Polymerization of Castor Oil in Supercritical Carbon Dioxide

Biobased polymers are desired to replace traditional polymers made from petrochemicals in order to be more environmentally friendly and decrease dependence on foreign oil.  Vegetable oils are a suitable renewable biobased starting material due to their availability and low cost.  In this work, castor oil is polymerized in supercritical CO₂.  The effect of temperature, pressure, reaction time and initiator amount on the molecular weight is studied.  The thermal properties of the polymers are compared.