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Tim Leared Posted: Apr 13, 2013 12:11 PM	Eco-friendly Materials Suppliers? Ok guys I want to know which material/chemical manufacturers out there are producing, or developing, a totally Eco friendly spray foam product? There are manufacturers making all kinds of claims but I'm not convinced yet! If anyone has the latest industry information, or if any chemical companies want to discuss, please get in touch. Many thanks
mason Posted: Apr 15, 2013 08:38 AM	Timi, Eco friendly is a term that doesn't really tell you much. No product is environmentally benign. If you mean bio based chemicals, only the resin side (b-side) of spray polyurethane foam could be bio-based. The other chemicals of the foam are not bio-based including A side catalysts fire retardants surfactants blowing agents (closed cell foam, open cell uses water as the blowing agent) Some of the non-biobased resins include recycled plastics. Regardless of the bio based content or recycled content, all spray foam when installed properly with the right HVAC and ventilation systems can save a huge amount of energy while increasing the durability of the structure. (which more than makes up for the environmental drawbacks). Hope this helps. Check out my articles at masonknowles.com for more information.
Charles Valentine Posted: Apr 16, 2013 11:17 AM	SES Foam has a product that has 17% bio content in the finished foam this has been tested by ASTM D-6866. The product is sucrose based and has some of the highest "green content" available. Although there is indeed a grey area concerning the use of the word green this product has been tested and meets the requirements of the USDA's bio content. The company has a 1.0/lb product that is listed on the USDA's biopreferred program. All samples have been witnessed from manufacturing to foam produced with a verified chain of custody to ensure compliance with all ICC guidelines. The company does not hype their product they simply state the test results. It is true that the remainder of their formulation is indeed petrochemical based. By definition a urethane is the linkage between a hydroxyl group and a NCO group. The NCO comes from isocyanate and in this case the majority of the OH groups come from either water or sugar. Once again the company is SES Foam and the product is Sucraseal
Bob Silverman Posted: Apr 16, 2013 05:16 PM	If the product has 17% in the finished foam, does that mean that there is bio in the finished foam? I thought that once the iso and resin were manufactured, there was no iso and resin left, only cured plastic? Does 17% bio content mean that you have 34% bio content in the resin as there can be no bio in the iso. Thank you, Bob
Mark Mouton Posted: Apr 17, 2013 05:52 AM	Is ECO-Friendly a little man with a funny looking hat and pointed shoes walking around in the woods with a bucket fertilizing and watering all the trees?
Tim Leared Posted: Apr 17, 2013 06:23 AM	Good question Bob. Maybe Mason can answer that for us?
Tim Leared Posted: Apr 17, 2013 06:31 AM	Sucraseal, thankyou thats very interesting. So is there no Isocynate in this product? Can you email me direct technical specs, chemical breakdown, and product performance etc. Also it would be good to show some examples of jobs, and various applications, and videos etc. thanks Tim tleared@gmail.com
Charles Valentine Posted: Apr 18, 2013 09:04 PM	Sucraseal is indeed made with isocyanate on reason why the total biocontent is 17%. All of the biocontent comes from the resin side of the material. Regarding testing ASTM D-6866 states "The "biobased content" of a material is reported as a percent value relating total renewable organic carbon to total organic carbon. The final result is calculated by multiplying the pMC value measured for the material by 0.95 (to adjust for bomb carbon effect). The final value is cited as the MEAN BIOBASED RESULT and assumes all the components within the analyzed material were either present day living (within the last decade) or fossil in origin." Complicated answer regarding testing but this is what is accepted by the USDA for it's biopreferred program. This is an effort to get rid of some non analytical method to state bio content. There are indeed cloudy comments concerning eco friendly but the best anyone can do is report their data and let the consumer determine the value

Author

Comments

Tim Leared

Posted: Apr 13, 2013 12:11 PM

Eco-friendly Materials Suppliers?

Ok guys I want to know which material/chemical manufacturers out there are producing, or developing, a totally Eco friendly spray foam product?
There are manufacturers making all kinds of claims but I'm not convinced yet!
If anyone has the latest industry information, or if any chemical companies want to discuss, please get in touch.
Many thanks

mason

Posted: Apr 15, 2013 08:38 AM

Timi, Eco friendly is a term that doesn't really tell you much. No product is environmentally benign. If you mean bio based chemicals, only the resin side (b-side) of spray polyurethane foam could be bio-based.

The other chemicals of the foam are not bio-based including
A side
catalysts
fire retardants
surfactants
blowing agents (closed cell foam, open cell uses water as the blowing agent)

Some of the non-biobased resins include recycled plastics.

Regardless of the bio based content or recycled content, all spray foam when installed properly with the right HVAC and ventilation systems can save a huge amount of energy while increasing the durability of the structure. (which more than makes up for the environmental drawbacks).

Hope this helps. Check out my articles at masonknowles.com for more information.

Charles Valentine

Posted: Apr 16, 2013 11:17 AM

SES Foam has a product that has 17% bio content in the finished foam this has been tested by ASTM D-6866. The product is sucrose based and has some of the highest "green content" available. Although there is indeed a grey area concerning the use of the word green this product has been tested and meets the requirements of the USDA's bio content. The company has a 1.0/lb product that is listed on the USDA's biopreferred program. All samples have been witnessed from manufacturing to foam produced with a verified chain of custody to ensure compliance with all ICC guidelines. The company does not hype their product they simply state the test results. It is true that the remainder of their formulation is indeed petrochemical based. By definition a urethane is the linkage between a hydroxyl group and a NCO group. The NCO comes from isocyanate and in this case the majority of the OH groups come from either water or sugar. Once again the company is SES Foam and the product is Sucraseal

Bob Silverman

Posted: Apr 16, 2013 05:16 PM

If the product has 17% in the finished foam, does that mean that there is bio in the finished foam? I thought that once the iso and resin were manufactured, there was no iso and resin left, only cured plastic? Does 17% bio content mean that you have 34% bio content in the resin as there can be no bio in the iso.

Thank you,

Bob

Mark Mouton

Posted: Apr 17, 2013 05:52 AM

Is ECO-Friendly a little man with a funny looking hat and pointed shoes walking around in the woods with a bucket fertilizing and watering all the trees?

Tim Leared

Posted: Apr 17, 2013 06:23 AM

Good question Bob.
Maybe Mason can answer that for us?

Tim Leared

Posted: Apr 17, 2013 06:31 AM

Sucraseal, thankyou thats very interesting.
So is there no Isocynate in this product?
Can you email me direct technical specs, chemical breakdown, and product performance etc.
Also it would be good to show some examples of jobs, and various applications, and videos etc.
thanks
Tim tleared@gmail.com

Charles Valentine

Posted: Apr 18, 2013 09:04 PM

Sucraseal is indeed made with isocyanate on reason why the total biocontent is 17%. All of the biocontent comes from the resin side of the material. Regarding testing ASTM D-6866 states "The "biobased content" of a material is reported as a percent value relating total renewable organic carbon to total organic
carbon. The final result is calculated by multiplying the pMC value measured for the material by 0.95 (to adjust for bomb carbon effect). The final value is cited as the MEAN BIOBASED RESULT and assumes all the components within the analyzed material were either present day living (within the last decade) or fossil in origin."

Complicated answer regarding testing but this is what is accepted by the USDA for it's biopreferred program. This is an effort to get rid of some non analytical method to state bio content. There are indeed cloudy comments concerning eco friendly but the best anyone can do is report their data and let the consumer determine the value

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