Comparative assessment of environmental impacts of 1st generation (corn feedstock) and 3rd generation (carbon dioxide feedstock) PHA production pathways using life cycle assessment

Koch, Marten; Spierling, Sebastian; Venkatachalam, Venkateshwaran; Endres, Hans‐Josef; Owsianiak, Mikołaj; Vea, Eldbjørg Blikra; Daffert, Christina; Neureiter, Markus; Fritz, Ines

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160991

Cited by 13 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…For example, PHA production using gluconate and CO 2 showed higher GWP values of 29.46 kg CO 2 equiv/kg PHA and 23.58 kg CO 2 equiv/kg PHA, respectively, compared to other production methods. This is because the use of NaOCl or chloroform for PHA extraction is not environmentally friendly. Additionally, the recovery of these solvents is energy intensive …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…This is because the use of NaOCl or chloroform for PHA extraction is not environmentally friendly. Additionally, the recovery of these solvents is energy intensive …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While some CO 2 was emitted back into the air, the remainder was stored in aPHA. The amount of CO 2 uptake by aPHA was calculated as follows c a r b o n .25em m a s s .25em i n .25em a P H A .25em m o n o m e r .25em ( normalC 4 normalH 6 normalO 2 ) : m a s s .25em o f .25em C 4 M w .25em o f .25em C 4 H 6 O 2 = 0.558 .25em k g .25em normalC 1 .25em k g .25em a P H A normalC normalO 2 .25em u p t a k e .25em …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The amount of CO 2 uptake depends on the type of crop, 34 but it was assumed that the amount of CO 2 uptake in aPHA remains constant. 17 Similar to case 1, aPHA production using corn grains was based on primary data. Accordingly, RNG was partially substituted for LNG and all electricity was produced from renewable sources.…”

Section: ■ Materials and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Koch et al found that the production of PHA using CO 2 as a feedstock had a GWP value of 8.68−23.58 kg CO 2 equiv/kg PHA. 17 This is the result of a cradle-to-gate LCA based on experimental results from various studies.…”

Section: ■ Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Life Cycle Assessment of aPHA Production

Lee,

Seo

et al. 2023

ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng.

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The global production of plastic has been increasing steadily in recent years, with plastic packaging accounting for approximately 39% of the total. Plastics used for packaging are fossil-fuel-based and thus have severe environmental impacts. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are considered alternatives to fossil fuel-based plastics. Amorphous PHAs (aPHAs), are used in a wide range of applications owing to their rubber-like properties and remarkable fresh-water and ocean biodegradability. However, few studies have performed environmental impact assessments on aPHAs. Therefore, this study performed a life cycle assessment (LCA) based on site-specific and actual aPHA production data. The results of key impact categories and a single score for the three end points of aPHA production provided comprehensive insights into the environmental sustainability of aPHAs. In addition, parametric analysis (PA) was performed to analyze the possibility of increasing the sustainability of the aPHA production process. The global warming potential (GWP) of aPHA production using sugarcane ranged from 0.86 to 1.59 kg CO 2 equiv/kg aPHA, while that of corn grains ranged from 0.01 to 1.96 kg CO 2 equiv/kg aPHA. Thus, in terms of its environmental impact, the findings suggest that aPHA, as a biobased and biodegradable plastic, shows improved performance compared to fossil fuel-based plastics.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…This is because the use of NaOCl or chloroform for PHA extraction is not environmentally friendly. Additionally, the recovery of these solvents is energy intensive …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%