Florham Park, New Jersey \u2014 A\u00a0proposal for bio-based degradable polyurethane foams was the winning entry by students at the\u00a0Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Department of the\u00a0University of Minnesota in\u00a0a BASF Science Competition.<\/p>\n
The students\u00a0presented a new technology based around\u00a0a sugar based mevalonate (MVL) monomer and its polyesterol (PMVL) made by solvent-free polymerization.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis novel idea, presented by the students from the University of Minnesota, clearly illustrated how this new technology could potentially replace traditional petroleum based polyols,\u201d said Elvira Stesikova, BASF project manager.<\/p>\n
BASF said that PMVLs are similar to traditional polyols becasuse their properties which can be tuned by varying molecular weight and functionality. However, unlike today\u2019s polyols, PMVL polyesterols offer a solvent-free process, utilize a sustainable raw material source, and present improved biodegradability and recyclability, said BASF. The company adds that \u201cin the long term, this technology is viewed as a step towards isocyanate-free polyurethanes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The goal for the competition was to solve the following challenge: \u00a0What chemistries can be used to create lightweight solutions with improved end of life management?<\/p>\n
Four teams of students presented proposals that were judged by a panel of BASF executives\u00a0and the proposed ideas will be shared within BASF\u00a0for possible further development.\u00a0 The other\u00a0finalist teams came from the\u00a0Georgia Institute of Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Connecticut.<\/p>\n
All four presenting teams received $5,000 and the winning team members won an all-expense-paid trip to a\u00a0BASF Summer Course to be held in Ludwigshafen, Germany in August.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Florham Park, New Jersey \u2014 A\u00a0proposal for bio-based degradable polyurethane foams was the winning entry by students at the\u00a0Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Department of the\u00a0University of Minnesota in\u00a0a BASF Science Competition. The students\u00a0presented a new technology based around\u00a0a sugar based mevalonate (MVL) monomer and its polyesterol (PMVL) made by solvent-free polymerization. \u201cThis novel idea, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[],"supplier":[2908,2839,2836,5028,2640],"class_list":["post-29415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","supplier-basf-corporation-us","supplier-georgia-institute-of-technology","supplier-rensselaer-polytechnic-institute","supplier-university-of-connecticut","supplier-university-of-minnesota"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29415\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29415"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=29415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}