Recyclable Plastic Resins Production from Waste Vegetable Oil and Biomass

Recently the Plastics Division of the American Chemistry Council (ACC) announced three goals designed to accelerate the industry’s transition to a more circular economy [1]: 1) 100% of plastics packaging will be re-used, recycled or recovered by 2040; 2) 100% of plastics packaging will be recyclable or recoverable by 2030; and 3) 100% of the U.S. manufacturing sites operated by ACC’s Plastics Division members will participate in Operation Clean Sweep-Blue by 2020. This paper will present a novel method for producing renewable epoxy polymer resins from waste vegetable oil and biomass-derived 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid. The epoxy polymer resins can be used as recyclable plastics, composites recycling and reusable 3-D printing filaments.
[1] Rick Lingle, Plastic resin producers and Circular Economy Goals: An interview with the ACC, Packaging Sustainability, Recycling, Business, Materials, May 29, 2018.