With increasing concerns about of environment and sustainability and depletion of petroleum, more attention has been paid to the uses of renewable feedstock for the production of bio-based materials. Vegetable oil-based epoxy compounds are useful precursors which have a variety of applications in coating, adhesives, polyurethane foams, and composites. Crude glycerol is a low-value byproduct of biodiesel production process�transesterification of vegetable oils or animal fats with alcohols. Compared to pure glycerol, crude glycerol contains various impurities such as methanol, water, fatty acids, fatty acid methyl esters, soap, and glycerides. The present work provides an alternative way for the synthesis of multi-armed epoxy compounds using crude glycerol as a sole feedstock. The produced intermediates and epoxy compounds were characterized by FT-IR, 1H NMR, GPC, rheometer, and DSC. Crude glycerol derived multi-armed epoxy compounds show comparable properties to vegetable oil-based epoxy compounds and have potential applications in coatings, adhesives, and polyurethane foams.Scheme 1. Synthesis of crude glycerol derived multi-armed epoxy compound (linoleic acid is used as a representative fatty acid in crude glycerol)

Synthesis and characterization of crude glycerol derived multi-armed epoxy compounds

247th National Meeting (2014)

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