Adhesives and plastics based on soy protein products

Significance of eco-friendly materials based on easily renewable natural resources, and the finite nature of petrochemical resources, has necessitated the development of polymers from agricultural processing by products such as soy proteins from oil processing. Although, considerable work was done in the early part of last century on polymers based on soy protein, there was almost no activity in this field for the last fifty years. There is a need to critically analyse the available literature on soy protein based polymeric materials. Therefore, an attempt is made to review the state-of-the-art of the polymeric materials with emphasis on adhesives and plastics derived from soy protein, a renewable resource abundantly available in nature. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.