Life cycle assessments for biomass derived sustainable biopolymer & energy co-generation
File(s)PLC & Energy Co-generation.docx (19.08 MB)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Zhang, D
Del Rio-Chanona, EA
Shah, N
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Sustainable polymers derived from biomass have been considered as promising candidates to reduce the dependency on fossil based polymers. In this study, a conceptual process design was conducted for citrus waste derived biopolymer production with energy co-generation, and its eco-friendliness was evaluated through life cycle assessment by comparison against a petroleum derived polymer production process. Based on the current research, two original conclusions were proposed. The first one is that energy-efficient separation techniques are of critical importance for the design of eco-friendly chemical processes. Only focusing on the use of sustainable feedstocks with high conversion reactions cannot guarantee an environmentally-friendly final product. The second one is that biomass should be considered not only as a raw material, but more importantly, as an energy source for the sustainable synthesis of biochemicals. In other words, a sustainable process should be designed such that a portion of biomass is used to provide clean energy for process operation, with the rest converted for product generation.
Date Issued
2018-07-01
Online Publication Date
2019-05-22T06:00:18Z
Date Acceptance
2018-05-16
ISSN
2352-5509
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
109
End Page
118
Journal / Book Title
Sustainable Production and Consumption
Volume
15
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/
Source Database
scopus
Sponsor
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (E
Grant Number
EP/L017393/1
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2018-05-22