Systematic study on substituting petroleum-based polyols with soy-based polyol for developing renewable hybrid biofoam by self-catalyzing/rising process

• Soy-based self-catalyzing biofoam composites were prepared by free-rising fabrication method withoutblowing agent
• The feasibility study was carried out to produce high renewable content polyurethane composite foams
• Biofoams with different rigidity are suitable for different application
• Biopolyurethane foams exhibited comparable properties to their petroleum analogs

The future depletion of petroleum resources is driving development of sustainable alternatives based on biomass materials. This work is aimed at developing rigid polyurethane biofoam with similar properties to commercial foam for the potential application in thermal insulation. we designed a hybrid biofoam by self-catalyzing/rising process from substituting petroleum polyol with soy polyol.