palm and tall oils are commonly used for the synthesis of
oil-modified polymers. But in any case all these products are
prepared in classical steps, mainly epoxidising the double bonds by
reacting with an acid and then opening the oxirane ring with a proton
donor as water or monohydric or polyhydric alcohols. A poor attention
was devoted to the catalysis and to the process of polymerization,
involving these functional monomers.
Therefore, the objective of this research proposal is to investigate
novel routes to polyurethane and polyester materials based on colza
and sunflower oils, taking into account a large number of the green
chemistry concepts. Indeed, the synthesis of polyurethanes and
polyesters usually requires the help of Sn- or Ti-oxide catalysts, for
example. Therefore, it is proposed to substitute such metal-based
catalysts by natural tertiary amines. In addition, a special attention
on the polymerization technique is also proposed. Typically, bulk (no solvent) and dispersion polymerizations in water and CO2 leading to polymeric particles will
be investigated. Finally, to have a complete "green approach" for the
synthesis of such polymeric materials -polyurethanes in particular-,
non-isocyanate routes to such materials is proposed.
The project is divided into two parts. In the first one, different
strategies leading to polyurethanes and polyesters from esters of
fatty acids are presented. In the second part of the project, a
nonisocyanate route to polyurethanes is proposed.>

<Organisation Type: Centro di Ricerca>
<Partner Sought: We seek SMEs from European Union or Associated
Countries who are :
Manufacturers or users of polymers including polyurethanes and
polyesters or other biopolymers based on derivatives of vegetable oils
Targeted markets are : materials, coatings, rigid foams, plastic
industry, electronic circuits, adhesives, elastic, paints...
Technology needed : Facility to produce between 5 and 100 kg of
polymers and/or to perform tests on polymers>