Issues with Polyurethane Foam

In 2020, the global market of all PUs amounted to almost 24 million tons and are usually obtained from petrochemical raw materials. Polyols and isocyanates necessary for the synthesis of PUs, obtained through refining crude oil, contribute to the increase in greenhouse gas emissions and can have several negative impacts on human health as a result of off-gassing chemicals from the foams (Kamińska 2022). 

To fix this, the current technological development aimed at protecting the environment is moving towards the use of renewable materials. Natural resources, applied both in thermal insulation and in usable materials, are becoming more and more important following the high cost of crude oil and the idea of sustainable development. We are seeing more of a trend of sustainable foam alternatives being used in the mattress industry, with companies turning to latex and bio-foam alternatives, however, many of these bio-foams still contain oils which results in VOCs and off-gassing. 

For ecological reasons, blowing agents used for foaming should necessarily have a low ozone depletion potential and global warming potential. Water can be used as an environmentally friendly blowing agent (Cox, et.al, 2004). In the indoor environment, VOCs emitted from building materials and consumer products including PUF have been associated with sick building syndrome. Toxicological research suggests that VOCs can cause health problems ranging from acute anesthesia to chronic illnesses such as cancer (Xu, etc al. 2018) 

Materials are being developed to provide necessary alternatives to polyurethane foams that do not rely as much on crude oils but instead on vegetable oils, but they can also serve as a concern and have levels of VOCs in them that can be harmful to human health. They can also still have environmental impacts because they use natural resources in order to create polyurethane foam alternatives through the use of bio-oils instead of crude oils. 

An alternative to this would be the use of new recycled and low VOC alternatives such as Adaptive Fiber. Adaptive Fiber is our fiber manufacturing partner, founded by Mark Savel,  that has created a proprietary technology in order to create fibers made out of recycled plastics in order to create a fiber that is comparable to polyurethane foams used in furniture and mattresses.   The fiber is slicked with water instead of oil which reduces the off-gassing to 0.01%. “What we try to focus on at adaptive fiber is a closed loop cycle, how do you take a recycled product, build something and then repurpose it again without affecting the environment, and without taking something like food that is required and repurpose it into a fiber,” says Mark Savel, co-founder of Adaptive Fiber. He is primarily focusing his efforts with his fiber currently on the crib and adult mattress industry that he is finding is moving heavily into sustainability and feels the messaging resonates with new parents who want to be sustainable for their children.  Hospitality is also a market for this product, as he has created the first-ever mattress protector that is fully recyclable except for the zipper. He feels the biggest obstacle is finding companies that are willing to invest time, money, and resources into educating people and making moves toward sustainability. This has created an alternative to polyurethane foam one of the most popular polymers in the world that can now be used as a replacement for these toxic materials. Integrating it into the furniture industry will take time, and transitioning traditional manufacturing processes to utilize these materials and create a similar product with equal comfort and style will also require product development, money, and resources, however, the shift is possible. Educating manufacturers about the harmful effects of these polyurethane foams and the alternatives that exist will allow them to make mindful decisions when it comes to sustainability in order to move towards a more sustainable and circular system.