Comparison of Flexible Polyurethane Foam Produced by using Sunflower Oil, Soybean Oil and Palm Kernel Oil as Polyol

Abstract

The research for a possible total replacement of petroleum-based polyol with renewable oil for the production of flexible polyurethane foams has been on the increasing recently. This is because of the enormous benefits that lie in renewable oil. In this work, 3 renewable oils namely sunflower oil, palm kernel oil and soybean oil were each used to replace 20% of petroleum-based polyol in polyurethane foam production and the foams produced were labeled S1, S2, and S3 respectively. These were compared with a control sample (S0) made with only petroleum-based polyol. A density of 24kg/m3 was used for this work. Tests carried out on the various samples showed that palm kernel oil is a better substituent for petroleum-based polyol than the other oils.