The invention relates to a method for producing a biomass-resource-derived polyurethane, which comprises: reacting a dicarboxylic acid and an aliphatic diol to produce a polyester polyol; and reacting the polyester polyol and a polyisocyanate compound, wherein the dicarboxylic acid contains at least one component derived from biomass resources, a content of an organic acid in the dicarboxylic acid is more than 0 ppm and not more than 1,000 ppm relative to the dicarboxylic acid, and a pKa value of the organic acid at 25 C. is not more than 3.7.

The invention relates to a method for producing a biomass-resource-derived polyurethane, which comprises: reacting a dicarboxylic acid and an aliphatic diol to produce a polyester polyol; and reacting the polyester polyol and a polyisocyanate compound, wherein the dicarboxylic acid contains at least one component derived from biomass resources, a content of an organic acid in the dicarboxylic acid is more than 0 ppm and not more than 1,000 ppm relative to the dicarboxylic acid, and a pKa value of the organic acid at 25 C. is not more than 3.7.

The present invention relates to a polymer composition comprising a polymeric matrix and particles of an impact modifier within the polymeric matrix, wherein the impact modifier comprises at least one urethane group and the impact modifier is obtainable by reacting in situ within the polymeric matrix a) a polyol comprising a dimer fatty residue; and b) a polyisocyanate. The invention also relates to a method of making the polymer composition.

The present invention relates to biodegradable copolyesters with molecular weight Mn from 10 000 to 100 000 measured by GPC, obtainable via reaction of i) from 51 to 84% by weight, based on the copolyester, of a branched polyester middle block produced from aliphatic or aliphatic and aromatic dicarboxylic acids and from aliphatic dihydroxy compounds with molecular weight Mn from 5000 to 25 000 measured by .sup.1H NMR with from 15.9 to 48.9% by weight, based on the copolyester, of a lactide in the presence of a catalyst, and then the resultant polyester triblock with molecular weight Mn measured by .sup.1H NMR from 5800 to 49 500 with ii) from 0.1 to 3% by weight, based on the copolyester, of a diisocyanate. The present invention further relates to a process for the production of, and to the use of, the abovementioned biodegradable copolyesters.

The thermoplastic polyurethane compositions described herein have very good recovery properties, rebound resilience, or both, while also having good softness (i.e. low hardness). It has been difficult to provide thermoplastic polyurethane compositions with this combination of properties. Some compositions described herein also provide low haze and/or good clarity properties. These combination of properties make the thermoplastic polyurethane compositions described herein useful materials for application that require fast recovery, good rebound resilience, or both while also requiring soft materials, and in some embodiments low haze and/or good clarity.

The invention relates to a method for producing a biomass-resource-derived polyurethane, which comprises: reacting a dicarboxylic acid and an aliphatic diol to produce a polyester polyol; and reacting the polyester polyol and a polyisocyanate compound, wherein the dicarboxylic acid contains at least one component derived from biomass resources, a content of an organic acid in the dicarboxylic acid is more than 0 ppm and not more than 1,000 ppm relative to the dicarboxylic acid, and a pKa value of the organic acid at 25? C. is not more than 3.7.

The present invention provides a co-polymer polyol which has an ABA block structure wherein each A block comprises a plurality of hydroxy-carboxylic acid residues and the B block comprises at least one dimer fatty residue selected from a dimer fatty diacid residue, a dimer fatty diol residue and a dimer fatty diamine residue, wherein the co-polymer polyol comprises at least two hydroxyl end groups. The invention also provides a method of making the co-polymer polyol and a polyurethane comprising the co-polymer polyol.

The invention relates to a method for producing a biomass-resource-derived polyurethane, which comprises: reacting a dicarboxylic acid and an aliphatic diol to produce a polyester polyol; and reacting the polyester polyol and a polyisocyanate compound, wherein the dicarboxylic acid contains at least one component derived from biomass resources, a content of an organic acid in the dicarboxylic acid is more than 0 ppm and not more than 1,000 ppm relative to the dicarboxylic acid, and a pKa value of the organic acid at 25? C. is not more than 3.7.

The present invention relates to a polyester polyol, suitable for use in the manufacture of a polyurethane, suitable for use in the manufacture of a polyurethane, the polyester polyol having an ABA-structure, in which A represents a lactide-oligomer and in which B represents an initiator. The initiator includes a reaction product having long chain dicarboxylic acid components having 18 or more carbon atoms. The invention also relates to a method for the manufacture of the polyester polyol. The invention further pertains to polyurethanes including the before-mentioned polyester polyol as well as the use of these polyurethanes as an elastomer having a high toughness. The toughness is believed to originate from the combination of the hydrophobic character of the initiator and the hydrophilic character of the lactide parts in the polyol structure. The strength of the invented polylactide-polyurethane elastomers can be further improved by incorporating a carbodiimide in the elastomer material.

Polycarbonate based polyurethane prepolymers having a low amount of free isocyanate monomer with excellent handling and processing properties are prepared and used in the preparation of cast polyurethane polymers with excellent performance and handling properties.