Waste Fatty Acid-Based Methyl Tetraglycol Ester Derived from Dimer Acid Manufacturing as an Efficient and Biodegradable Plasticizer for Poly(vinyl chloride)

Abstract

Increasing evidence has shown that plasticizer pollution and waste fatty acid contamination are serious environmental issues in our daily lives. Herein, an environmental friendly plasticizer (waste momomer fatty acid-based methyl tetraglycol ester, WMA-MTE) was designed and prepared via the direct esterification of waste momomer fatty acid derived from dimer acid manufacturing and methyl tetraglycol. The resulting WMA-MTE was used as a potential alternative for toxic petro-based dioctyl phthalate (DOP) in plasticizing poly­(vinyl chloride) (PVC). The properties of plasticized PVC including low temperature capability, tensile properties, thermal stability, and migration resistance were dependent on the content of WMA-MTE. Among them, the overall performances of PVC plasticized with 100% WMA-MTE (PVC/WMA-MTE) were better than others, which could be attributed to the excellent abilities of oxethyl units in WMA-MTE in both improving the compatibility and flexibility. Importantly, WMA-MTE could be biodegraded only by being buried in soil. All the above results suggest that WMA-MTE is an attractive alternative to DOP in the PVC industry.

Biodegradable Plasticizer from Cardanol via Acid-Free Catalysis of Quaternary Ammonium Phosphotungstate

“…The biodegradation test of CEPT in soil was improved based on previous studies. ,, 1.0 g of CEPT was added to 500 g of active soil (Xuanwu Lake, Nanjing, China). The resulting mixture was stored in the incubator for 30 days.…”

“…Shin et al tested the polylactide oligomer for 28 days according to the OECD 301c test method, and its degradation degree in activated sludge reached 78% . Zhu et al degraded fatty acid tetraethylene glycol methyl ester in activated sludge for 35 days, and its degradation products mainly included ethyl palmitate and methyl octadecadienoic acid . However, the biodegradation of plasticizers using T.…”

Bio‐based glycerol plasticizers for flexible poly(vinyl chloride) blends

“…22 In line with this, significant efforts have been made to design alternative plasticizers which can function as effectively, or superiorly to, existing ortho-phthalates. 23,24 Concurrently, the motivation to substitute petroleum-based chemicals with renewably-sourced feedstocks has spurred the development of a number of promising bio-based plasticizers for PVC, 5 such as vanillic acid derivatives, 25 waste oil fatty-acids, 26 ricinoleic acid analogs, 27 malic acids, 28 and succinate esters, 29 to name a few.…”

Construction and Synthesis of High-Stability Biobased Oligomeric Lactate Plasticizer: Applicable to PVC and PLA Polymers

“…Nevertheless, as evidenced by much research, phthalate plasticizers easily migrate from PVC and accumulate in the human body and environment, which could potentially damage the human body by, for example, endocrine disruption, damage to the reproductive development, and carcinogenicity. − Until now, a number of countries and regions have gradually banned the use of several phthalate plasticizers in fields with high health requirements and vigorously developed novel biobased environmentally friendly plasticizers with superior plasticizing properties and resistance to migration as alternatives. − At present, some green plasticizers have been developed and put into the market, such as citrate plasticizers and 1,2-dicarboxylic acid cyclohexane diester plasticizers (such as DINCH) and so on. In addition, there are many plasticizers for PVC derived from biomass resources such as malic acid, waste cooking oil, − vegetable oil, − tartaric acid, , glycerin, , succinic acid, and so on − have been reported recently. However, these plasticizers developed so far still have some limitations in the comprehensive performance such as poor plasticization properties and unsatisfactory synthetic strategy.…”