Recent Advancement in Plant Oil Derived Polyol-Based Polyurethane Foam for Future Perspective: A Review

Polyurethane foams (PUFs) are widely used materials because of their wide range of applications, particularly, thermal and sound insulation, mattresses, furniture, construction, cushioning, packaging, transportation of goods, etc. Recently, commercial PUF products fabricated from plant oil (PO)-based polyols have gained increasing popularity, because of their low cost and eco-friendly nature in comparison to petroleum-based PUF. To date, insufficient reviews have been reported in the area of modification of plant oils for synthesizing polyol for foam synthesis. Due to abundant availability, low-cost, and renewable nature of plant oils, they are being used as precursors for modern polyurethane industry use. There is a need for versatile and economical methods for conversion of plant oils such as castor oil (CO) and soybean oil (SO) into useful polyols for industry use. This review is an overview of the most recent advanced methods for the conversion of plant oils into polyol and further utilization of it for commercial PUF products. Since the last decade, many researchers have shown that plant-polyol-derived PUF can compete with conventional PUF. Practical Applications: Practical applications of the PO-based polyurethane foams include thermal insulation, sound insulation, packaging, and waste water treatment.