Wolff & Kaaber

Koninklijke Emballage Industrie Van Leer B.v.

Sven Barfoed

Hans-Ole Larsen

John Arthur Gent

Improved polyfuran foams are prepared by polymerizing or copolymerizing furfuryl alcohol, alone or in combination with prepolymers or precopolymers of furfuryl alcohol, as liquid feed material in the presence of a liquid acidic compound, the liquid feed material containing at least 20% of free furfuryl alcohol and wherein at least 50% of the hydroxyl groups in the mixture are present as free furfuryl alcohol. The liquid acidic compound or mixture of acidic compounds having a pKa value in water of from 1 to 4 or having a pka value in water of less than 1 and being uniformly distributed in mono alcohols that do not polymerize in the presence of said acidic compound or mixture of acidic compounds. The polyfuran foam having non-flammability characteristics as determined by the muffle furance test.

Process of preparing polyfuran foams

A synthetic foam and a process for its preparation is disclosed comprising (a) a polymerized mass of at least 50 parts by weight of furfuryl alcohol, at least one part by weight of at least one amino compound selected from the group consisting of urea, thiourea and melamine, and up to 49 parts by weight formaldehyde, and (b) an equal or less amount of filler.

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Copenhagen, Denmark

Sven Barfoed