Screening Life Cycle Assessment of Tall Oil-Based Polyols Suitable for Rigid Polyurethane Foams

Anda Fridrihsone, Arnis Abolins and Mikelis Kirpluks
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Anda Fridrihsone: Polymer Department, Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, 27 Dzerbenes str., LV-1006 Riga, Latvia
Arnis Abolins: Polymer Department, Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, 27 Dzerbenes str., LV-1006 Riga, Latvia
Mikelis Kirpluks: Polymer Department, Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry, 27 Dzerbenes str., LV-1006 Riga, Latvia

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 20, 1-13

Abstract: A screening Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of tall oil-based bio-polyols suitable for rigid polyurethane (PU) foams has been carried out. The goal was to identify the hot-spots and data gaps. The system under investigation is three different tall oil fatty acids (TOFA)-based bio-polyol synthesis with a cradle-to-gate approach, from the production of raw materials to the synthesis of TOFA based bio-polyols at a pilot-scale reactor. The synthesis steps that give the most significant environmental footprint hot-spots were identified. The results showed the bio-based feedstock was the main environmental hot-spot in the bio-polyol production process. Future research directions have been highlighted.

Keywords: polyols; tall oil; life cycle assessment; polyurethane; environment assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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