Cochin University of Technology team develops polyurethane foam made from rubber seed oil

A research team from the Cochin University of Science and Technology's Department of Polymer Science and Rubber Technology has discovered that polyurethane foam (PUF) made from rubber seed oil (RSO) can be used in rocket cryogenic engines, as well as in special coatings on satellite components to regulate temperature or Insulati.

This will help avoid waste of rubber seed oil, an environmentally friendly source of PUF, and can replace crude oil-produced polyo.

Reghunadhan Nair, an emeritus professor at Cochin University of Technology, who led the research, said: "Polyurethanes are synthesized from diisocyanates and polyols (containing multiple hydroxyl compound.

Nair is also Deputy Director and Senior Scientist at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSS.

"Polyol production is a step-by-step chemical conversion of the unsaturated bonds in rubber seed oil to hydroxyl-containing rubber seed oil with a very dilute oxidant solution, such as potassium permanganate, at very low temperatures," Nair sa.

The team was the first to discover this technology and has applied for a pate.