Biodegradability and ecotoxicity of polyurethane foams: A review

Polyurethane foams, are highly demanded in many applications and their use is increasing incessantly. Besides these traditional applications, recently polyurethane foams with different morphologies have been used in environmentally-oriented applications as biofilters for waste air and water treatments, microporous sorption materials, carriers of bio-catalyst (enzyme) in biotechnologies and lightweight packing materials with high surface area for cell attachment and biofilm development, etc. For these applications it is important that polyurethane foams are not toxic, bio-based and capable of decomposing in the environment. Therefore, there is a huge potential for conducting research focused on biodegradation of newly developed bio-foams and their ecotoxicological impacts and thus to make valuable contribution in solving environmental and resource depletion problems of the world. This review gives an overview about environmental degradation of polyurethane foams with special accent to their biodegradation behavior and ecotoxicity. The paper is organized as follows: (1) polyurethane foams are shortly introduced together with their current recycling options, (2) innovative approaches in producing of bio-based and biodegradable polyurethane foams are mentioned, (3) possible ways of environmental degradations of polyurethane foams are present, (4) aspects of polyurethane foam biodegradation are discussed in details and finally (5) ecotoxicity of polyurethane foams is also mentioned.