Biopolymer production and end of life comparisons using life cycle assessment

Abstract

This paper presents an attributional life cycle assessment of biopolymers and traditional plastics using real world disposal methods based on collected data and existing inventories. The focus of this LCA is to investigate actual disposal methods for the end of life phase of biopolymers and traditional fossil-based plastics relative to their corresponding production impacts. This paper connects commonly available methods of disposal for traditional fossil-based plastics and the compostability of polylactic acid and thermoplastic starch to compare these materials not just based on production impacts but also on various scenarios for recycling, composting, and landfilling. Additionally, three traditional resins were evaluated (PET, HDPE, and LDPE) using fossil and bio-based production pathways to assess the performance of biobased products in the recycling stream. The results demonstrate real environmental tradeoffs associated with agricultural production of plastics and the consequential changes resulting from shifting from recyclable to compostable products. The potential for methane production in landfills is a significant factor for global warming impacts associated with biopolymers while recycling provides major benefits in the global warming and fossil fuel depletion categories. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to investigate the relative importance of locale-specific factors such as travel distances and sorting technologies to the end of life treatment methods of recycling, composting, and landfilling. The results show that composting has some advantages, especially when compared to impacts associated with landfilling, but that recycling provides the greatest benefits at end of life.

Recent Advances in Sustainable Plastic Upcycling and Biopolymers

“…For example, the Coca‐Cola Company has already been using 30% bio‐based poly(ethylene glycol terephthalate) (bio‐PET) and plans to develop 100% bio‐PET. [ 13–15 ] However, the traditional scope of biopolymers still includes nondegradable polymers, since the biodegradability of the final polymers is not determined by the type of resources used for the production of its monomers. Even though the production of nondegradable biopolymers provides environmental benefits in terms of reduced CO 2 emissions and sustainability, they do not provide a significant solution to the current plastic wastes crisis.…”

A carbon footprint assessment of multi‐output biorefineries with international biomass supply: a case study for the Netherlands

“…Heat and electricity demand from the lactic acid to lactide conversion process was approximated with a back‐end calculation with the results from References .…”

End-of-Life Options for Bio-Based Plastics in a Circular Economy—Status Quo and Potential from a Life Cycle Assessment Perspective

“…In the category "Asia," one study each refers to Singapore and South Korea, the remaining studies all refer to Thailand. Only one study has been prepared in a North American context (Hottle et al [35]). Cosate de Andrade et al [43] are using global averages for the modeling of the end-of-life phase.…”