Report on bioplastics, a detailed study

1. INTRODUCTION Plastics play a pivotal role in modern society. From the vinyl siding on a house to the disposable beverage bottles sold in vending machines, plastics are ubiquitous. Nearly every modern product contains at least a few plastic components, yet synthetic plastics have only existed since the introduction of Bakelite in 1907.The most widely known of these natural materials is rubber. With the national focus of attention turning to reducing foreign oil imports and environmental impacts of human activities renewed interest has been placed into developing plastics from natural products. Some background information is required before a discussion of the societal impacts of bioplastics can commence.

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Report on bioplastics, a detailed study 2. Basic Introduction to Plastics. Plastics have proliferated so readily throughout the modern world because of their versatility. Plastics can be flexible or rigid, brittle or resilient, clear or colored, and have many other useful properties. Some plastics are electrically conductive while others are excellent insulators. It is widely divergent properties such as these that allow a plastic to perform almost any role. In general plastics have a high strength to weight ratio that allows products made of plastics to be lighter and less bulky. Plastics are also less costly alternatives to metals and wood for many applications, such as packaging. The ability to add pigments directly to plastics instead of applying paint is also a benefit. Plastics are a specific subset of polymers. Therefore to understand plastics one must first understand polymers. A polymer is a molecule made up of a large number of small repeating subunits. A polymer subunit is called a monomer. Polymers come in three major varieties. Inorganic polymers are substances such as concrete or glass. DNA, proteins, and polysaccharides such as cellulose and glycogen are examples of natural organic biopolymers. The monomer units of DNA are nucleic acids. The monomer units of proteins are amino acids. The monomers of polysaccharides are sugars. A single protein often contains hundreds or even thousands of amino acid monomers, which are called residues. The final class of polymers is synthetic organic polymers. Most plastics are synthetic organic polymers. The word organic in this name means carbon based. The reaction by which monomers bond to form a polymer is called

polymerization. Polyvinyl chloride or PVC as it is commonly known was the first synthetic organic polymer to be produced. It was polymerized accidentally in 1838 but at the time could not be made into a viable plastic. Polymers can form in three different ways linear, branched, or cross-linked. A linear polymer simply has one chain of monomer units per molecule. A branched polymer has one chain that branches out into several side chains. A cross-linked polymer has several chains per molecule bonded together in multiple places. The main point to take from this is that all plastics are polymers but not all polymers are plastics.

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Report on bioplastics, a detailed study

Fig 1.1 Types of polymer Plastics are a moldable type of organic polymer. Most plastics in use today are petroleum based. Plastics can be made into fibers as well as solid continuous objects. Adding gas bubbles to plastics produces foams. Common plastics include nylon, rayon, Kevlar, PVC, lexan, polystyrene, polyethylene, and Plexiglas. Plastics can be broken down into two major classes; thermoplastics and thermo-set plastics. Plastics can also be grouped as commodity, Engineering, and specialty plastics. Commodity plastics are low cost, easy to manufacture, and relatively weak. Engineering plastics are about two to three times more expensive than commodity plastics and have superior heat stability and strength. Specialty plastics are very high cost but have unique properties, which make them desirable, such as being able to withstand high temperatures. The raw form of a plastic is called a resin. To summarize, plastics are differentiated from other polymers by a combination of their organic nature and their ability to be moulded or cast into a variety of shapes. Thermoplastics are the most common type of plastic. Thermoplastics have distinct long, entangled chains. They become a liquid when heated and can be moulded and cooled to harden many times with no degradation. This ability to return to a liquid state when heated makes recycling of thermoplastics considerably easier than thermo-set plastics. Thermoplastics tend to be softer than Thermo-set plastics. Thermo-set plastics were the earliest synthetic plastics. Bakelite is a thermo-set plastic. This type of plastic has bulky short molecules that tend to be composed of between 10 and 20 monomer units. The fact that they can only be moulded once sets thermo-set plastics apart. This is due to extensive cross-linking between the bulky molecules. The degree of cross-linking controls the rigidity of the plastic. When a thermo-set plastic is reheated it decomposes instead of liquefying. This behavior leads to more difficult recycling procedures. Plastics can also be classified via their monomers. For example polyamides, commonly known as nylon, are formed from di amines and di acids. Polyesters are formed from glycol and di acid. Both polyamides and polyesters are known for their strength when made into a fabric. Polycarbonates are formed from carbonate esters. Lexan is an example of a polycarbonate. Polycarbonates are known for being Dept.of civil engineering, MES college of engineering, Kuttippuram
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Report on bioplastics, a detailed study strong and transparent. These traits lead to their common usage in bullet-resistant glass. Polyurethanes are formed from urethane, which is an ester of carbamic acid .Ten More classifications exist but these can be considered the major ones.

Plastics would not be as useful as they are without plasticizers. A plasticizer is a compound that makes another compound, usually a plastic, more liable. Plasticizers also increase a plastics ease of handling and resilience. The majority of plasticizers are esters, specifically, pthalates and adipates. Other types of plasticizers are citrates, epoxies, phosphate esters, polymers, sebacates, azelates, and trimellitates. Phthalates are the most common plasticizers. More than 300 plasticizers are known and between fifty and one hundred of those are currently used commercially. Some common plasticizing agents are di-2-ethyl hexyl phthalate (DEHP), diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP), and diisononyl phthalate (DINP). PVC is the major product that utilizes plasticizers and it accounts for 95% of plasticizer use. Besides plastics, plasticizers are found in adhesives, cosmetics, and paints. Without plasticizers plastics would lose some of the properties that make them so useful.

2.1 Synthesis of Plastics

Before detailed syntheses of specific products can be discussed a general knowledge of polymer synthesis is required. In condensation polymers the monomers bond with the loss of a small molecule. If this small molecule is water, as it is in protein polymerization, then the reaction is called a dehydration. Condensation polymers are also known as step-growth polymers. Addition polymers add one monomer at a time at the end of the polymer chain. The end of the chain that is growing will often have a reactive intermediate. There are three types of reactive intermediates that are found at the end of addition polymer chains. The first is a cation, which is a positively charged atom. The second is an anion, which is a negatively charged atom. The third option is a radical, which is an atom with a single non-bonded electron in its valence orbital. Addition polymers are also known as chain-growth polymers. When a polymer is made of 2 or more different monomers it is called a copolymer.

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Report on bioplastics, a detailed study 2.2 Basic introduction to bioplastics

Biopolymers are a subset of polymers. The difference between biopolymers and petro-polymers is that the monomers of a biopolymer are derived from a living source. Two main types of biopolymers exist. The first type is synthesized directly by an organism. The second type is produced in a synthetic chemical reaction from biological reactants. Examples of the first type include DNA, RNA, proteins, and polysaccharides. The second type includes most of the biopolymers used to make bioplastics. Japan and Europe have led the way in biopolymer development. Some biopolymers can serve as direct substitutes for other polymers but others cannot. In summary, biopolymers are simply polymers that come from a biological source. Bioplastics are plastics made out of biopolymers. So, like biopolyethylene, are identical to their oil derived form except that the source of the monomers is different. Others are unique and have no petro-polymer equivalent. Bioplastics can be made using plant, animal, or bacterial sources. Some bioplastics are biodegradable while others are not. This is advantageous, as many products need to be resilient and not degrade in the environment. The field of bioplastics is still in its infancy but is developing rapidly. The feedstocks for bioplastics come from a variety of biological sources. Starch based bioplastics are usually made from wheat, corn, rice, potatoes, barley, and sorghum. Cellulose based bioplastics are commonly made from wood. Natural oils from soy, palm, and other plants have also been used to make bioplastics. Other bioplastics rely on bacteria to supply raw materials. An example of an animal derived monomer is hyaluronic acid (HA). It can also be extracted from bacteria. Genetically engineered organisms have been made to increase the yield of certain bioplastic components and in some cases to actually produce specific biopolymers. To summarize, bioplastics come from a wide range of sources, but

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Report on bioplastics, a detailed study many of the plant-based bioplastics are derived from food crops.

Fig 1.1 Bioplastic Cycle

Table 1.1 Comparison between bioplastics and petroplastics

A wide variety of bioplastics exist, but only a few have been put into major commercial production. Starch based bioplastics make up the majority of the bioplastics market. Cellulose based plastic is another example of a bioplastic made out of a naturally occurring polymer. Dept.of civil engineering, MES college of engineering, Kuttippuram
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Report on bioplastics, a detailed study Cellulose and Starch do not need to be polymerized since they are already polymers. Other common bioplastics include polylactid acid, polyamide 11, biopolyethylene, and poly-3hydroxybutyrate. Efforts to put other bioplastics into largescale production are ongoing.

2.2.1 Synthesis of bioplastics

Basically bioplastics are produced from i. ii. iii. iv. Starch Cellulose Lignin Plant proteins

2.2.2 Production of Bioplastics

The production of bioplastics is small but growing. The total bioplastics consumption in Europe is estimated to be 50,000 tons while the total plastics consumption in Europe is 40 million tons. The annual worldwide production capacity of bioplastics is 300,000 tons. The current bioplastics could only cover 5-10% of the plastic market. Bioplastics have yet to reach the performance and level of diversity of petroplastics. 100 billion tons of biomass are produced by plants per year. To put that in perspective the global consumption of plastics is 200 million tons.

There are a series of important societal questions that must be considered with regard to bioplastics. How will bioplastics production influence our dependence on fossil fuels? Do bioplastics emit more or less carbon during production than petroleum-based plastics? How does the production of bioplastics compare in terms of costs? How does bioplastics production influence the food supply? How biodegradable are bioplastics? How much energy is consumed by the production of bioplastics? What are the health nconcerns of utilizing bioplastics? The purpose of this project was to evaluate the impact that a switch from petro-polymers to biopolymers might have on fossil fuel consumption, carbon emissions, economics, food production, pollution, energy consumption, and the health of humans and the environment. Dept.of civil engineering, MES college of engineering, Kuttippuram
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Report on bioplastics, a detailed study

2.3 Analysis

2.3.1. Fossil Fuel Consumption.

Bioplastics have the potential to reduce fossil fuel consumption. The feedstock of a bioplastic is not derived from petroleum while the feedstocks of petro-plastics are. Bioplastics production consumes fossil fuels however, because the farming and processing operations commonly use fossil fuel as energy sources. Thus the production method an individual company uses dictates the amount of fossil fuels that can be saved by a switch to bioplastics. NatureWorks, a manufacturer of polylactic acid (PLA), claimsa 68% reduction of fossil fuel use over traditional plastics. Metabolix claims a 95% reduction in fossil fuel use over petroleum plastics for its brand of PHB. The energy for the farm equipment, fertilizer production, and the bioplastics factories does not necessarily have to come from fossil fuels. Alternative energy like solar, nuclear, hydroelectric, biomass, geothermal, and wind could supply all the necessary energy if the required investment was made. Since total energy consumption for plastics and bioplastics hs been discussed in another section an analysis of fossil fuel savings would best be conducted by only considering the plastic feedstocks.

By definition bioplastics have no fossil fuel feedstocks. The feedstocks of petroplastics on the other hand are almost entirely fossil fuel based. HDPE requires 49 GJ/metric ton of feedstock in a cradle-to-factory analysis. Here the fossil fuel feedstock is treated as its energy equivalent. PET requires 39 GJ/metric ton in feedstocks and Polystyrene requires 48 GJ/metric ton. These are all substantial amounts of petroleum and a switch to bioplastics would eliminate these feedstock demands.

If all plastics in the world were replaced by bioplastics and the energy used in the process came from renewable sources the fossil fuel savings would be approximately 3.49 million barrels a day. That is 4% of the worlds fossil fuel usage. To put that in perspective, Saudi Arabia, the worlds top oil producer, produces 10.67 million barrels a day. The amount of oil saved would exceed the daily consumption for every country except the United States, China, and Japan. The Dept.of civil engineering, MES college of engineering, Kuttippuram
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Report on bioplastics, a detailed study savings in fossil fuel would also be equivalent to a little less than a third of daily United States oil imports. This is of course a simplified case. Current bioplastics do not have the properties to replace all the worlds plastics and not all the energy used in production is likely to be renewable. The oil savings would vary from process to process and also from location to location. The oil savings would vary with location because of transport costs.

2.3.2. Carbon Emissions

Polyhydroxybutarates (PHB) have some benefits in terms of carbon emissions compared to petroleum-based plastics. The fact that petroleum is not used as a feedstock is a distinct advantage. Carbon dioxide is given off by the agricultural equipment and processing equipment though. It was found via a life cycle assessment that 2.6 Kg of carbon dioxide was emitted per kilogram of PHB produced.

Fig 2.1 Carbon Cycle This figure varies widely from study to study however. Polypropylene production generates 3.4 Kg of carbon dioxide per kilogram of plastic. The manufacture of high and lowdensity polyethyleneemits 2.5 and 3.0 kilograms of carbon dioxide per kilogram of plastic respectively. This is summarized in Table 3. The carbon emissions of PHB were lower than that Dept.of civil engineering, MES college of engineering, Kuttippuram
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Report on bioplastics, a detailed study of PP and LDPE while being slightly higher than those for HDPE. To sum up, PHB has lower total carbon emissions than some of the petro-plastics it could replace. polymer CO2 Emissions (KgCO2/Kg polymer) LDPE 3.0 Kg PP 3.4 Kg HDPE 2.5 Kg PHB 2.16 Kg PLA 1.8 Kg TPS 1.14 Kg

Table 2.1 Carbon dioxide emissions for polymer production

Polylactic acid (PLA) has even lower life-cycle carbon emissions. First generation PLA production resulted in 1.8 Kg of carbon dioxide emissions per Kg of plastic made. Improvements to the process are expected to reduce this further. PLA production emits less carbon dioxide than most other polymers. Manufacture of polypropylene, LDPE, and nylon all result in more carbon emissions. Since PLA does not require petroleum feedstocks the carbon emissions result from the equipment used to harvest the plant crop and from the energy required to run the manufacturing process.

Thermoplastic Starch (TPS) requires little processing and thus has the lowest Carbon emissions of the three bioplastics given here as examples. The life-cycle carbon emissions for TPS are 1.14 Kg carbon dioxide produced per Kg of plastic manufactured. This is considerably lower than all common petroleum based plastics. Starch foams vary between 0.89 and 1.43 Kg carbon dioxide produced per Kg of plastic. The blends of starch and other plastics have emissions as high as 3.60 Kg carbon dioxide per Kg plastic. To summarize, starch based plastics are the most favorable in terms of carbon emissions.

To put these carbon emissions reductions into perspective various comparisons have been made. If all of the U.S. production of polypropylene were replaced with PHB, the reduction in annual carbon emissions would be 7.06 million metric tons. Similarly, replacing all HDPE production in the United States with PLA or TPS would lead to a reduction of carbon emissions of 5.78 and 11.2 million metric tons respectively. Dept.of civil engineering, MES college of engineering, Kuttippuram
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Report on bioplastics, a detailed study

Replacing HDPE with PHB would actually emit more carbon dioxide. Furthermore, replacing all LDPE production in the U.S. with PHB, PLA, or TPS would lead to large reductions in carbon emissions. This is summarized in Table 2.1. This level of carbon emissions reduction is very significant.

Bioplastics serve as a means to sequester carbon dioxide as long as the plastic does not degrade. The plants, from which bioplastics are made, absorb carbon dioxide as they grow. The carbon is stored as polysaccharides as a result of photosynthesis. When the plant material is used as a feedstock to make a bioplastic the carbon becomes part of the biopolymer that makes up the plastic. If the plastic is composted or incinerated the carbon will be released as carbon dioxide, but if the plastic is not biodegradable and not disposed of by incineration then atmospheric carbon would have been successfully sequestered. This is not a feasible way to halt global warming however, because the amount of carbon dioxide is too great to be effected by carbon sequestration in plastics.Also, in order to successfully sequester carbon the plastic must not be biodegradable and would therefore pollute.

2.3.3 Economics of Bioplastics

The other advantages of bioplastics would be meaningless if they were too expensive to produce. The Mirel bioplastic made by Metabolix is about double the price of an equivalent petroplastic. Ingeo, a bioplastic made by NatureWorks LLC is only slightly more expensive than equivalent petroleum based plastics. In general bioplastics are always more expensive than the petroleum based plastics they are intended to replace but prices have fallen as development continues and oil prices have become unstable. Added price stability is a potential benefit of bioplastics. Prices of bioplastics should continue to fall as the industry grows and more efficient production methods are developed.

A switch to bioplastics would affect raw material prices. The cost of whatever crop or combination of crops used to make the bioplastics would certainly increase. Theincrease in corn prices as a result of ethanol production is a good example of this effect. Corn prices have risen Dept.of civil engineering, MES college of engineering, Kuttippuram
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Report on bioplastics, a detailed study dramatically over the past several years as more and more ethanol is produced as an alternative fuel. From 2007 to 2008 the price of a bushel of corn increased by $0.80. It was estimated that $0.41 of that increase was directly linked to ethanol production. A $0.41 increase is significant for a crop that normally costs around $3 a bushel. As the demand and thus the price of the plant feedstocks rise, the demand and therefore the price of fossil fuels would fall. The decline in oil usage would not be great enough to have a major impact on global prices. Oil producing countries regulate production in an attempt to keep prices stable. This analysis neglects the economic complexities involved but the principle is clear.

Regional economic effects are also likely in a switch to bioplastics. In order to cut transportation costs it is probable that bioplastics production plants would be built closer to the major agricultural areas of the country. This would cause a shift in industry from the coastal areas of the United States, near the oil refineries, to the Midwest. The impact on jobs would be negligible as it is likely that as many jobs would be created as would be lost. The existing plastics processing plants could be retrofitted to work with bioplastics.

An example of such a geographic shift effect can be found in oil production. As crude oil production shifted to the Middle East in the 1950s American refining operations moved from the gulf coast to the ports of the northeast of the Atlantic coast as a means to reduce costs. Both being near major seaports and the major fuel consumption centers of the U.S. led to transport costs being reduced. Not all refineries moved and jobs were not lost in total.

2.3.4 Food supply The switch to bioplastics has the potential to affect the worlds food supply in a number of ways. Bioplastics derived from food crops like corn, soy, sugar cane, and others would directly decrease the amount of those crops that would be available for food. Bioplastics derived from non-food crops like switch-grass would indirectly affect food production by competing for land with food crops. Bioplastics derived from agricultural waste or algae would have little to no impact on the food supply. Given the fact that food shortages exist in many regions of the world interfering with the worlds food supply is a major concern. Dept.of civil engineering, MES college of engineering, Kuttippuram
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Report on bioplastics, a detailed study

Polylactic acid (PLA) is derived from sugars. Sugar can be made from a variety of plants. The total annual yield of sugar if all corn were used for making sugar would be 318 million metric tons. For sugarcane it would be 156 million metric tons, for rice it would be 318 million metric tons, and for potatoes it would be 14 million metric tons.

The annual production of plastics in the U.S. totals 52.5 million metric tons. The production of PLA requires 147% the mass of the plastic to be imputed as sugar. Therefore the sugar requirement if all U.S. plastic production were switched to PLA would be 77.2 million metric tons. This would require about 24.3% of the worlds supply of rice or corn. Alternatively, PLA production would consume 49.5% of the worlds sugar cane or 551% of the worlds potato production. The total production of sugar, derived from all crops, in the world is 1.3 billion metric tons. American (PLA) production would consume 5.94% of the entire worlds sugar production if all plastics made in the U.S. were replaced by PLA.81 Results are summarized in Table 2.2. This is clearly not feasible but PLA could not replace all plastics to begin with.

Table 2.2 Percentage of various crops worldwide required to switch all U.S. plastics to PLA

corn Percentage of 23.4% crop

rice 24.3%

potato 55.1%

sugarcane 49.5%

Total sugar 59.4%

Thermoplastic starch (TPS) is primarily made from corn. Each kilogram of TPS produced requires 0.971 Kg of corn as feedstock. Therefore in order to meet the U.S. production of 77.2 million metric tons of plastic, 75.0 million metric tons of corn would be required. This would be about 14.2% of the worlds annual corn production.82 TPS is less able to substitute for other plastics than PLA and the percentage of the worlds corn production consumed make a complete switch to TPS impractical.

In order to maintain stability in the global food market the U.S. government could convert Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) land into bioplastics cropland. The CRP Dept.of civil engineering, MES college of engineering, Kuttippuram
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Report on bioplastics, a detailed study encourages farmers to set land aside in order to preserve the soil and natural environment. As of 2006, 36 million acres of farmland were being left unused as part of the CRP. Each acre of land could produce 7280 pounds of corn on average, which is about 3.64 tons. Therefore the total amount of corn that could be produced if all the CRP land were put into use would be 131 million tons annually. This would be enough to convert all plastics production to either TPS or PLA, but just barely enough in the case of PLA.

2.3.5 Pollution

Consuming less energy in manufacturing and emitting less carbon dioxide during production are both beneficial but greater savings can be achieved by recycling. Recycling is almost always more energy efficient and releases less carbon dioxide than making a new product. Currently bioplastics are produced in such small quantities compared to the production of petroplastics that the infrastructure for recycling has not yet developed. In principle most bioplastics should be easily recylable because they are predominantly thermoplastics. One major problem with efforts to recycle bioplastics is that if they become mixed with petroplastics they can contaminate the whole batch. For example, if an amount as small as 0.1% by mass of a bioplastics were recycled with polyethylene terephthalate resin (PET) the entire batch of plastic would be rendered useless. As the production and use of bioplastics increases it is expected that dedicated recycling processes will be developed rendering bioplastics as easy to recycle as petroplastics.

Petroleum based commodity plastics are resistant to most microbes, water, and mechanical stress. All three of these properties render them resilient in the environment. When biodegradability is required some petroplastics are blended with additives susceptible to oxidation or hydrolysis. Photo-degradation and enzymatic degradation are two other options.86 Certain bacteria can break down plastics via enzymes. Even plastics that do not generally degrade can be converted. Some bacteria have been found that convert Styrofoam into polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), a biodegrabable plastic.In general bioplastics biodegrade more easily and at a greater rate than average petroplastics. This is good for some applications and bad for others. Even for bioplastics, composting often has to be done at very specific conditions like Dept.of civil engineering, MES college of engineering, Kuttippuram
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Report on bioplastics, a detailed study high heat and oxygen levels or in the presence of certain microorganisms, for the desired degradation to take place.

2.3.6 Energy Consumption.

Polyhydroxybutarates (PHB) require less energy, when the energy of production and feedstocks are combined, than petroleum based plastics with similar characteristics. The total life cycle energy requirements for PHB are 44.7 MJ per Kg plastic produced. Polypropylene requires 85.9 MJ per Kg, HDPE uses 73.7 MJ per Kg, and LDPE uses 81.8 MJ per Kg produced. This is summarized in Table 4.1. The energy requirements for PHB are about half that of the petropolymers. That is a significant energy savings.

Type of polymer Polymer LDPE

Petropolymer PP HDPE PHB

Biopolymer PLA TPS

Energy requirements(MJ/Kg- 81.80% 85.90% 73.70% 44.70% 54.10% 25.40% polymer Table 4.1 Energy Requirement of Different Polymers

Polylactic acid (PLA) currently consumes more energy in production than PHB. A kilogram of first generation PLA requires 54.1 MJ of energy input during its life cycle. Improvements to the process are expected with predicted values going as low as 7.4 MJ per Kg of PLA produced. 54.1 MJ is still significantly less than the energy consumption figures for most petro-plastics. The calculations include the oil feedstock in the energy requirement for the plastics.

Thermoplastic starch has the lowest energy requirements of the bioplastic examples given. The life cycle for requirement TPS is 25.4 MJ per Kg plastic produced. This is less than a third of the energy required to produce most petro-plastics. Starch based foams vary in energy

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Report on bioplastics, a detailed study requirements from 32.4 to 36.5 MJ per Kg produced. Starch blends go up to 52.3 MJ per Kg produced. The starch blends are mostly petro-plastic.

To summarize, the energy savings of starch-based plastic over petro-plastics are considerable. To put the total energy savings, combining energy contained in the feedstocks with energy used in the production process, of bioplastics into perspective several comparisons have been made. If all U.S. PP production was switched to PHB, PLA, or TPS the annual energy savings would be 363, 280, and 529 PJ respectively. Similar energy savings are obtained by switching HDPE or LDPE production to the bioplastics PHB, PLA, and TPS. TPS has the potential for the most energy savings but also has the most limited potential use. These results are summarized in Table 7. The potential energy savings are enormous considering one peta joule of energy is equivalent to 31,250 metric tons of coal.

2.3.7. Health

Unlike petroleum-based plastics, bioplastics have not been implicated in any health problems. The monomers either do not leach into products or are relatively harmless when they do. Pure starch can be metabolized as previously discussed. Caution on bioblastics is still warranted, as they are a developing industry whose health implications may only become apparent with further study.

Although, the bioplastics themselves have so far been deemed safe some steps in their production can have adverse health effects. When growing crops for bioplastics it is common to use pesticides and artificial fertilizers. Pesticides can leach into drinking water. Known health risks of certain pesticides include birth defects, cancer, and nerve damage. Inorganic fertilizers often contain toxic heavy metals like cadmium.

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Report on bioplastics, a detailed study Fertilizers have also been linked to harmful algae blooms including red tide. These problems can be avoided if organic farming techniques are used but that slightly limits production.101a bioplastic or a petroplastic. The hazardous plasticizers found in standard petroleum based plastics could be used in bioplastics. However, most bioplastics also use bioplasticizers. Examples of these plasticizers include sorbitol, glycerin, and Triethyl Citrate (TEC), which is derived from citric acid. All three of these bioplasticizers have low toxicities. Any leaching that occurred would result in such low plasticizer concentrations that no health effects would be observed.102 Just as normal plasticizers can be used in bioplastics so can bioplasticizers be used in petroplastics.

3. The Bioplastics Market

The world currently utilises approximately 260 million tonnes of plastics each year. Europe uses approximately 53 million tonnes of plastics and the UK utilises approximately five million tonnes of plastics a year. Bioplastics make up about 0.1% of the global market at an approximate consumption volume of 300,000 tonnes per year and experts predict that this market will grow six-fold by 2011 reaching over 1.5 million tonnes per year. In Europe, bioplastic consumption is approximately 60-100,000 tonnes per year and the UK utilises an estimated 15,000 tonnes per year. Forecast market growth is predicted to be greatest in non-biodegradable bioplastics. In future, bioplastics may be more widely used for general food packaging and may also form major components in electronics housings and vehicles. Bioplastics could also be used in modern sophisticated applications such as medicine delivery systems and chemical microencapsulation. They may also replace petrochemical- based adhesives and polymer coatings.

However, the plastics market is complex, highly refined and manufacturers are very selective with regard to the specific functionality and cost of plastic resins. For bioplastics to make market ground they will need to be more cost competitive and provide functional properties that manufacturers require.

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Report on bioplastics, a detailed study 3.1 What are bioplastics currently used for?

Fig 5.1 Uses Of Bioplastics

The majority of bioplastics are currently used in packaging applications such as bottles, film, clamshell cartons and loosefill. Bioplastics are also used in waste collection bags, carrier bags, mulch-film and food serviceware such as cutlery.

Current niche markets include minor automotive parts and electronics housings. Typically, starch-based bioplastics (such as TPS) are used to manufacture food serviceware. Starch mixed with crude oil-based polymers is used for carrier bags. Extruded starch can substitute for expanded polystyrene loosefill packaging. Starch sugar fermentation products such Dept.of civil engineering, MES college of engineering, Kuttippuram
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Report on bioplastics, a detailed study as polylactic acid (PLA) are used in cold drinks cups and bottles, food packaging film and containers, carpets and clothing. PLA can also be used to manufacture CDs and electronics casings.

Fig 5.2 Uses Starch, Plant oils and Cellulose

3.2. Measuring the environmental impact of bioplastics

The net environmental impact of bioplastics can be assessed using a methodology called life cycle analysis (LCA). LCA uses input and output data from each step in the manufacture of a product to quantify the overall environmental impact (often mreferred as cradle-to-grave). LCA would assess parameters such as GHG emissions through raw material production, processing, product manufacture and disposal. Currently there is no unified LCA standard which makes it difficult to compare the same products made from different polymers.

A publicly available specification (PAS) 2050 has been recently developed to provide a common LCA methodology for UK products and services.

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Report on bioplastics, a detailed study

Fig 5.3 End Of Life Options For Plastics

3.3 Challenges for the bioplastics industry

Bioplastics offer several environmental and functional benefits over petroplastics, but, as with any new industry, there are challenges to be surmounted to increase their market share. One of the biggest challenges is cost. Currently bioplastic resins cost at least twice as much as petroplastic resins which is not helped by low crude oil (and, therefore, petroplastic) prices at the moment (March 2009). Clearly economies of scale will help improve the price differential if more bioplastic resin manufacturing capacity comes on-line in future. In addition, an obligation scheme to use renewable and biodegradable materials in packaging would provide a driver for development of the bioplastic industry in the UK. This scheme could be analogous to the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) introduced for biofuels.

Currently, bioplastic materials are mainly aimed at the plastic packaging market which has stringent material specifications (e.g. moisture and gas permeability). Exacting specifications are also required for other plastic applications (e.g. electronics housings). If bioplastics are to make any market ground they must provide similar or better properties to petroplastics.

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Report on bioplastics, a detailed study

Coupled with this is the shortfall in waste processing infrastructure in the UK for most of the disposal options described above. The two most developed disposal options in the UK are composting facilities and landfill sites. However, the latter is the least environmentally desirable option and the UK is running out of landfill space and must explore other waste disposal options. Recycling is a challenge for disposal of both bioplastics and petroplastics. The current UK system (The Producer Responsibility Obligations Regulations) obliges companies to help meet European recycling targets. Businesses with a turnover of more than 2 million and 50 tonnes per year of packaging must help pay for the recycling of at least 92% of the packaging waste they generate.

Companies meet their packaging recycling obligations through: 1) contracting recycling companies to process their allocated quantity of packaging waste; 2) recycling their own packaging waste; 3) purchasing Packaging Recovery Notes (PRNs). Currently, companies earn or buy PRNs to meet their recycling obligations. There are several PRN types available depending on the packaging waste type produced (e.g. paper or plastic). Bioplastics do not have a specific PRN allocation.

However, if the major bioplastic component is starch or cellulose it is classed in the paper category. If a bioplastic contains predominantly oil-based polymers it is classed in the more expensive plastic category. In Europe, the Green Dot System obliges companies that produce or use packaging to contribute to the cost of recycling packaging waste. In Germany, bioplastics are exempt from Green Dot System fees to encourage their use. However, this mechanism does not provide funding for bioplastic disposal. In the UK, low PRN fees or fee exemption for bioplastics may help their uptake into the market. However, it may also be necessary to introduce mandatory targets for incorporation of bioplastics into packaging products.

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Report on bioplastics, a detailed study 3.4. Future of the bioplastics industry

Fig 6.1 Bioplastics market share

3.4.1 Manufacturing capability

The industry has a mature grain milling and sugar manufacturing infrastructure supplying the food and drink industry. These facilities could provide feedstocks for bioplastic manufacture in the industry. There are several potential manufacturing avenues including: 1) PLA 2) Starch bioplastics 3) Polyethylene from bioethanol.

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Report on bioplastics, a detailed study A feasibility study (a Defra-funded project undertaken on behalf of the National NonFood Crop Centre) on the potential for PLA manufacture in the UK suggests that 490,000 tonnes of wheat could be used to manufacture 132,000 tonnes of PLA per year by 2025. Starch bioplastics, currently imported, could be manufactured using wheat starch from UK grain. The emerging UK bioethanol industry may provide feedstock for polyethylene and polypropylene manufacture.

3.4.2 Land availability

A key issue for the production of crops for bioplastic manufacture is land availability. Currently, the bioplastics industry is in its infancy and, as a result, does not require a significant proportion of land for feedstock supply. By way of example, figures below indicate the land area that is currently required for PLA manufacture in the USA (NatureWorks model).

In the UK the most likely crop feedstock for bioplastic manufacture is wheat. A plant producing 132,000 tonnes of PLA per annum would only require a small percentage of the wheat produced in the UK. This slight increase in demand could be met through use of some of our exported wheat (currently 3.9 million tonnes per annum), through improved crop yields and more efficient use of farmland.

3.4.3. HGCA bioplastic initiatives

HGCA has a role in promoting the use of home-grown cereals and oilseeds for industrial applications such as bioplastics. The HGCA Enterprise Awards Scheme funds the market development of a number of industrial uses ventures. For example, Cambridge Biopolymers (Duxford), a 2005 Enterprise Award winner, developed a bio-resin system based on oilseed rape oil. This bio-resin has applications in eco-friendly mannequin manufacture, model and sculpture casting, construction products, chemical micro-encapsulation, coatings and adhesives and ecofriendly coffin manufacture. Green Light Products (London), a 2003 Enterprise Awards Scheme

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Report on bioplastics, a detailed study winner, developed a wheat starch-based loosefill packaging material intended as a renewable and biodegradable alternative to expanded polystyrene.

HGCA also helps fund a number of research and development projects on the use of wheat flour, starch and straw in the manufacture of eco-composite materials. Expanded wheat flour and starch products are under development for packaging, construction components such as ceiling panels, eco-friendly cool boxes and concrete void-makers for cabling and piping. Ecofriendly wheat straw products such as straw pigeons (a clay pigeon replacement), road barriers and tree guards are also under development.

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Report on bioplastics, a detailed study

4. CONCLUSIONS

The mainstream media has been devoting more and more attention to bioplastics as demonstrated by the newspaper and magazine articles cited in this paper. These articles generally paint an overoptimistic picture of the use of biomaterials in plastics. Bioplastics have many advantages over petroplastics but they have yet to live up to the hype. When all factors are taken into account replacing a significant portion of plastics with bioplastics is not a viable option at this time.

Several attributes make a switch to bioplastics attractive. Bioplastics production consumes fewer fossil fuel resources than petroleum based plastics because no fossil fuel feedstocks are used. They emit less carbon dioxide than petro-plastics over their life cycle. Bioplastics consume less energy to produce than petroleum based plastics. They have fewer health concerns associated with them. Also, bioplastics are generally compostable. All these traits would encourage the transition to bioplastics but this is not the whole story.

Bioplastics also have several serious shortfalls. For example, bioplastics production is often more energy intensive than petroplastic production due in large part to the need for agricultural inputs in addition to the actual plastic processing. It only comes out ahead in the life cycle analysis because the petroleum feedstocks of petroplastics are included in the energy calculations. Another example is that bioplastics cost more than petroleum-based plastics, although, the price difference between petroplastics and bioplastics can largely be attributed to the immaturity of the bioplastics industry. Lower prices for bioplastics are expected in the near fututre. It is debatable whether consumers would be willing to shoulder the extra cost. The most serious problem of bioplastics production is the impact on the food supply. Since bioplastics are commonly derived from food crops shortages and price increases could result from scaled up production. Finally, recycling poses another problem for a switch to bioplastics. Widespread recycling operations do not exist yet for bioplastics. Mixing bioplastics into other plastics when recycling can lead to unusable products. This is a concern because recycling is the most energetically and environmentally favorable option for making plastic based products. To sum Dept.of civil engineering, MES college of engineering, Kuttippuram
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Report on bioplastics, a detailed study up, the disadvantages of bioplastics take away much of their appeal. One thing above all others inhibits a switch to bioplastics. Despite all the advantages and disadvantages the limiting factor that makes a major shift to bioplastics sorbitol, and Glycerin production impractical is the fact that bioplastics have the mechanical characteristics to replace so few plastics. Even if all bioplastics comparisons to plastics were favorable their lack of necessary physical properties would severely limit their use. This is the key point that most of the media overlooks. All the benefits in the world are irrelevant if the product cannot be used . Based on the findings of this paper several recommendations can be made. First, research into bioplastics development should continue to be funded so that bioplastics with more diverse applications can be created. In regard to current bioplastics, one should not be favored over the others since they each have limited uses and similar benefits as well as problems. Second, the infrastructure for bioplastics recycling should be developed so that if and when a shift to bioplastics takes place the inability to recycle will not be a limiting factor. This would include assigning each bioplastic its own recycling code to aid identification and sorting during the recycling process. Third, methods of bioplastics production must receive further study in order to raise overall efficiency and reduce energy consumption. Fourth, Bioplastics should not be made out of food crops or crops that compete for the same land as food crops when possible. This would mean not subsidizing or mandating the production of TPS or PLA from corn or any other food crop. Fifth, more effort needs to be placed into increasing the recycling rates of current petroplastics. Sixth, public funds should not be used to subsidize the production of any bioplastic. Any public funding should be used exclusively for research. The benefits of bioplastics are not great enough to warrant spending public money to prop them up if they are not economically viable. To conclude, bioplastics are a technology in their infancy, even though they may not currently be feasible, they could hold much promise for the future.

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Report on bioplastics, a detailed study Bioplastics are renewable and sustainable alternatives to oil-based plastics. Currently, the main opportunities for bioplastics are in packaging materials, but in future bioplastics may be used more in higher value applications (electronics and vehicle parts). Bioplastics have a 0.1% share of the current global plastics market. Land usage for the production of bioplastics is currently small (e.g. 0.1% of US maize area for PLA production). The world bioplastics market has potential to grow six-fold by 2013. Potential for UK wheat to be used in bioplastic manufacture in the UK.

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Report on bioplastics, a detailed study

5. REFERENCES

1) Handbook of bioplastics and biocomposites engineering applications Editor:pilla,srikanth. Publisher:john wiley and sons inc july 2011 2) Bioplastics, a dream come true? Author :maria A PRIETO department of molecular microbiology, biological research centre CSIC,Madrid spain. 3) conversion of biomass Author : Lei Pei , Markus Schmidt 4) Polymer chemistry(PART A) Author Pen Giu Pan and Bo Zhy, Weihua Kai(2008) 5) Bioplastics (PHA) production by Bacteria by Attia Razzaq (2012) 6) Bioplastic production in Plastic age By DR.Sherif El-Khadi(2011)

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