Producing Polyurethane Flooring Systems from Renewable Resources

In recent years, we have increasingly heard words like "awareness, continuity, renewable, sustainable" especially in discussions related to the environment. These words were not commonly used in the past, as the world population was not as dense, and people's purchasing power was lower. Consequently, the production and consumption cycle was slower and involved fewer products. The increase in bilateral agreements between countries, the formation of unions by several countries coming together, the lowering of customs barriers, the opening of the Eastern Bloc, and China's ability to supply products to the market at very low prices and in high volumes changed the parameters of the economy. People's purchasing power increased, access to products increased, and living standards rose. Due to the negative effects of increasing production on humans and the environment, greenhouse gas emissions increased, causing the world's temperature to rise.

When clear results emerged, such as the melting of glaciers and the rapid melting of snow on Mount Everest, "carbon footprint" became a common term among many countries and major producers. In fact, many producers emerged who used this as a tool in their PR efforts and sought to make their production more natural and environmentally friendly.

Pürkay A.Ş., which exports to more than 20 countries, began research and development work in 2017, with TUBITAK support, on "Production of polyurethane floor coatings using renewable resources" to make its polyurethane-based floor coverings, which it has been producing for many years, more environmentally friendly. The aim was to move away from oil derivatives and produce polyurethane self-levelling products by using hydroxyl groups in plant-based oils. Since domestically produced oils such as canola, cotton and sunflower do not contain OH groups, and since our R&D work did not aim to add OH groups to bio-oils by subjecting them to any reaction, we decided to continue R&D work with Castor Oil, which contains OH groups. Various additives are present in the formulations of polyurethane-based products made using polyether and polyester resins. These additives are used to prevent settling, to wet extenders and fillers as well as pigments in the product, to prevent foam formation on the surface, and to delay or extend the curing period.

Additive manufacturers develop their work while considering the structure of polyether and polyester resins that are widely used in the market.

Since the production of polyurethane self-levelling material with bio-oils does not exist in the world, additive manufacturers have not conducted work in this direction. Consequently, the greatest difficulty in producing polyurethane self-levelling products with bio-oils arose at the point of identifying additives that could work with bio-oils and that were compatible with these oils, from among the additives that work with polyether and polyester resins. As a result of approximately 1.5 years of R&D work, a bio-oil-based self-levelling product has been produced that has the chemical and physical properties of polyurethane-based self-levelling material produced with polyether and polyester resins. In other words, a bio-oil-based product with properties similar to self-levelling products produced with polyether and polyester resins—such as load-carrying capacity, flexibility, bending properties, elongation at break, and tear resistance—has been produced. As a result of producing polyurethane-based self-levelling coatings, produced for the first time in our country, with a bio-oil-based resin, production using castor oil, a renewable resource, has commenced as of this year. Although castor oil is an imported product since it is not cultivated in our country, due to both being a renewable resource and being relatively more economical, there has been a slight reduction in foreign currency outflow and a considerable change in carbon footprint. The fact that limited resources will run out after a certain period means that the heritage we leave to future generations will diminish. Therefore, the output obtained as a result of this work has brought about a change and development that also reduces the consumption of limited resources.

With the knowledge accumulated from a bio-oil-based formula containing the correct additives in a product such as floor coatings where the visual of the final product is prominent, the way has also been opened for polyurethane-based adhesives and elastomers to be produced with bio-oil-based products.

As a result of increased production of bio-oil-based polyurethane coatings, it is likely that the additive world will conduct necessary research and development work in this field, which will pave the way for more efficient and active additives to be available in the future. We believe that low carbon footprint resulting from production using renewable resources, the fact that limited resources will no longer be consumed, and the taking of serious steps towards becoming a self-sufficient world. We believe that awareness in environmentally friendly product production will accelerate in the coming years as the new generation joins the workforce, and with the conviction that sustainable production practices will gradually replace traditional production models, Pürkay A.Ş. aims to maintain our motivation at the highest level in producing firsts and bests. Saydun Gökşin Chief Executive Officer PÜRKAY Paints and Chemistry Ind. Co.