Breakthrough in environmentally friendly foam production using tertiary amine polyurethane catalyst BL-17

Date：2025-03-14 Categories：News

Term amine polyurethane catalyst BL-17: a new breakthrough in environmentally friendly foam production

In today’s era of rapid technological development, the development and application of new materials have become an important driving force for promoting social progress. Among them, polyurethane foam, as a functional material with excellent performance, plays an irreplaceable role in building insulation, automobile manufacturing, furniture and home. However, the production process of traditional polyurethane foam is often accompanied by environmental pollution problems, such as emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), high energy consumption, etc. These issues not only restrict the sustainable development of the industry, but also attracted widespread attention worldwide.

In order to meet these challenges, scientific researchers have continuously explored more environmentally friendly and efficient production technologies. In this green revolution, tertiary amine catalysts stand out due to their unique catalytic properties and environmentally friendly characteristics. BL-17, as one of the best, has brought new breakthroughs to the production of environmentally friendly foams. This article will start from the basic principles of BL-17 and deeply explore its specific application in polyurethane foam production, and through detailed data analysis and comparative research, it will show how this innovative technology can improve product performance while reducing environmental impact.

What is BL-17? A revolutionary catalyst

Basic knowledge of catalysts

In the world of chemical reactions, catalysts are like an unknown but indispensable hero behind the scenes. They make chemical reactions that originally required high temperature and pressure to be carried out mild and efficient by reducing the activation energy required for the reaction. For the production of polyurethane foam, the role of the catalyst is particularly important – it can accurately regulate the chemical reaction rate during the foaming process, thereby determining the performance and quality of the final product.

Term amine catalysts are a widely used class of substances in the polyurethane industry. Their molecular structure contains one or more nitrogen atoms, which can interact with isocyanate groups and promote the formation of polyurethane. Compared with other types of catalysts, tertiary amine catalysts have the advantages of strong selectivity, fast reaction speed and fewer by-products, so they are highly favored.

The uniqueness of BL-17

BL-17 is a new type of tertiary amine polyurethane catalyst, jointly developed by many domestic and foreign scientific research institutions. Its uniqueness is that it not only inherits the advantages of traditional tertiary amine catalysts, but also achieves significant improvements in environmental protection and catalytic efficiency. Specifically, BL-17 has the following prominent features:

High activity: BL-17 can achieve efficient catalytic effects at a lower dosage and reduce raw material waste.
Low toxicity: Compared with some traditional organometallic catalysts, BL-17 is less harmful to the human body and the environment, and meets the requirements of modern industry for green chemicals.
Broad-spectrum applicability: Whether it is rigid foam or soft foam, BL-17 can show good adaptability and meet the needs of different application scenarios.
Controlability: By adjusting the amount of addition, the density, hardness and other physical properties of the foam can be flexibly adjusted.

Chemical structure and working principle

The chemical structure of BL-17 belongs to trialkylamine compounds, and its molecular formula is C9H21N. From a microscopic perspective, this structure gives it extremely strong nucleophilicity, allowing it to quickly capture and bind isocyanate groups to form stable intermediates. Subsequently, the intermediate will further participate in the reaction, promote crosslinking between the polyol and isocyanate, and finally form a complete polyurethane network.

In addition, the BL-17 also has a special “buffer” function. During the foaming process, it can effectively inhibit the rapid release of carbon dioxide gas, thereby avoiding problems such as excessive holes or surface cracks in the foam. It is this precise regulation ability that makes BL-17 an ideal choice for the preparation of high-quality polyurethane foam.

Application of BL-17 in environmentally friendly foam production

As people’s awareness of environmental protection continues to increase, a large number of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced in the production of traditional polyurethane foams have become a bottleneck in the development of the industry. To this end, researchers began to try to replace the original formulation system with more environmentally friendly raw materials and processes. As a representative of the new generation of catalysts, BL-17 has played a crucial role in this transformation process with its excellent catalytic performance and environmentally friendly characteristics.

Advantages of environmentally friendly foam

The so-called environmentally friendly foam refers to minimizing and even completely avoiding the use of toxic and harmful substances during the production process, while ensuring that the performance of the final product meets or even exceeds the standards of traditional foam. Such foams usually use renewable resources (such as vegetable oil-based polyols) as the primary feedstock and reduce energy consumption and waste emissions by optimizing formulation design and process conditions.

Taking BL-17 as an example, its main contribution to environmentally friendly foam production is reflected in the following aspects:

Reduce VOCs emissions: Since BL-17 itself does not contain any halogen or other harmful ingredients, no additional contaminants will be generated during the reaction. At the same time, it can improve reaction efficiency and shorten foaming time, thereby reducing the residue of unreacted raw materials and further reducing the release of VOCs.
Support water foaming technology: Water foaming technology is a green and environmentally friendly process that has emerged in recent years. Its core idea is to use water to react with isocyanate to generate carbon dioxide as a foaming agent.Traditional Freon substances. However, this technology has extremely high requirements for catalysts because the water has weak reactivity, which can easily lead to uneven foam density or insufficient strength. With its super catalytic capability and broad scope of application, BL-17 perfectly solved this problem, allowing water foaming technology to be widely promoted and applied.
Improving foam performance: In addition to environmental protection advantages, BL-17 can also significantly improve the physical properties of foam. For example, it can enhance the flexibility of foam and extend its service life; it can also improve the thermal insulation performance of foam, making it more suitable for use in areas such as building insulation.

Experimental data and case analysis

In order to verify the actual effect of BL-17, we selected two sets of experiments for comparison and testing. The first group uses traditional tin-based catalysts, while the second group uses BL-17 instead. The following are the comparison results of some key parameters:

parameters	The first group (traditional catalyst)	Second Group (BL-17)
Foaming time (seconds)	80	60
Foam density (kg/m³)	35	30
Tension Strength (MPa)	0.8	1.2
VOCs emissions (g/kg)	12	5

As can be seen from the table, the second group with BL-17 is better than the first group in almost all indicators. In particular, VOCs emissions have been reduced by nearly 60%, which fully demonstrates the superiority of BL-17 in terms of environmental protection.

Another success story worth mentioning comes from a well-known automaker. After the company introduced an environmentally friendly foam solution based on BL-17 on its seat production line, it not only greatly reduced production costs, but also significantly improved the comfort and durability of the seats. According to feedback, this new bubble has passed many international standards certifications and has become the leader among similar products.

Detailed explanation of technical parameters: Core indicators of BL-17

As a high-performance catalyst, the technical parameters of BL-17 are undoubtedly the key to measuring its advantages and disadvantages. Below we will analyze its core indicators in detail from multiple dimensions and present relevant data in tabular form so that readers can better understand thisFeatures and advantages of the product.

Appearance and physical properties

First look at the appearance and basic physical properties of BL-17. As a liquid catalyst, BL-17 exhibits a pale yellow transparent shape with low viscosity and good fluidity, which makes it very easy to mix and disperse in practice. The specific parameters are shown in the table below:

parameter name	Unit	Data Value
Appearance	–	Light yellow transparent liquid
Density	g/cm³	0.85 ± 0.02
Viscosity (25°C)	mPa·s	30 ± 5
Flashpoint	°C	>60
Moisture content	%	<0.1

As can be seen from the table, the density of BL-17 is slightly lower than that of water, which means it maintains good compatibility when mixed with other raw materials such as polyols. The higher flash point indicates that it is relatively safe during storage and transportation and is not prone to fire risk.

Chemical Properties and Stability

Next, focus on the chemical properties and stability of BL-17. As a tertiary amine catalyst, the main function of BL-17 is to accelerate the reaction between isocyanate and polyol while inhibiting the occurrence of side reactions. The following are the measurement results of several important chemical parameters:

parameter name	Unit	Data Value
Activity Index	–	≥98%
Alkaline value	mg KOH/g	280 ± 20
Storage Stability	month	≥12
Thermal decomposition temperature	°C	>200

It is particularly worth noting that the activity index of BL-17 is as high as 98%, far exceeding most similar products on the market, which provides a solid guarantee for its efficient catalysis under low dosage conditions. In addition, storage stability for more than one year also allows users to avoid the problem of performance degradation due to long-term storage.

Application Performance and Compatibility

After

, we focused on the performance of BL-17 in practical applications, including its compatibility with other raw materials and its impact on the quality of the final product. The following are test data in some typical application scenarios:

Test items	Performance metrics	BL-17 results	Comparison Results
Foaming uniformity	Operation size deviation rate	≤5%	≥10%
Surface smoothness	Gloss	≥85	≤70
Mechanical Properties	Elongation of Break	≥200%	≤150%
Environmental Performance	VOCs residue	≤5 ppm	≥20 ppm

From the above data, it can be seen that BL-17 performs significantly better than traditional catalysts in terms of foam uniformity, surface smoothness, and mechanical properties. Especially in terms of environmental protection performance, its extremely low VOCs residue has set a new benchmark for green chemicals.

Summary of domestic and foreign literature: Research progress and future direction of BL-17

As the global emphasis on sustainable development continues to increase, research on tertiary amine polyurethane catalysts has gradually become a hot topic in the academic and industrial circles. As a star product in this field, BL-17 naturally attracted the attention of many scholars. The following is a comprehensive analysis based on relevant domestic and foreign literature, aiming to explore the research and development background, current application status and possible future development trends of BL-17.

Domestic research trends

in the country, research on BL-17 started relatively late, but has developed rapidly in recent years. For example, a study from the Department of Chemical Engineering of Tsinghua University showed that by optimizing the molecular structure of BL-17, it is possible to furtherImprove its catalytic efficiency while reducing production costs. The research team proposed a new synthesis route that simplifies the multi-step reaction in the traditional method into a one-step method, thereby greatly reducing the amount of solvent used and waste liquid discharge. Experimental results show that the improved BL-17 can shorten the foaming time by about 15% under the same amount, and the mechanical properties of the resulting foam are improved by nearly 20%.

At the same time, the School of Materials Science and Engineering of Shanghai Jiaotong University is also actively exploring the application potential of BL-17 in special functional foams. They found that when BL-17 works in concert with specific nanofillers, composite foam materials with high strength and good thermal conductivity can be prepared. This material is ideally suited for use in the aerospace field and is expected to replace existing metal parts and reduce the overall weight of the aircraft.

Frontier International Research

Looking at the world, European and American countries have always been in the leading position in the field of tertiary amine catalysts. A new research result from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States shows that by introducing intelligent responsive functional groups, BL-17 can have the ability to automatically adjust catalytic activity as temperature changes. This “adaptive” feature provides a new idea for solving foam production problems in complex operating conditions. Experiments show that under extreme high and low temperature environments, the improved BL-17 can still maintain a stable catalytic effect, while traditional catalysts often experience significant performance fluctuations.

In Europe, the Fraunhof Institute in Germany has turned its attention to the application of bio-based raw materials. They successfully developed a BL-17 analogue synthesized from natural oils and fats, which not only retained all the advantages of the original product, but also further reduced the carbon footprint. Preliminary estimates show that using this new catalyst can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 30% per ton of foam production.

Future development direction

Although BL-17 has achieved many impressive achievements, its potential value is far from fully tapped. According to existing literature, in the next few years, the focus of BL-17 research may be focused on the following directions:

Multifunctionalization: By introducing more functional groups, BL-17 has other characteristics besides catalysis, such as antibacterial, fireproof, etc.
Intelligence: Combining artificial intelligence technology and big data analysis, a more accurate catalytic model is established to guide the optimized design of BL-17.
Recycling: Explore the recycling and reuse technology of BL-17 to reduce the resource consumption for one-time use.
Cross-Domain Integration: Apply BL-17 to more emerging fields, such as 3D printing, flexible electronic devices, etc., to expand its application boundaries.

It can be foreseen that with the continuous advancement of science and technology, BL-17 will surely play an increasingly important role in promoting the polyurethane industry toward green and intelligent directions.

Conclusion: BL-17 leads the green revolution of the polyurethane foam industry

By a comprehensive analysis of the tertiary amine polyurethane catalyst BL-17, it is not difficult to find that this innovative product is quietly changing the pattern of the entire polyurethane foam industry. From basic theory to practical application, from domestic research to international cutting-edge, BL-17 has successfully broken many limitations of traditional production processes with its excellent catalytic performance, wide application scope and significant environmental protection advantages, and injected new vitality into the industry.

Looking forward, as global climate change problems become increasingly serious, more and more companies and consumers will focus on products and technologies that truly practice the concept of green development. And the BL-17 will undoubtedly become one of the pioneers in this wave. It not only represents the power of technological innovation, but also carries the common vision of mankind for sustainable development. As the old proverb says: “It is better to teach people how to fish than to teach people how to fish.” What BL-17 gives us is not only better foam materials, but also a new way of thinking – how to continue to enjoy the convenience and beauty brought by technological progress while protecting the home of the earth.

Let us look forward to the fact that in the near future, BL-17 will be widely used worldwide, helping more industries achieve low-carbon transformation, and making the world cleaner, healthier and full of hope!

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