Sustainable Plastics : Environmental Assessments of Biobased, Biodegradable, and Recycled Plastics

Enables Readers to Understand the What, Why, and How Behind Using Sustainable Plastics in Manufacturing Operations The impact of 50 years of unbridled plastics production, use, and disposal is now becoming well known and documented. Plastics made from non-renewable petroleum and natural gas resources threaten the environment, human health, species maintenance, and the very life of the ocean. This book helps readers understand the ability of plastics to be sustainable and goes over the plastic products which have a lower carbon footprint, lower waste, and lower pollution. The well-qualified author’s unique perspective puts a special focus on comprehensive coverage of environmental impacts of plastics including Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) and sustainability strategies related to biobased plastics (e.g., corn), recycled plastics, and petroleum-based plastics. Other samples topics covered in the book include: End-of-life options for petroleum and biobased plastics including mechanical recycling, chemical recycling, and composting ASTM biodegradation standards for compost, marine, anaerobic digestion, and landfill environments Polymer processing, including injection molding, blow molding, extrusion, and compression molding Environmental data and coverage of petroleum plastics, sustainable composites, and new information on bio-based plastics The book serves as an invaluable resource for plastics engineers, materials engineers, and all professionals in related disciplines looking to understand and apply the usage of sustainable plastics in many different types of manufacturing operations. Cover 1 Title Page 5 Copyright Page 6 Contents 7 Acknowledgements 17 Chapter 1 Introduction to Sustainability 19 1.1 Sustainability Definition 19 1.1.1 Societal Impacts of Sustainability 21 1.1.2 Economic Impacts of Sustainability 22 1.1.3 Environmental Impacts of Sustainability 23 1.2 Green Chemistry Definitions 24 1.3 Green Engineering Definitions 26 1.4 Sustainability Definitions for Manufacturing 27 1.5 Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) 29 1.6 Lean and Green Manufacturing 29 1.7 Summary 29 References 30 Chapter 2 Environmental Issues 33 2.1 The Planet Is Warming 33 2.2 Melting of Glaciers 37 2.3 Rising Seas 39 2.4 Causes of Global Warming 41 2.4.1 Increased Greenhouse Gases 41 2.4.2 Sources of CO2eq Emissions 41 2.4.3 Anti-Warming Theory 46 2.5 Ocean Pollution and Marine Debris 46 2.5.1 Plastic Marine Debris 48 2.5.2 Worldwide Coastal Cleanup 52 2.5.3 US Coastal Cleanup 59 2.6 Chemical Pollution from Plastics 60 2.7 Landfill Trash 61 2.8 Summary 67 References 68 Chapter 3 Life Cycle Information 75 3.1 Life Cycle Assessment for Environmental Hazards 75 3.2 Life Cycle Assessment Definitions 76 3.2.1 LCA Step 1: Goal and Scope Development 76 3.2.2 LCA Step 2: LCI Development 77 3.2.3 LCA Step 3: LCA Development 78 3.2.4 LCA Step 4: Interpretation of Results 78 3.3 ISO 14040/14044 Life Cycle Assessment Standards 79 3.4 Sensitivity Analysis 80 3.5 Minimal Acceptable Framework for Life Cycle Assessments 82 3.6 Life Cycle Inventory for Petroleum-Based Plastics 83 3.6.1 LCI for PET Pellets 83 3.6.2 LCA Sensitivity Analysis 85 3.6.3 LCA for PET, GPPS, HDPE, and PP Pellets 85 3.7 Life Cycle Assessment for Biobased Poly Lactic Acid 85 3.7.1 LCA Sensitivity Analysis 87 3.8 Summary 88 References 90 Chapter 4 Bio-Based and Biodegradable Plastics 93 4.1 Bio-Based Plastics Definition 93 4.2 Bagasse 94 4.3 Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) 95 4.4 Polylactic Acid (PLA) 100 4.5 Thermoplastic Starch (TPS) 103 4.6 Petroleum-Based Compostable Polymers 106 4.6.1 Ecoflex 106 4.6.2 Poly-ε- Caprolactone, (PCL) 107 4.6.3 Poly(Butylene Succinate) (PBS) 108 References 109 Websites 110 Chapter 5 Bio-Based and Recycled Petroleum-Based Plastics 113 5.1 Bio-Based Conventional Plastics 113 5.1.1 Bio-Based Polyethylene 116 5.1.2 Bio-Based Polypropylene 119 5.1.3 Bio-Based Ethylene Vinyl Acetate 121 5.1.4 Bio-Based Polyethylene Terephthalate 121 5.2 Recycled Petroleum-Based Plastics 124 5.2.1 Mechanical Recycling 126 5.2.2 California Plastics Recycling 129 5.2.3 Society of Plastics Industry Recycling Codes 130 5.2.4 LCAs of Recycled Plastics 130 5.3 Oxodegradable Additives for Plastics 132 5.4 Summary 133 References 133 Chapter 6 End-of-Life Options for Plastics 137 6.1 US EPA WARM Program 137 6.2 Mechanical Recycling of Plastics 137 6.2.1 US Plastics Recycling 138 6.2.2 Plastics Recycling Process 138 6.3 Chemical Recycling 144 6.4 Composting 146 6.4.1 LCA of Composting Process 147 6.5 Waste to Energy 147 6.5.1 Municipal Solid Waste Combustion 148 6.5.2 Blast Furnace 150 6.5.3 Cement Kiln 151 6.5.4 Pollution Issues with Waste-to-Energy Process of Plastics 152 6.6 Landfill Operations 153 6.7 Life Cycle Assessment of End-of-Life Options 154 6.8 Summary 156 References 156 Chapter 7 Sustainable Plastic Products 161 7.1 Introduction 161 7.2 Sustainable Plastic Packaging 162 7.2.1 LCAs of Sustainable Plastic Packaging 162 7.2.2 Literature Review of LCAs for Plastic Packaging 164 7.2.3 LCA of Sustainable Plastic Containers Made from Bio-Based and Petroleum-Based Plastics 170 7.2.4 Greene Sustainability Index (GSI) of Sustainable Plastic Containers 171 7.3 Sustainable Plastic Grocery Bags 173 7.3.1 Literature Review of LCA of Plastic Bags 173 7.3.2 LCA of Plastic Bags from the Paper Industry in Hong Kong 175 7.3.3 Reusable Plastic Bags 176 7.4 Life Cycle Assessment of Sustainable Plastic Bottles 187 7.4.1 LCAs Literature Review of Plastic Bottles 188 7.4.2 Greene Sustainability Index of Sustainable Plastic Bottles 189 7.4.3 Sensitivity Analysis 190 7.5 Summary 190 References 191 Chapter 8 Biobased and Biodegradation Standards for Polymeric Materials 195 8.1 Introduction 195 8.1.1 Biodegradation Standards 196 8.1.2 Worldwide Biodegradation 196 8.1.3 Certification 197 8.2 Biobased Standard Test Method 198 8.2.1 US Biobased Standard 198 8.2.2 International Biobased Standards 199 8.3 Industrial Compost Environment 199 8.3.1 US Biodegradation Standards for Industrial Compost Environment 199 8.3.2 International Biodegradation Standards for Industrial Compost Environment 204 8.4 Marine Environment 214 8.4.1 US Biodegradation Standards for Marine Environment 215 8.4.2 International Aqueous Biodegradation Standards 218 8.5 Anaerobic Digestion 220 8.5.1 US Biodegradation Standards for Anaerobic Digestion 221 8.5.2 International Biodegradation Standards for Anaerobic Digestion 223 8.6 Active Landfill 225 8.6.1 US Biodegradation Standards for Active Landfill 225 8.6.2 International Biodegradation Standards for Active Landfill 229 8.7 Home Compost 229 8.7.1 European Home Compost Certification 229 8.7.2 US Home Composting Standards 231 8.8 Soil Biodegradation 231 8.8.1 European Soil Biodegradation Certification 231 8.8.2 US Soil Biodegradation Standards 233 8.9 Summary 233 References 234 Chapter 9 Commodity Plastics 235 9.1 Definition of Commodity Plastics 235 9.2 Commodity Plastics 236 9.2.1 Low-Density Poly(ethylene) (LDPE) 240 9.2.2 Linear Low-Density Poly(ethene) (LLDPE) 244 9.2.3 Metallocene Linear Low-Density Poly(ethene) (mLLDPE) 246 9.2.4 Polypropylene (PP) 248 References 265 Websites 266 Chapter 10 Engineering Plastics 269 10.1 Engineering Plastics Definition 269 10.2 Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene 270 10.3 Acetal (Polyoxymethylene) 273 10.4 Liquid Crystal Polymer 275 10.5 PBT (Polybutylene Terephthalate) 278 10.6 PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) 280 10.7 Nylon (Polyamide) 281 10.8 Polyimide 284 10.9 Polyarylate 286 10.10 Polycarbonate 286 10.11 Thermoplastic Polyurethane 288 10.12 Polyether-Ether-Ketone 289 10.13 PPO, PPS and PPE 291 10.14 Polytetrafluoroethylene 293 References 295 Chapter 11 Thermoset Polymers 297 11.1 Automotive Thermoset Polymers 297 11.1.1 Polyester Resin 298 11.1.2 Epoxy 303 11.1.3 Polyurethane 305 11.1.4 Phenolics 308 11.1.5 Silicones 313 11.1.6 Dicyclopentadiene 316 11.2 Aerospace Thermosets 317 11.2.1 Polyimides 318 11.2.2 Amino Plastics 320 11.3 Bio-Based Thermoset Polymers 323 11.3.1 Bio-Based Polyesters 323 11.3.2 Bio-Based Epoxies 324 11.3.3 Bio-Based Polyurethanes 326 11.3.4 Bio-Based Nylon-6 328 11.4 Conclusions 329 References 331 Websites 333 Chapter 12 Polymer Composites 335 12.1 Automotive Polymer Composites 335 12.2 Thermoset Polymer Composites 336 12.2.1 Thermoplastic Polymer Composites 338 12.2.2 Kevlar Composites 341 12.3 Nanocomposite 342 12.4 Fiber Materials for Composites 342 12.5 Carbon Fiber Manufacturing 346 12.6 Properties of Fibers 349 12.7 Rule of Mixtures 354 12.8 Sandwich and Cored Polymer Composite Structures 358 12.9 Polymer Pre-Preg Composites 364 12.10 Processing of Polymer Composites for Automotive Parts 364 12.11 Aerospace Polymer Composites 369 12.12 Processing of Polymer Composites for Aerospace Parts 369 References 372 Websites 373 Chapter 13 Natural Fiber Polymer Composites 375 13.1 Natural Fibers 375 13.2 Raw Material Information 376 13.3 Fiber Properties 378 13.4 Automotive Use of Natural Fibers 379 13.5 Processing of Natural Fibers 380 13.6 Test Results of Natural Fibers 389 References 393 Chapter 14 Design Aspects in Automotive Plastics 395 14.1 Introduction 395 14.2 Design Process 396 14.3 Manufacturing Checklist for Quality 397 14.4 Plastic Materials for Automotive Use 398 14.5 Plastic Guidelines for Injection Molding 400 14.6 Plastic Prototypes and 3D Printing 403 14.7 SolidWorks Flow Simulation 405 14.8 Design for Manufacturing (DFM) with Plastics 405 14.9 Shrinkage in Plastics 406 14.10 Design Guidelines 408 14.11 Undercuts 420 14.12 Mold Stack Design 421 14.13 Mold Costs 423 References 425 Websites 426 Chapter 15 Future of Sustainable Plastics 429 15.1 Sustainable Biobased Plastics Made from Renewable Sources 429 15.2 Sustainable Traditional Plastics Made from Renewable Sources 433 15.3 Growth in Biobased Plastics with Development of Durable Goods 434 15.4 Growth in Biobased Plastics for Pharmaceuticals and Medical Applications 435 15.5 Summary 436 References 437 Index 441 EULA 461 "Providing guidelines for implementing sustainable practices for traditional petroleum based plastics, biobased plastics, and recycled plastics, Sustainable Plastics and the Environment explains what sustainable plastics are, why sustainable plastics are needed, which sustainable plastics to use, and how manufacturing companies can integrate them into their manufacturing operations. A vital resource for practitioners, scientists, researchers, and students, the text includes impacts of plastics including Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) and sustainability strategies related to biobased plastics and petroleum based plastics as well as end-of-life options for petroleum and biobased plastics"-- Provided by publisher