A review on vegetable oil based biodegradable polymers

The reviewed work addressed the shift in focus from conventional polymers to bio-based and renewable polymers. This extensively discussed the values of various fatty acid components present in the oils and polymers. Areas of application of the thermosetting polymers obtained from plant seed oils were discussed. Non-biodegradable polymers are causing severe damage to the environment. To counter this, need of biodegradable polymers is gaining a rapid growth in numbers, in their applications and quantities used. In this manuscript, we have briefly described important vegetable oil derived materials such as alkyds, poly-esteramides, , polyurethanes, epoxies, polyols, along with their preparation and applications as protective coatings. A small portion of the review is also dedicated to the future perspectives in the field. In spite of their extensive utilization in the world of coatings, literature survey revealed that in the past no review has come up describing the chemistry and applications of vegetable oil polymer based coating materials. In addition, due to the oil crises worldwide, focuses from synthesizing polymers from petroleum has shifted to the synthesis of polymers from renewable resources such as vegetable oils. The use of vegetable oils in the polymer renders biodegradability to the polymer. Different researchers have used different vegetables oils like castor oil, soybean oil, & sunflower oil for synthesis of polymers and utilized them in diverse fields like biomedical, coatings, adhesives, and as structural materials. This review discusses the synthesis, characterization, degradation and applications of polymers obtained from natural oils such as castor oil, soybean oil etc.