Soy Based Polyurethane Foam Insulation

Rigid foam soy insulation is new on the market as well.

Soy based polyurethane foam insulation.

Unlike blown in loose fill insulation spray foam insulation sticks to the walls and framing then expands to 100 times its original size. Heatlok soy 200 plus is a closed cell spray foam insulation that also incorporates recycled plastic bottles. Soy based spray foam insulation in their kitchen walls saves jennifer and jason lafleur hundreds a year on their energy bills. Volga s d touts its soy therm as having a density of 1 2 pound per cubic foot of rigid foam insulation.

One manufacturer urethane soy systems co. Rigid soy based pu foam samples investigated in this study were produced by copolymerization of diisocyanate with soy based polyol in presence of xiameter x0193 surfactant dibutyltin. Jennifer wilson of biobased insulation a soy based spf product claims that its exclusive agrol polyol is 96 pure making it one of the purest bio polyols on the market jeff soto apex foam states that their earth seal foam system offers a unique sucrose based polyol that contributes to a b side that consists of 30 to 40 of a renewable resource the highest renewable. The insulation properties of soy foam are comparable to those of traditional polyurethane insulation and it is mold and mildew resistant.

Soy based insulation may also reduce building costs by decreasing the amount of lumber used. With energy costs rising you re probably wondering how to keep precious dollars from flying out all the leaks in your walls. Products with a higher r value provide greater insulation. Yes soybeans are greener than plastics although 15 soybean oil is more environmentally friendly that the 100 polyurethane foam mixtures it may be hard to argue you re making a dramatic environmental impact.

It can also limit the amount of outdoor irritants like pollen dust and other allergens. Eco spray foam insulation. The renewable soybean oil content in the polyol used to make heatlok soy 200 plus is 13 5 percent. Soy foam insulation is also available in rigid form which is much less dense than other kinds of rigid foam.

The most common soy insulation which actually is not entirely soy based since it contains other components as well is a foam which is sprayed into house walls and other spaces. So this new soy based foam is not completely soybean oil based foam it still has substantial levels of polyols. It has less chemical off gassing during application. Using spray foam products spray insulation is sticky so wear rubber gloves a long sleeved shirt and eye protection.

While there is little doubt that soy based insulation is less toxic than polyurethane according to the architecture experts at horizon builders though the current soy products perform much better than fiberglass batts there are some sacrifices with soy foam in that they don t insulate as well as closed cell polyurethane foam. Photo by bob stefko. This study is focused on the fabrication and evaluation of polyurethane pu foam fabricated using soy based polyol that can potentially replace conventional petroleum based pu foam for thermal applications.