USB helps make 26 soy-based products a reality
ST. LOUIS – Demonstrating its commitment to developing new industrial and consumer products that contain U.S. soy, the United Soybean Board (USB) released its annual list of soy-based products the U.S. farmer-led organization helped introduce this year. Thanks in part to support from USB and the U.S. soybean research and promotion program known as the soybean checkoff, 26 new soy-based products hit the market in 2009.

USB provides funding to scientists and industrial partners to research, develop and commercialize products containing soybeans. Marty Ross, vice chair of the USB New Uses program, is proud of the new soy uses results the soybean checkoff has consistently helped to produce.

“To see this many products come to fruition year in and year out with the help of the soybean checkoff is amazing,” said the Delmar, Del., soybean farmer. “Now that I’ve been on the board for five years, I’ve seen products go from being presented to our committee all the way to commercial introduction, and it’s very gratifying.”

USB directs its soy-based product research funding toward several categories, including adhesives, coatings, printing inks, lubricants, plastics, fibers and solvents.

Some of this year’s new products can be easily found by consumers, including a soy-based wood floor stain from Rust-Oleum, a line of Simmons mattresses that include soy-based foam, and a soy-based degreaser and adhesive remover available at The Home Depot and Ace Hardware. Others, such as a soy-based adhesive used to manufacture plywood, a soy-based pavement crack sealant and soy-based bioremediation agents used in environmental cleanup, will mostly be utilized by industrial users.

The list of new soy-based products represents an annual culmination of a three-to-five-year process that began with researchers trying to convince USB farmer-leaders that their ideas held potential for increasing soy demand.

“We solicit applications, review the concepts and select them based on their technical merit and market potential,” Ross explained. “Number one, the product must be technically feasible – can it be done? And, number two, just because it can be done, is it viable? What’s the product’s market value, and
how many bushels of U.S. soybeans will it use?”

While the products represent a diverse range of categories, they generally have one thing in common: they’re sustainable.

USB works to advance the sustainability movement, in part, by developing and promoting soy-based products. Many of the projects funded led to products that use soybean oil as a replacement for petrochemicals, making them more renewable and more environmentally friendly than their non-soybased counterparts.

Industrial partners of USB continue to produce an assortment of soy-based products without impacting the world’s food supply. The food industry uses 87 percent of the U.S. supply of soybean oil. Oil makes up just 18 percent of a soybean while the remainder consists of protein-rich meal. A USB study
found that industrial demand for soybean oil for such things as biodiesel and soy-based products increases the supply of soybean meal, which can be used to produce more food.

USB leaders continue to look for industry partners with ideas for new products and technologies that will grow demand for U.S. soy.

“We’re always looking ahead to the next big opportunity,” Ross said. “In the short term, I think the potential of soy-based fibers is very exciting. And, in the long term, aquaculture can utilize a lot of soybeans, but it will require a lot of commitment.”


USB is made up of 68 farmer-directors who oversee the investments of the soybean checkoff on behalf of all U.S. soybean farmers. Checkoff funds are invested in the areas of animal utilization, human utilization, industrial utilization, industry relations, market access and supply. As stipulated in the
Soybean Promotion, Research and Consumer Information Act, USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service has oversight responsibilities for USB and the soybean checkoff.

The new soy-based products introduced in 2009 as a result of soybean checkoff support include:

PLASTICS

Soy Seal™ – soy-based canned insulating foams being sold at hardware stores, from BioBased Technologies Polylite™ 31325-00 – unsaturated polyester resin for composites, from Reichhold Chemical Renuva™ – soy-based Natural Oil Polyols used to make bedding foams for Simmons Bedding’s Natural Care Collection, from Dow Polyurethanes

SoyFoam™ – soy foam for seats/headrests/armrests in the 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe, Sonata sedan and the 2009 Kia Amanti sedan, from Lear. Lear will also supply General Motors with SoyFoam for its trucks and SUVs as well as Ford for the seats in the Mercury Milan and Lincoln MKE, from Lear

Honey Bee™ – soy-based polyols for use in Chromcraft molded-furniture seating foams, from MCPU Polymer Engineering

Ecoflex – a mattress product line named Equilibrio Natural Ecoflex that uses foam based on Renuva Natural Oil Polyols in the comfort layers of the mattresses, from foam and mattress manufacturer Ecoflex

Green Comfort™ – sandals containing Renuva Natural Oil Polyols in the polyurethane sole, from shoe manufacturer Grupo Ravi and Wal-Mart

COATINGS/PRINTING INKS/ADHESIVES

Hybrid industrial coating containing soy for wood and metal applications, from Sherwin-Williams

Varathane Nano Defence – soy-based abrasion-resistant stain for wood floors, from Rust-Oleum

OSF Ecopure HPJ Soy – soy-based sheetfed lithographic ink, from INX International

OSF EcoTech Process Inks – soy-based sustainable lithographic ink system with low VOCs, from INX International

BioMG – soy-based inks for digital printers used in OEM type inks, from INX International

Soyad – soy flour adhesive for use in wood panels, from H2H

Soythane™90 – 100 percent solids, multipurpose polyurethane adhesive based on soy polymers, from Bondaflex Technologies

Multibond MX100 – a one-component soy-based polyvinyl acetate adhesive for hardwood plywood, from Franklin International


SPECIALTY PRODUCTS
Soyanol™ 1000E – soy methyl ester (SME)-based coalescing agent, from Soy Technologies

Soyanol™ 5000E – SME-based coatings solvent, from Soy Technologies

Goof Off Citrus – SME-based degreaser and adhesive remover, from WM Barr

Goof Off 2 – SME-based water rinsable degreaser, from WM Barr

F-500 – Bi-Solvent Cleaning System – SME-based parts cleaner, from Forward Technology

VOS™ – soy-based thixotropic gel for soil bioremediation, from EOS Remediation

LactOil™ – soy-based microemulsion for groundwater bioremediation, from JRW Bioremediation

CAP 18 ME™ – soy-based groundwater bioremediation product, from Carus Remediation

SoyGreen™ Wood Polish & Multi Surface Cleaner – SME cleaner, from Soy Technologies

Soy Green™ Ultimate Graffiti Remover – SME cleaner, from Soy Technologies

Seamseal™ – soy-based pavement crack sealant, from BioSpan Technologies

Source: United Soybean Board

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