Bio-based, halogen-free flame-retardant (FR) chemical platform

• The invention is a synthetic chemistry method that uses vanillin as the starting molecule to yield a novel difunctional phosphorus-containing chemical compound that can serve as a bio-based FR building block to be converted into various FR monomeric resins with reactive functionalities.
• The resulting green bio-based FR epoxy and isocyanate resins have various industrial applications, such as flame-retardants, crosslinkers, and fireproofing coatings, as well as adhesives for substrate protection and cured fire-retardant composites (TRL 4).

APPLICATIONS

• Fire retardants (FR) are widely used to improve the fire safety of combustible materials with more than 2.25 million tons of fire retardants consumed globally per year.
• A variety of sectors, including construction, electronics, transportation, and oil & gas, are seeking environmentally-friendly, halogenic-free FR technologies.
• The novel FR technology uses renewable biomolecule as the starting material.
• It is halogenic-free and contains reactive functionalities (i.e. not a non-reactive filler).
• Can adhere to metal, plastics, wood and other combustible materials as a protective adhesive or coating, or can be cured into FR plastics and composites.

OPPORTUNITY

• The FR resin market was valued at $2.3B in 2023 and will reach $3.5B by 2030, with a CAGR of 5%, fueled by increasing usage of lightweight materials in automotive, aerospace, and electronics.
• Regulatory pressure and safety awareness combined with environmental sustainability drive the need for green FR technologies.

STATUS

• Fire-retarding resins and coatings were tested using industry standard testing (achieving V-0 for UL-94 Vertical Burning Test and ASTME84 Class2 (B) for surface burning.
• PCT in national phase in US, Canada, EU, Brazil, China, and India: Vanillin-derived flame retardant monomers, resins, prepolymers, and polymers
• Future work will be done to optimize the formulation as fireproof coating to attain Class 1( A) rating in industry standard ASTM E84 surface burning test.
• Seeking industry partners for piloting and licensing, and a startup is being formed to commercialize the technology.