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Sustainability in polyurethanes: old hat or new strategy for future developments?
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This review examines sustainability challenges and emerging strategies for polyurethanes, covering bio-based building blocks, recyclable vitrimer formulations, and enzymatic or biodegradation end-of-life pathways as the industry moves toward greater circularity.
Polyurethanes are facing health and environmental problems related to their chemistry, processing and end-of-life management. This review summarizes the most recent strategies within the framework of sustainability and circularity related to the use of polyurethanes with low environmental impact, focusing on the possibility of performing their synthesis by replacing fossil-based building blocks with renewable ones, designing vitrimeric polyurethanes, and managing their end-of-life through enzymatic degradation or biodegradation processes.
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Sustainable cycloaliphatic polyurethanes: from synthesis to applications
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This review examines sustainable cycloaliphatic polyurethanes derived from bio-based and recycled feedstocks, covering synthesis routes, properties, and applications as alternatives to conventional fossil-based polyurethanes to reduce environmental impact.
Adaptable Polyurethane Networks Containing Tertiary Amines as Intrinsic Bond Exchange Catalyst
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Not relevant to microplastics — this is a polymer chemistry study developing recyclable polyurethane vitrimer materials that incorporate an intrinsic catalyst for bond exchange, improving their thermomechanical properties and recyclability.
Thermoset polyurethanes from biobased and recycled components
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Researchers synthesized thermoset polyurethanes using a recycled PET-derived monomer (BHET) combined with a biobased castor oil polyol, demonstrating a pathway to produce sustainable polymer materials from marine plastic litter and biobased feedstocks.
Recycling and Upcycling of Polyurethane Thermosets: The Second Life of Polymers
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This review comprehensively examines recycling and upcycling technologies for crosslinked polyurethane thermosets, including chemical recycling, vitrimers, and reversible covalent network designs that enable circular material life cycles. Advancing PU recycling is directly relevant to microplastic pollution since mechanically degraded polyurethane foams and coatings are a significant and understudied source of microplastic particles in soil and water environments.
Novel robust upcycling approach for the manufacture of value-added polymers based on mixed (poly)urethane scraps
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This study developed a novel process for recycling mixed polyurethane scraps into new value-added polymers. Upcycling thermoset plastics that are currently unrecyclable could prevent these materials from fragmenting into microplastics in the environment.
Research digests by email
When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.