Discuss the potential of polyurethane glue yellowing agents in reducing VOC emissions

admin 3月 15th, 2025 News

Polyurethane glue yellowing agent: a green pioneer in reducing VOC emissions

1. Introduction: Why pay attention to VOC?

In today’s era of increasing environmental awareness, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have become a hot topic in discussion. VOC is a type of organic compound that is easily volatile at room temperature and is widely present in daily necessities such as coatings, glues, and detergents. These substances not only cause pollution to the environment, but may also have adverse effects on human health, such as causing respiratory diseases or aggravating allergic symptoms.

Polyurethane glue occupies an important position in industrial production and daily life due to its excellent adhesive properties and wide application range. However, the VOC components contained in traditional polyurethane glue have become a major obstacle to its widespread use. Therefore, how to reduce VOC emissions through technological innovation while maintaining and even improving glue performance has become one of the key directions of industry research.

Yellow-resistant agents, as key additives to improve the performance of polyurethane glues, have attracted much attention in recent years for their potential in reducing VOCs. This article will conduct in-depth discussion on the application mechanism of yellowing agents in polyurethane glue, analyze its impact on VOC emissions, and combine specific product parameters and domestic and foreign research results to comprehensively evaluate its role in promoting the development of green chemicals.

Next, we will discuss in detail from multiple dimensions such as technical principles, product performance parameters, and practical application cases, and present a panoramic picture of the relationship between polyurethane glue yellowing agent and VOC emission reduction.

2. The basic principles and VOC sources of polyurethane glue

To understand how yellowing agents can help reduce VOC emissions, you first need to understand how polyurethane glue works and its main sources of VOC.

(I) Working principle of polyurethane glue

Polyurethane glue is a polymer material produced by the reaction of polyols and isocyanates. The basic chemical reaction process can be summarized as:

Reaction of isocyanate groups (-NCO) and hydroxyl groups (-OH): This is the core reaction formed by polyurethane glue, forming carbamate bonds (-NH-COO-), thereby building polymer chains.
Crosslinking reaction: Through further chemical reactions, such as the introduction of chain extenders or multifunctional compound, the linear polymer is transformed into a three-dimensional network structure, thus imparting excellent bonding properties and mechanical strength to the glue.

This unique chemical structure makes polyurethane glue have excellent durability, flexibility and chemical resistance, and is widely used in furniture manufacturing, automotive interiors, electronic device packaging and other fields.

However, the production process of traditional polyurethane glue often requires the addition of solvents to adjust the viscosity and ensure construction convenience. These solvents usually contain a large amount of VOC, such as, di-, ethyl esters, etc., which will gradually evaporate into the air during use and become the main source of pollution.

(II) The main sources and hazards of VOC

The VOC in polyurethane glue mainly comes from the following aspects:

Source	Specific ingredients	Hazard
Solvent	, di, ethyl esters	It has a toxic effect on the human central nervous system. Long-term contact may lead to headache, dizziness and even chronic poisoning.
Addant	Catalytics, Stabilizers	Some additives themselves may contain volatile ingredients, which will negatively affect the air quality after release.
Reaction byproducts	Isocyanate residue	Although the content is low, it is highly toxic and may cause allergic reactions or respiratory diseases.

In addition, after VOC enters the atmosphere, it will also react with other pollutants to produce ozone and secondary aerosols, further aggravate the problem of air pollution. Therefore, reducing VOC emissions is not only a necessary measure to protect human health, but also a key step in achieving sustainable development.

3. The mechanism of action of yellowing agent and its impact on VOC

(I) What is a yellowing agent?

Yellowing agent is a functional additive specially designed to improve the color stability of polyurethane glue. Its main function is to inhibit the yellowing of the glue under light, high temperature or oxidation conditions, thereby extending the service life of the product and improving the appearance quality.

From a chemical point of view, yellowing agents mainly play a role in the following two ways:

Free Radical Capture: Yellowing agents can capture free radicals generated by ultraviolet irradiation or thermal aging, preventing them from degrading reactions with polyurethane molecules, thereby avoiding yellowing.
Antioxidation protection: Some yellowing agents also have good antioxidant properties, which can delay the aging process of polyurethane glue and maintain stable physical properties.

(II) How to reduce VOC by resistant yellowing agent?

Although the main function of the yellowing agent is to improve color stability, it also shows significant potential in reducing VOC emissions. The following is its specific mechanism of action:

Replace high VOC solvents: Some new yellowing agents can reduce the need for traditional high VOC solvents by optimizing the formulation design. For example, by increasing the solid content of the glue and reducing the amount of diluent, thereby directly reducing VOC emissions.
Promote the development of solvent-free technology: As environmental protection regulations become increasingly strict, solvent-free polyurethane glue has gradually become the mainstream of the market. Yellowing agents play an important role in these products because they can help solve common yellowing problems in solvent-free systems and ensure that product performance is not compromised.
Reduce volatility of decomposition products: Some high-performance yellowing agents can also effectively inhibit the small molecule volatiles produced by polyurethane glue during the curing process, further reducing VOC emissions.

To more intuitively demonstrate the effect of yellowing agents on VOC, we can explain it through a comparative experiment. Suppose that the VOC content of a traditional polyurethane glue is 50g/L, and after adding a specific yellowing agent, its VOC content can be reduced to 30g/L, a decrease of 40%. This not only significantly reduces the risk of environmental pollution, but also meets the environmental protection standards requirements of more countries and regions.

IV. Comparison of product parameters and performance of typical yellowing agents

There are significant differences in chemical structure, usage effect and cost of different types of yellowing agents. The following lists several common yellowing agents and their key parameters for readers’ reference.

(I) Product Parameters Table

name	Chemistry Type	Appearance	Additional amount (wt%)	VOC reduction rate (%)	Main Advantages
Type A yellowing agent	Trumped amines	White Powder	0.5-1.0	30-40	Excellent antioxidant performance and is suitable for high temperature environments.
B type yellowing agent	Benzotriazoles	Light yellow liquid	1.0-2.0	20-30	Strong UV absorption capacity, especially suitable for outdoor applications.
C type yellowing resistance agent	Phosphate	Transparent liquidbody	0.8-1.5	25-35	It has both flame retardant and yellowing resistance, and is cost-effective.

(II) Comparative Performance Analysis

Type A yellowing agent
- Features: It is a hindered amine compound, with strong free radical capture ability, and is especially suitable for scenarios that require long-term high temperature stability, such as bonding of automotive interior parts.
- Limitations: Relatively high prices and may be unstable in certain acidic environments.
B type yellowing resistance agent
- Features: With benzotriazole as the core structure, it has a strong absorption capacity for ultraviolet rays, and is very suitable for outdoor use of polyurethane glue.
- Lensity: It has a certain absorption of visible light, which may cause the glue to be slightly yellowish.
C type yellowing resistance agent
- Features: Phosphate compounds have both anti-yellowing and flame retardant functions, with superior comprehensive performance and are suitable for multi-purpose occasions.
- Lightness: It has a slightly higher volatile nature, so you need to pay attention to controlling the amount of addition to avoid affecting the VOC indicator.

By reasonably selecting the type of yellowing agent and optimizing it in combination with specific process conditions, VOC emissions can be minimized while ensuring product performance.

5. Domestic and foreign research progress and practical application cases

(I) Foreign research trends

In recent years, developed countries in Europe and the United States have made significant progress in the field of environmental protection of polyurethane glue. For example, BASF, Germany, developed a solvent-free polyurethane glue based on bio-based raw materials, with a new yellowing agent added to successfully reduce the VOC content to almost zero. This product has been widely used in the high-end furniture manufacturing industry and has been highly praised by customers.

Dow Chemical in the United States focuses on the development of high-efficiency yellowing-resistant agents. The “EcoGuard” series of additives it launched not only significantly improves the anti-yellowing performance of the glue, but also greatly reduces the carbon footprint during the production process. It is estimated that factories using this series of products can reduce VOC emissions by about 20% each year.

(II) Current status of domestic research

In China, with the introduction of the “dual carbon” goal, more and more companies have begun to pay attention to the improvement of environmental protection performance of polyurethane glue. A study conducted by the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences and several companies showed that by introducing nano-scale yellowing agents, the light stability and thermal stability of the glue can be effectively improved, while reducing VOC emissions by more than 50%.

In addition, the “Green Shield” series of yellowing-resistant agents independently developed by a chemical company in Zhejiang have been successfully applied in the field of electronic product packaging. With its excellent performance and reasonable price positioning, this product quickly occupied the domestic market and gradually exported to overseas.

(III) Practical Application Cases

Case 1: Furniture Manufacturing Industry

A well-known furniture manufacturer switched to environmentally friendly polyurethane glue containing yellowing agents, not only significantly improved the product quality, but also significantly reduced the odor problems in the workshop, and significantly improved employee satisfaction. More importantly, the company has obtained a number of international environmental certifications, laying a solid foundation for its expansion of overseas markets.

Case 2: Automobile Industry

A supplier of automotive parts uses a new yellowing agent to optimize its interior bonding process and successfully reduces VOC emissions below EU standards. This move not only reduces operating costs, but also improves the brand image and wins more orders.

6. Future prospects: Unlimited possibilities of yellow-resistant agents

With the continuous increase in global environmental awareness and the continuous advancement of technical level, the potential of yellowing agents in reducing VOC emissions will be further explored. Future research directions may include the following aspects:

Develop multi-functional composite yellowing agents: By integrating various functions such as anti-yellowing, anti-oxidation, flame retardant, etc., simplify formula design and reduce costs.
Explore the application of bio-based raw materials: Use renewable resources to prepare yellowing agents, fundamentally reduce fossil fuel consumption, and achieve true green chemical industry.
Intelligent regulation technology: Combining big data and artificial intelligence technology, real-time monitoring and adjustment of the use effect of yellowing agents to ensure good performance.

In short, yellowing agents are not only an important tool for improving the performance of polyurethane glue, but also a key force in promoting the transformation of the entire industry towards low-carbon and environmental protection. Let us look forward to more exciting breakthroughs in this field together!

I hope this article will inspire you!