Wood-PHA Composites: Mapping Opportunities

Abstract

Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biopolymers are emerging as attractive new sustainable polymers due to their true biodegradability and highly tuneable mechanical properties. However, despite significant investments, commercialisation barriers are hindering the capacity growth of PHA. In this work, we investigated the market potential for wood plastic composites (WPCs) based on PHAs. We considered the latest global production capacity of PHAs, estimated at 66,000 tonnes/year, and examined the implications of using PHAs for WPC production on the WPC market. Results indicate that a hypothetical usage of the current global PHA production for WPC manufacture would only represent the equivalent of 4.4% of the global WPC market, which is currently experiencing a 10.5% compounded annual growth rate. An economic assessment revealed that a wood-PHA composite as a drop-in alternative WPC product could cost as little as 37% of the cost of its neat PHA counterpart. Thus, WPCs with PHA offer a means to access benefits of PHA in engineering applications at reduced costs; however, further developments are required to improve strain at failure. The successful adoption of wood-PHA composites into the market is furthermore reliant on support from public sector to encourage biodegradable products where recycling is not a ready solution.

The effects of cellulosic fillers on the mechanical, morphological, thermal, viscoelastic, and rheological properties of polyhydroxybutyrate biopolymers

“…Therefore, it may be attributed to cellulose decomposition and thermal degradation of PHB above 250°C as reported by Gatenholm et al, [40 ] Singh et al, [ 41 ] and Melo et al [ 13 ] In a study, Melo et al [ 13 ] studied thermal stability of PHB composites with biofibers and two main stages of thermal decomposition were determined in the range 240°C to 380°C in TG curves attributable to depolymerization of hemicellulose networks and crystalline regions of cellulose. Similar results were obtained by Vandi et al [ 7 ] and Santos et al [ 22 ]…”

“…[ 13 ] The decrease in mechanical properties can also be expressed by the concentration of stress around biofillers, which act as defects and initiates holes. [ 7 ]…”

Use of Biomaterials for 3D Printing by Fused Deposition Modeling Technique: A Review

“…However, low thermal stability, high degradation rate during processing, brittle in nature, low toughness, moisture sensitivity, and comparatively higher cost than standard polyolefin limit its application (Gordobil et al, 2014;Chiulan et al, 2017;Gkartzou et al, 2017;Mimini et al, 2019). The average market price of PLA pellets is US$5.5/kg, whereas that of polypropylene and high-density polyethylene is around US$1.6 and US$1.7/kg, respectively (Vandi et al, 2018;Woern et al, 2018).…”

“…Despite having promising properties such as biodegradability, biocompatibility, processability, and comparable mechanical properties, higher production cost limits its applications. The average market price of PHA pellets is around US$7/kg; however, the price can be higher (above US$10/kg) for the one used for biomedical application (Vandi et al, 2018). Among different PHAs, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) and poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) are the most studied ones (Chiulan et al, 2017).…”

(Bio)Degradable Polymeric Materials for Sustainable Future—Part 3: Degradation Studies of the PHA/Wood Flour-Based Composites and Preliminary Tests of Antimicrobial Activity

“…The nanocomposites containing the modified wood cellulose fibers and/or additives with antimicrobial activity were also applied in the production of environmentally friendly food packaging [13][14][15]. Generally, the authors highlighted the need to replace the non-degradable matrix in traditional wood-plastic composites with (bio)degradable polymers like PHAs or PLA [16]. The waste of such biocomposites, after their final use, can be disposed in the composting process [17].…”