Title: PRODUCTION OF POLYOLS USING DISTILLERS GRAINS AND PROTEINS AND LIGNIN EXTRACTED FROM DISTILLERS GRAINS

 Number/Link: US2014/200324

Applicant/Assignee: EMGPI PROC and PITTSBURG STATE UNIVERSITY 

Publication date: 17-07-2014

“Gist”: Dried distillers grains are transamidated and then alkoxylated to form a polyol useful for rigid polyurethane spray foams.

Why it is interesting: ‘Distillers grains’ are a by-product of ethanol production and are currently avaible in huge quatities due to the state-sponsored bio-ethanol production in the US.  Most of the product is used as animal feeds because of the high levels of nutrients. Dried distillers grain (DDGS) contains about 30% protein, about 30% fibers (cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin) and about 30% lipids, ash and water. According to this invention DDGS can be turned into polyols by first reacting the (solid) DDGS with diethanolamine at elevated temperature and pressure (about 200°C and 3.5 MPa) and breaking down the proteins in amino-amides. The resulting liquid can subsequentlly be epoxidized with propylene oxide resulting in a polyol which is supposedly highly reactive and useful for polyurethane rigid spray foams.
Personally I find it hard to believe that a decent reproducible foam can be made with such a horrible mixture.

Transamidation of protein with subsequent epoxidation.