Using the Old Bean

By Loretta Hall

Creative thinking and extensive research are creating new soybean-based products to help contractors build cleaner and greener.

Whether it’s because of government mandates, societal pressures, or personal convictions, the construction industry is becoming more environmentally friendly. Rising costs of petroleum-based products, as well as the quest for LEED certification, are leading builders to switch to “greener” products. A variety of materials based on soybean oil are satisfying those objectives without sacrificing quality.

Soy-based Products are Non-Toxic

Soy-based products are nontoxic and virtually free of VOCs, so they are safer to handle and they don’t produce offensive odors. They are biodegradable, so cleanup and disposal are simple. And, because soybeans can be grown in most parts of the country, transportation costs can be reduced. This year, for example, New York farmers plan to plant a record-high 210,000 acres of soybeans.

Some soy-based products seem exotic. Alowood, for example, is a new line of wood products that uses a
soy additive to treat plantation-grown softwoods, hardening them so they look and function like rain forest-grown hardwoods.

Other products are still undergoing commercial development and are currently in limited use. In one high-profile test, the petroleum-based hydraulic fluid used in the Statue of Liberty’s elevator system was successfully replaced with a soy-based alternative more than four years ago. Last fall, National Crane successfully tested a similar product in the hydraulic lift system of a truck-mounted crane (the truck also ran on soy-based biodiesel fuel). The fluids work well, and any leaks that might occur would not be environmentally harmful.

Soy-based Products are Environmentally Friendly

But what about common, readily available construction materials? For starters, there’s spray foam insulation. BioBased Systems makes closed cell and semi-open cell versions that it touts as containing no fibrous materials (such as cellulose or fiberglass) that can cause irritation. Coler Natural Insulation, a BioBased installer and supplier in Ionia, New York, says its mission is to make “environmentally friendly products easy and affordable for all involved in the residential and commercial design, building and occupancy process.” EMEGA Biopolymers, another manufacturer,
promotes its spray foam insulation as having “equivalent or better physical characteristics than petroleum-based counterparts.”

Its fire ratings exceed the thresholds for Class I. Its R-values range from 3.6 to 7.3, depending on the specific product. In addition, the foam has no food value, so it does not support rodents or insects. EMEGA also offers a portable system for manufacturing soy-based polyurethane insulated concrete forms (ICFs) at construction sites. The company
says the system is designed for small-scale manufacturers, with fewer than 50 employees. Another of its products, WYN-Sulate Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs), sandwiches a 6–12” thick soy-based foam core between two 25 gauge galvanized steel panels. The company points out that “the production of soy-based polyols is much less energy intensive than manufacturing of insulation, lumber and other products used to build frame walls.” And, like other soy-based products, theirs effectively resists mold and mildew.

Rather than being used in the building itself, some soy-based products just facilitate the construction process. An example is Soy Form Release, produced by SoyClean. “On certain forms, we’ve had customers say that the petroleum-based product eats away at the forms,” says Kurt Brannian, the company’s director of marketing. “This one doesn’t. The guys really like using it.” The product, which costs about 9 cents per square foot, is an effective release agent that won’t stain the concrete, and cleanup is as easy as washing with soap and water.