Lignin-based flame retardants (LIBRA) (LIBRA)

Flame retardants (FRs) are an important class of plastic additives intended to make various products and materials less flammable and hence to improve their safety. The current industrially used FRs are fossil-based and many of them show important safety concerns due to their toxicity. The goal of the LIBRA project is to develop new biobased FRs starting from lignin oil monomers, obtained through the "lignin-first" biorefinery of wood, with performance at least comparable to the state-of-the-art industrially used petrochemical additives. Furthermore, these novel FRs should display no significant concern in the scheduled initial acute toxicity evaluation. The primary application areas for the novel biobased FRs are the polycarbonate and polyurethane sectors. The immediate objective of the project is to develop several new molecular entities with promising performance properties and no acute toxicity which will serve as a proof-of-concept for further development of new biobased FRs in the framework of a multi-partner follow-up project with direct industrial involvement.

Keywords:BIOBASED ECONOMY, ORGANIC SYNTHESIS

Disciplines:Organic chemical synthesis, Organic green chemistry

Project type:Collaboration project