Versatile bio-based epoxy resin: From banana waste to applied materials

Bio-based epoxy resin is a promising candidate for petroleum-based resins due to its abundant reserves and low-cost products, which mainly use polyphenolic composites as precursors. Liquefied banana pseudo stem (LBPS), a highly active compound obtained by liquefaction with 7.5% of sulfuric acid as catalyst at 160°C, was used to synthesize bio-based epoxy resin. FTIR and SEM demonstrated the synthetic process of LBPS-based epoxy resin (LBPSER) from waste banana pseudo stem (BPS). Mechanical test, reagent resistance, dynamic mechanical analysis, and thermogravimetric analysis were utilized to evaluate the mechanical and chemical properties of LBPSER. With polyamide (PA) as hardener, LBPSER-PA adhesive exhibited an optimum shear strength that is comparable with that of commercial diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA), corresponding to 11.86 vs 11.89 MPa. Interestingly, the shear strength of this adhesive curing at 40°C could get 9.52 MPa for wood materials. The adhesive also performed excellent resistance to organic agents, adverse acidic, and alkaline environments. Notably, as the content of LBPSER in adhesive increased, an increase of glass transition temperature could be verified from 42 to 100°C. The LBPSER-PA adhesive presented good thermal and physicochemical performances, thereby suggesting the potential of utilizing liquefied product from BPS as alternative to toxic bisphenol A in synthesizing bio-based epoxy resin. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 47135.