Life cycle assessments of bio-based sustainable polylimonene carbonate production processes
File(s)PLC LCA Article.docx (544.73 KB)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Zhang, D
del Rio-Chanona, EA
Wagner, JL
Shah, N
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Biomass is a promising feedstock for the production of sustainable biopolymers, which could offer a significant reduction of the adverse environmental impacts associated with conventional petroleum-based polymers. To further evaluate their potential, this study investigated the environmental impacts associated with the production of the newly proposed biopolymer polylimonene carbonate. Different feedstocks (citrus waste and microalgae) were selected and a conceptual process design from limonene oxidation to polymer synthesis was completed. Using life cycle assessment, the potential for energy integration and the contributions of individual process sections on the overall process environmental impacts were thoroughly analysed. The results showed, that sustainable polylimonene carbonate synthesis was limited by the use of tert-butyl hydroperoxide as the limonene oxidation agent and consequently, a more environmentally-friendly and energy-efficient limonene oxidation method should be developed. Based on the economic analysis, the polymer cost was estimated to range from $1.36 to $1.51 kg −1 , comparable to the costs of petrol-based polystyrene ($1.2 to $1.6 kg −1 ). Moreover, this study found that both feedstock selection and the biowaste treatment method have significant effects on the process environmental impacts, and a carbon negative process was achieved when applying the waste biomass for electricity generation. Therefore, it was concluded that future process designs should combine polymer production with the co-generation of energy from waste biomass.
Date Issued
2018-03-12
Date Acceptance
2018-03-05
Citation
Sustainable Production and Consumption, 2018, 14, pp.152-160
ISSN
2352-5509
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
152
End Page
160
Journal / Book Title
Sustainable Production and Consumption
Volume
14
Copyright Statement
© 2018 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. This manuscript is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Sponsor
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (E
Grant Number
EP/L017393/1
Publication Status
Published