A team of scientists and engineers at NDSU was awarded a two-year $200,000 grant by the North Dakota Renewable Energy Council to fund a portion of a project titled “Biobased Non-Isocyanate Urethane Hybrid Resins for Pultrusion Composites.” NDSU and Tecton Products LLC, Fargo, are collaborating on the research that aims to help meet market demand for “green” composite building materials.
Composites are traditionally made from glass fibers held together with a petrochemical-based binder resin. The interdisciplinary research team will develop new types of bio-based binder resins from agricultural products such as soybean oil, cellulose and sugar.
Representatives on the collaborative research team include Chad Ulven, assistant professor, mechanical engineering; Dean Webster, professor, coatings and polymeric materials; Dennis Wiesenborn, professor, and Judith Espinoza Perez, postdoctoral research fellow, agricultural and biosystems engineering; and personnel from Tecton Products LLC.
Using various chemical reactions on the agricultural raw materials, a series of candidate resins will be prepared for use in composites. The resins in composites will then be tested to identify the most promising resin candidates. NDSU and Tecton will collaborate to scale up the most promising resin systems for testing in a production environment.
“This type of material could be used in building products to meet a growing demand for ‘green’ composite materials,” Ulven said. The resulting product would be expected to have low or no volatile organic compounds. Such a product also may have enhanced physical properties, compared to its traditional counterpart. If successful, the composite materials could be commercialized and manufactured with the novel resin being developed with agricultural products.
The North Dakota Renewable Energy Council, under the State Industrial Commission, provided funding for the research to promote the growth of North Dakota’s renewable energy industries through research, development, marketing and education.
The project underscores interdisciplinary research of scientific and engineering leaders to innovate in the area of renewable building products. In addition to North Dakota Industrial Commission funds, the North Dakota Soybean Council awarded $80,000 to support the research project.