Epoxy resins are valued for their strong adhesion, durability, and resistance to heat, chemicals, and electricity. However, their reliance on bisphenol A (BPA) raises environmental and health concerns, and their crosslinked structure makes recycling difficult, often leading to incineration or landfill disposal.
VITO’s SPOT group is enhancing epoxy resin sustainability through three strategies (Scheme 1). First, they utilize recycled BPA (r-BPA) from the chemical depolymerization of electronic waste to reduce reliance on fossil-based materials (A). Second, they incorporate lignin to increase biobased content (B). VITO has established two pilot plants, PILAR II and LignoValue, to produce high-value lignin fractions, demonstrating process feasibility. Third, they introduce covalent dynamic bonds to improve recyclability by enabling bond breaking and reformation under specific conditions (C).
SPOT continuously develops new biobased epoxy resin systems with tailored chemical structures for targeted applications while enhancing sustainability. Thermal and mechanical tests confirm that these modified resins match conventional benchmarks in performance. Furthermore, dynamic chemistry integration is assessed via thermal viscoelastic behavior, revealing increased reversibility in these partially dissociative systems. This facilitates reshaping and repurposing, potentially enabling future chemical recycling.
This research underscores the viability of r-BPA and lignin as sustainable epoxy resin components. It also paves the way for eco-friendly formulations with embedded chemical triggers, allowing thermal activation for structural reversibility.