Process for the production of oleochemical polyols

Details Process for the production of oleochemical polyols Process for the production of oleochemical polyols

2001-11-21

2003-04-15

Carr, Deborah D. (Department: 1621)

Synthetic resins or natural rubbers -- part of the class 520 ser

Synthetic resins

Mixing of two or more solid polymers; mixing of solid...

C521S130000, C521S137000, C554S124000, C554S149000, C554S170000, C554S213000, C554S227000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06548609

ABSTRACT:

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is related to the field of chemistry, and in particular to a process for obtaining polyols of a type known as oleochemicals that are obtained from oils such as safflower, sunflower, linseed, palm and soy oil, among others, that are self-compatible with hydrochlorofluorocarbons, hydrofluorocarbons and hydrocarbons in which the polyols obtained may be adequately used to produce, among other products, polyurethane and/or polyisocyanurate foams highly crosslinked due to their high functionality.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The polyols used in manufacturing rigid or flexible polyurethane foam are fundamentally chemicals based on polyethers or polyesters. Polyethers are manufactured from low molecular weight polyalcohols and ethylene and/or propylene oxides. Polyesters are manufactured by means of the esterification and/or transesterification of compounds containing phthaloyl and/or isophthaloyl and/or terephthaloyl radicals and other aliphatic compounds or similar aromatics with dialcohols and/or polyalcohols. The main applications for polyether or polyester polyols and for oleochemical polyols that are described further on are for the manufacture of rigid foams for the construction of heat-insulating walls as in refrigerators and construction panels. These polyols can also be used as one of the components of a mixture of polyols to produce different types of construction panels. Examples of polyols that are prepared from terephthaloyl radicals are those described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,647,759 (Walker), U.S. Pat. No. 4,237,208 (DeGiuseppi et al.), and U.S. Pat. No. 4,346,229 (Derret et al.). Said inventions have the common basis of a raw material consisting of a residue from the manufacturing process of dimethyl trephthalate. However, said inventions differ from one another in that U.S. Pat. No. 3,647,759 uses monoethylene, U.S. Pat. No. 4,237,208 uses diethylene glycol, while dipropylene glycol is used in the process described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,346,229.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,048,104 (Svoboda et al.) describes a process for polyol production. In this patent the use is described of diethylene glycol in addition to a source of terephthaloyl radicals from pieces of poly(ethylene terephthalate) that is obtained from the collection of bottles of said polymer, also known as PET bottles. Indeed, this modality consists of an option to chemical recycling processes for PET bottles.
In all the processes described above, the processes for obtaining these polyols use raw materials from different petrochemical processes.
The use of these polyols to date has been of both those of a polyol-polyether type and those of a polyol-polyether type in their foaming processes together with blowing agents such as those of the chlorofluorocarbon type, CFC's. In this way, the process consists of making any of the polyols react with some compound containing an isocyanate radical. It should be pointed out that as of the beginning of the 1980's, it was possible to prove the harmful effects that the indiscriminate use of CFC's, also known as freons, has on the ozone layer. This effect was principally detected in the stratosphere over the South Pole.
As an example of different types of freons that had been used up to that time as blowing agents, it is possible to mention trichlorofluoromethane (Freon 11), dichlorodifluoromethane (Freon 12), and chlorodifluoromethane (Freon 22), among others. In 1987, with the Montreal Protocol, it was agreed to definitively suspend the use of completely Halogenated carbon compounds or freons in all their applications, including their use as blowing agents in polyurethane foams. Since then other types of compounds have been produced, including a type of freon, such as hydrochlorofluorocarbons, HCFC's, an example of which is 1,1,1-dicholorofluoroethane, (Freon 141b); and compounds without chlorine or hydrofluorocarbons, HFC's, such as 1,1,1,4,4,4-hexafluorobutane (Freon-356), and even some compounds without chlorine or fluorine, hydrocarbons.
Use has also been made of hydrocarbons (HC's) with a low molecular weight and low boiling point, such as n-pentane, n-hexane, and cyclopentane, among others, with the characteristic that these compounds cause no effects to the ozone layer.
A consequence of the foregoing has been that most of the polyols of the polyether and polyester type that had been obtained until then by methods like those referred to at the beginning of this section had a very low level of compatibility with the new blowing agents. The need then appeared to use “compatibilizing agents” to make said compounds more alike or chemically more adequate.
A further alternative has been the exploration of new ways of synthesizing new polyol families that would be self-compatible, above all with more ecologically adequate blowing agents. In order to produce compatibilizing agents and/or self-compatible polyols with the new HCFC's, HFC's and HC's, processes were developed for the manufacture of oleochemical polyols, also known as polyurethane prepolymers.
In the manufacturing processes of these polyols different mineral or organic acids such as sulphuric, phosphoric, sulphinic acids, etc., are used as catalyzers. All these acids can be classified as Brönsted acids. These acids have catalytic effects not only on the reaction of an alcohol with an oxyrane ring but also on the opening of the oxyrane ring in the presence of humidity and subsequently during the foaming process. These acid catalyzers must therefore be inhibited or neutralized with alkaline alcoholates, such as sodium methoxide. The solids, produced by the neutralization of the catalyzer, must be removed by filtration.
In these processes, monohydric alcohols are principally used and, on some occasions, polyhydric alcohols are also employed to open the oxyrane ring and produce a functional group of secondary alcohol, together with another functional group of ether. In polyurethane foam manufacturing, it is well known that, for the same formulation of the first component and the isocyanate component, the crossed density and therefore the hardness of the polyurethane increases when the functionality of the polyol used in the formulation of the polyurethane foam is increased.
One example of this type of process is the one described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,508,853 (Kluth and Meffert), in which it is also necessary to have a molar proportion of the epoxidate with an excess of alcohol 2 to 10 times more than the amount stoichiometrically necessary, based on the epoxidate groups (3.8.10).
However, most of the polyether, polyester and oleochemical polyols have shown poor functionality to date, that is a functionality less than 5 and, in many cases, less than or the same as 3. These polyols must be mixed with other high functionality polyols so that when the mixture is foamed they can become a polyurethane with a high degree of crosslinking.
From the above, it can be deduced that there is a need to have a better, more adequate technology with which to obtain polyols that complies with the requirements of quality, chemical functionality and affinity with materials used as blowing agents that do not harm the atmosphere.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an option of raw materials that come from a source other than petroleum since this is not renewable.
Another object of this invention is to provide a new family of polyols that are obtained from the above mentioned raw materials and that are compatible with blowing agents such as HCFC's, HFC's and HC's, as the result of the ecological restriction of using the traditional freons.
An additional object of this invention is to provide a process for obtaining oleochemical polyols whose processing method does not need to use Brönsted acids that have the disadvantage of producing a precipitate that must be filtered. These process should be more efficient and simple, in order to facilitate the conversion of raw materials into products.
Yet another object of the pres

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Process for the production of oleochemical polyols does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Process for the production of oleochemical polyols, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Process for the production of oleochemical polyols will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3038377