Project R-16211

POLYVISION (Research)

Transitioning to a circular polymer economy demands the development of reliable sustainable building blocks. POLYVISION aims to explore detailed structure property relationships for the use of novel macromonomers derived from a fatty acid platform combined with recycled polyesters. The use of polyols (i.e., multi-functional alcohols) in polyurethane formulations is a long-standing industrial standard. However, the vast majority of the polyols in use are derived from non-renewable and non-recycled resources. Making suitable fatty acid derived polyols requires dimerization via chemical coupling. Steering this complex process to fine-tune the resulting product structure requires significant additional research. As the structure of the polyol ultimately drives the performance in the polyurethane end-product, further diversifying the structure is strategically critical. Additional diversification will be explored in POLYVISION by combining the fatty acid dimerization with recycled polyester feedstocks (i.e., recycled poly(ethylene terephthalate – rPET). This will enable significant expansion in terms of product portfolio and performance enhancement in the final polyurethane constructs. As the use of recycled feedstocks in macromonomer development is still in its infancy, steering the process and establishing the resulting molecular characteristics constitute a significant portion of the project. Ultimately, the polyols that are generated will be tested for a suite of properties in polyurethane formulations. This will provide crucial guidelines for driving forward toward a more sustainable, circular polymer platform.

01 January 2026 - 31 December 2027