Vegetable oils in production of polymers and

XiAOHUA Kong Agri-Food Materials Science Centre, University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Vegetable Oils in Production of Polymers and Plastics. 

Narine, S.S. X. Kong. Vegetable oils in production of polymers and plastics. Bailey s Industrial Oil Fat Products, Sixth ed. F. Shahidi, Ed. John Wiley Sons, Inc. Hoboken, NJ, 2004 Vol. 6, pp. 279-306. 

Polymers Unsaturated fatty-acid chains offer opportunities for polymerisation that can be exploited to develop uses in surface coatings and plastics manufacturing. Polyunsaturated fatty acids can be dimerised to produce feedstocks for polyamide resin (nylon) production. Work is also ongoing to develop polyurethanes from vegetable oils through manipulation of functionality in the fatty-acid chains, to produce both rigid foams and elastomers with applications in seals, adhesives and moulded flexible parts (see Chapter 5 for more information). 

Performic acid is an unstable, hazardous percarboxylic acid, and must always be generated in situ. Epoxidation with in situ performic and peracetic acid are well established commercial processes. They find application in the epoxidation of alkenes, particularly those of high molecular weight. Many such epoxides are produced on a large scale, and can be classified as vegetable oils, unsaturated esters, unsaturated acids, a-alkenes, natural polymers and synthetic polymers. The most important vegetable oil which is epoxidized commercially is soyabean oil. World production of epoxidized soyabean oil (ESBO) exceeds 150000 metric tons per annum. Epoxidized linseed oil is also important, but produced at a lower rate than ESBO. Both products are formed by usual in situ performic and peracetic acid techniques.23,24 Typical procedures are outlined in Table 3.1.25... 

The Avrami model (19,20) states that in a given system under isothermal conditions at a temperature lower than V. the degree of crystallinity or fractional crystallization (70 as a liinction of time (t) (Fig. 11) is described by Equation 5. Although the theory behind this model was developed for perfect crystalline bodies like most polymers, the Avrami model has been used to describe TAG crystallization in simple and complex models (5,9,13,21,22). Thus, the classical Avrami sigmoidal behavior from an F and crystallization time plot is also observed in TAG crystallization in vegetable oils. This crystallization behavior consists of an induction period for crystallization, followed by an increase of the F value associated with the acceleration in the rate of volume or mass production of crystals, and finally a metastable crystallization plateau is reached (Fig. 11). 

Other modifications of vegetable oils in polymer chemistry include the introduction of alkenyl functions, the study of novel polyesters and polyethers and the synthesis of semi-interpenetrating networks based on castor oil (the triglyceride of ricinoleic acid) [42], and also the production of sebacic acid and 10-undecenoic acid from castor oil [44]. Additionally, the recent application of metathesis reactions to unsaturated fatty acids has opened a novel avenue of exploitation leading to a variety of interesting monomers and polymers, including aliphatic polyesters and polyamides previously derived from petrochemical sources [42, 45]. 

Specialised polymers, which are mainly used in engineering applications in the automobile, aircraft and machinery industries, are known as engineering polymers. In this group, aliphatic polyamides are the most important and most widely used. A large number of aliphatic polyamides are obtained from vegetable oil-based products. Among these nylon 6,10, nylon 11, nylon 6,9 and poly(amido amine) are very important. One of the most important commercially used polymers, nylon 11, is obtained entirely from castor oU, whereas vegetable oil-derived components are only partly used to prepare other polymers. 

In addition, emulsion polymerizations exhibit promising benefits and the possibility for efficient control of the composition and size of particles. As a result, this causes these processes to exhibit excellent results in the polymerization of monomers with low reactivity, such as vegetable oils and their derivatives [21,22]. Apropos to the production of polymer/inorganic hybrid nanoparticles, pertain promising results of products intended for medical/pharmaceutical area, particularly magnetic nanoparticles used for the induction of controlled hyperthermia procedures in treatment of... 

Traditionally, chemical catalysts have been used to perform several reactions. By replacing the chemical catalysts with enzymes, final products can proceed in a controlled manner. Enzymatic reactions can be used to upgrade cheap and saturated fats or to add value to commercial fats and oils. Vegetable oil-based polyurethane, polyester, polyether and polyolefin are the four most important classes of polymers, many of which have excellent biocompatibilities and unique properties including shape memory. Many researchers have investigated lipase-catalyzed reactions as an alternative to green processes and as a way to improve the physical properties of final products (Miao et al., 2013). 

Othors. Triacylglycerols (triglycerides) (10) (70-72) make up a large part of the storage lipids in animal and plant cells. They are now receiving renewed attention as a candidate feedstock for the production of polymer resins. When liquid at room temperature they are called oils. Commercially important oils are produced from the seeds of soybeans, com (maize), cotton, sunflowers, flax (linseed), rape, castor beans, tung, palms, peanuts, olives, almonds, coconuts, and canola. Over 7.3 million metric tons of vegetable oils are produced in the United States each year, mainly from soybean, flax, and rapeseed. Soy oil alone accounts for 80% of the seed oils produced in the United States. Soy oil contains about 55% linoleic acid (11), 22% oleic acid (12) and 10% palmitic acid (13). 

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