Albertan researchers make polyurethane from canola oil

In keeping with the move towards manufacturing plastics from vegetable oil, two researchers from the University of Alberta‘s Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science have made polyurethane (PUR) plastic sheets from canola oil.

Suresh Narine and Xiaohua Kong will report on the properties of their vegetable-based PUR sheets in a forthcoming issue of the American Chemical Society’s Biomacromolecules journal. According to the official ACS press release, the PUR sheets were produced by treating canola oil with ozone to make the chemical raw materials.

The researchers described the process as low-cost, and the process did not employ complicated technology. Additionally, the resulting PUR sheets had “excellent” mechanical properties.

“It is reasonable to believe that the vegetable-based PUR could be a potential candidate to replace or practically replace petroleum-based PUR, in sensitive and high end applications such as the biomedical area,” the report said.

The pair’s research can be viewed here.