Go Green Strategies and Their Applications to Polymers and Additives

Transcription

1 Go Green Strategies and Their Applications to Polymers and Additives Dr. R. Rangaprasad, Director, SIES School of Packaging & Packaging Technology Centre, Navi Mumbai

2 Presentation Coverage Global Thought process Government Bio-based Manifesto Go Green Strategy The Evolving Paradigm From Crude oil to Biorefinery Bio plastics Bio additives Future Building blocks 2

3 Global Thought Process The world is becoming increasingly sensitive to the growing scarcity & possible drying up of petroleum, source of virtually all the plastics. All countries have embarked upon study of replacement of oil-based products by bio-sourced equivalent or innovative products. 3

4 The Concern! Oil prices will rebound to more than $100/barrel once the economy recovers and will exceed $200 by Output from the world's oil field is declining at a rate of 9%. 4

5 The Evolving Paradigm The general strategy for bio-polymers & bio additives is to replace crude oil by biomass Biotechnology combined with traditional chemical engineering, separation and conversion techniques, to obtain end products, bio blocks and bio platforms. 5

6 Government Manifesto US National Bio-economy Blueprint (2012) European Commission's strategy and action plan, "Innovating for Sustainable Growth: a Bio economy for Europe Dutch bio based economy manifesto 6

7 Bio Based Materials Forecast 7

8 What is the market? Market Shares of Main Bio-plastics Consumption of Bio-plastics : Type Value Bio-PE 38.9 Bio-PE 17.2 PLA 16.2 Starch derivatives 11.3 Biodegradable polyester 10.0 Bio-PA 1.6 PHA 1.5 8

9 New Industrial Processes, Biotechnology, Biorefinery, Platform Blocks 9

10 Green Plastics & Bio Plastics Green Plastics, also called Bio plastics, are plastics that are biodegradable Usually made mostly or entirely from renewable resources. Focus on environmentally friendly processing. Green plastics are the focus of an emerging industry focused on making convenient living consistent with environmental stability. 10

11 Green Plastics vis-à-vis Bio Plastics Bio plastics are composed of a polymer, combined with plasticizers and additives, and processed using extrusion or moulding. What makes green plastics "green" is one or more of the following properties: They are biodegradable They are made from renewable ingredients They have an environmentally friendly processing approach. 11

12 Definition of Green Because different compounds can satisfy some or all of these criteria to different degrees, there are different "degrees of green" in green plastics. To evaluate how "green" a plastic material is, we need to ask three questions: How quickly can the plastic be re-integrated into the environment after it is no longer being used? How quickly are the ingredients that go into making the plastic created in the environment? How much pollution or waste is created during the process of actually making the plastic? 12

13 Renewable Resource A renewable resource is a natural resource that is created in the environment faster than it is used up by people. Many people think of "renewability" as a fixed trait: some things (like trees, grass, and wind) are renewable, while others (like oil and coal) are not. In fact, whether a resource is renewable depends on both how fast it is replenished and how fast people use it. As a result, some resources are more renewable than others, and some resources may or may not be renewable depending on how they are used. 13

14 Rate of Renewal The rate of renewal ("sustainable yield") of a resource defines how quickly it can be replenished by the environment. Solar energy, tides, rainfall, and winds are considered perpetual resources for energy because they renew much faster than they could ever be used. (Can you imagine us "using up" the wind, so that we would have to wait until the earth made more?) 14

15 Rate of Renewal Living organisms provide the majority of resources that are generally considered "renewable", because they generally renew themselves within a reasonable amount of time relative to how quickly they are used. Agricultural feed stocks and marine feed stocks are two major categories of living organism feed stocks. Within this category, some organisms renew faster than others: for example, it takes much longer to grow a new tree than it does to grow grass. 15

16 Rate of Renewal Most of the resources that are considered "nonrenewable" are based on coal, oil, natural gas, and other substances that take so long for the environment to create that almost any use of these resources at all will cause them to be used up before any more is created. Petro-chemical feedstocks are feedstocks derived from petroleum principally for the manufacture of chemicals, synthetic rubber, and a variety of plastics. 16

17 Rate of Use Imagine you live in a small village by a river. A turbine on the river spins, and it can generate enough electricity for the entire village every day. Clearly, their hydroelectric power is a completely renewable resource. However, as the size of the village grows, their energy use grows. If eventually the needs of the village far outstrip the energy that can be provided by the turbine, then the hydroelectric energy from the river is no longer a renewable resource for the village: the rate of use has exceeded the rate of replenishment. 17

18 Rate of Use The same issue exists for the use of plants. As long as our use of (for example) corn remains moderate compared to the amount of corn produced, corn is a renewable resource. However, if our use of corn increases dramatically without a corresponding increase in corn crop production, then corn will cease to be a renewable resource: we will use it all up, and we will either have to cease production until the corn renews itself or (worse) it will become extinct, so it will not replenish at all. 18

19 'Green' Plastics or Biopolymers: The Emerging Landscape: Major chemical companies are investing big money in new plants and technologies to produce plastics from annually renewable sources, not from petrochemicals Starch polymers may make more of an impact on the U.S. market as Plantic of Australia teams up with DuPont and Bemis Co. to supply sheet, film, and pellets. Shown here: Hot rollers at Plantic drying starch polymer, which is extruded opaque but ends up clear. 19

20 Plastics from Bacteria Bacteria do much of the work of making new biopolymers. Metabolix genetically modifies bacteria that ferment starch into PHA polymer, which they store inside their cells the way animals store fat or plants store starch. 20

21 Plastics from Sugarcane Braskem, Dow, and Solvay are all building big plants in Brazil to use ethanol from sugar cane to make PE and PVC. (Photo: Solvay) 21

22 Corporate Initiatives Start-up Novomer has catalyst technology that makes PEC and PHA polymers out of by product CO and CO2 gases from cement kilns. The world s first major fermentation plant for compostable PHA biopolymer will start up this year, producing 110 million lb of Mirel resin from Metabolix s Telles joint venture. A micro-brewery ferments PHBV commercially at Tianan in China. It is blended with BASF s Ecoflex and blown into film for electronics packaging. Purac built a big new lactic acid fermentation plant in Thailand and is building a new lactide monomer plant the first such commercial facility in the world. Availability of lactide will make it easier for additional suppliers to make PLA. 22

23 Several strategic Green routes to Bio-additives Bio-additive ways differentiate by the more or less degree of modification of the used natural products: Direct use of natural additives: natural fibres, Cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) Additives mainly derived from products coming from natural sources: fatty acid salts and esters Additives made out of a minor part of natural source Use of building bricks issued from natural products to build new chemical structures Use of biopolymers as bio carbon content enhancers in fossil plastics 23

24 Bio Based Polymer additives 24

25 Illustrations of Bio additives Starch used as filler Natural gums such as arabic gum used as colloids Pine derivatives: pine tar, rosin, terpene used as tackifiers and processing aids Vulcanized vegetable oils or factices used in rubber formulations Phenol derivatives used as antioxidants Liquid depolymerised natural rubber used as a crosslinkable polymeric plasticizer Natural waxes such as carnauba wax 25

26 Present & Future: Development of Specific or General-purpose Bioplatforms and Bio-blocks Ford and Ohio State University are looking at dandelions as source of an impact strength modifier for plastics parts such as cup holders, floor mats and interior trim. Iowa State University researchers have invented a process for manufacturing isobutylene thanks to a natural enzyme that converts the glucose found naturally in plants to make isobutylene. This one can be chemically converted to synthetic rubber, impact modifier for plastics and isooctane. 26

27 Present & Future: Development of Specific or General-purpose Bioplatforms and Bio-blocks Performance of green tea extract, or its individual components catechin and epicatechin, was compared in polypropylene samples. The obtained results showed the interest of these natural materials as a potential source of antioxidants for plastics. Scientists of York University extract limonene from orange peel and found that the process also breaks down limonene into monomers that could be used to make bio based materials. 27

28 Present & Future: Development of Specific or General-purpose Bioplatforms and Bio-blocks LanzaTech wins the Frost & Sullivan 2011 Global Green Excellence Award for Technology Innovation in "green chemistry". LanzaTech's technology uses gas fermentation process that produces ethanol and high-value chemicals from renewable, non-food resources including industrial flue gases and other waste gases. LanzaTech's technology also uses carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide to produce acetic acid and 2, 3-Butanediol (2,3-BDO), key building blocks used to make plastics and hydrocarbon fuels. 28

29 Bio-monomers and Bio-blocks: Deciding arguments for a Panel of Fossil Molecule Counterparts Examples of Bio-plastics Polymerized from Biomonomers Versatility of the Bio-block Way 29

30 MANY FEEDSTOCK CHOICES 30

31 THE 'GREEN MAGIC' OF THE GAMES A ZERO-WASTE EVENT IN THE MAKING SITUATION: 8,500 tons of solid waste London 2012 Olympic Games 11 million people in attendance London Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG), commit to making 2012 the very first zero-waste Olympic and Paralympic Games, with sustainability at the heart of their vision. SOLUTION: Compostable foodservice ware / Comprehensive waste stream management 120 million pieces of packaging 14.3 million Ingeo lined paper cups 7.5 million heat resistance Ingeo lids All responsibly made All responsibly disposed of Closed loop system, diverting all from landfill 31

32 Conclusion Plenty of feedstock options for polymers & additives Companies looking at alternate feed-stocks Bio based feed-stocks promising Discovery of shale gas & possible new options Economics of Bio based plastics & additives Immediate solution is hybrid plastics: Example: Cereplast Futuristic solutions: PLA, PHB. 32

33 Thank You for your attention 33