Integrating Life Cycle Assessment And Eco-design...

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Integrating Life Cycle

Assessment And Eco-design

Strategies For a Sustainable

Production of Bio-based

Plastics

Venkateshwaran Venkatachalam, Sebastian Spierling, Hans-

Josef Endres, Andrea Siebert-Raths

LCM 2017, Luxembourg

Hochschule Hannover │ IfBB – Institute for Bioplastics and Biocomposites │ www.ifbb-hannover.de

1. INTRODUCTION

2. ECO-DESIGN FOR BIO-BASED

PLASTICS

3. REFERENCE PRODUCT

4. ECO-DESIGN STRATEGIES

5. OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

6. CONCLUSION

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Introduction


• Plastics have become an integral part in our lives with

versatile applications

• The majority of plastics are petroleum-based

• The finiteness of crude oil resources & global climate

change have brought bio-based plastics into focus

• Emphasis to be made to improve the design of bio-based

plastic products, making it as a sustainable alternative

1. INTRODUCTION


PLASTICS




6. CONCLUSION

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Eco-design for bio-based plastics


• Eco-design integrates the environmental aspects of

products into product design and development

• Apart from having a life cycle perspective, it helps to

improve design strategies in the business context

• Think beyond the usage of renewable raw materials as an

eco-design measure.

• Many eco-design studies conducted on other bio-based

products, but very few in bio-based plastics sector

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Eco-design for bio-based plastics


Eco-design team

Properties of product

system

LCA of product system

Eco-design strategies

Implementation and

feedback

Material engineer & a technician

Process engineer & a project manager

Sustainability expert

Marketing personnel

Chemical and mechanical properties

Environmental aspects

Market presence & social aspects

Identification of the value chain

LCA & interpretation of LCIA

Scenario & sensitivity analysis

Selection criteria - Polymers/additives

Prioritization of strategies

Environmental & social relevance

Economic & technical feasibility

Time frame & scope

Stakeholder meeting

Implementation at pilot scale

Feedback from team

Assessment after eco-design

1. INTRODUCTION


PLASTICS




6. CONCLUSION

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Reference product


• Body of a computer mouse made of

bio-based plastics

• Mechanical properties of different

polymers were analyzed

• LCA of the blend was done on a

cradle-gate basis

• Secondary data was predominantly

used, except for the production and

processing phase.

• LCIA, hotspot and scenario analyses

were analyzed along with mechanical

properties to identify strategies

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Reference product


0

20

40

60

80

100

120

20 25 30 35 40 45 50

Imp

ac

t s

tre

ng

th [

kJ

m-2

]

Tensile strength [MPa]

Impact strength vs Tensile strength

ABS

ABS II

Blend

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Reference product


Raw material acquisition

Production

Processing

Poly-L-Lactic

Acid (PLLA)

(TH)

Poly-D-Lactic

Acid (PDLA)

(ES)

Processing

aidsPlasticizers

Nucleating

agents

Impact

modifiers

Extrusion Granulation CrystallizationVacuum

packaging

Pre-dryingInjection

moldingAssembly Packaging

Transport

Transport

Transport

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Reference product


0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

AP GWP EP POCP ODP ADP LU ET HT(CE) IR PM

Re

lati

ve

co

ntr

ibu

tio

n [

%]

Impact categories

Relative contribution to the total impacts

Processing

Production

Raw materialacquisition

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Reference product


0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

AP GWP EP POCP ODP ADP LU ET HT(CE) IR PM

Rela

tive

co

ntr

ibu

tio

n [

%]

Impact categories

Scenario analysis - Trans-oceanic transportation of PLA

Base scenario

Cargo - Spain

Truck - Spain

1. INTRODUCTION


PLASTICS




6. CONCLUSION

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Eco-design strategies


Strategy Environmental

improvement

Economic

feasibility

Technical

feasibility

Timeframe

Sourcing of local

raw materials

4 2 5 Long Term

Bio-based

additives

3 2 3 Medium Term

Primary data 2 5 4 Short Term

Mechanical

properties

3 2 2 Medium Term

Ergonomics 4 2 2 Medium Term

Recyclability 5 1 4 Medium Term

Scale: 1-5, with 1 being least feasible and relevant, 5 being highly feasible and relevant

1. INTRODUCTION


PLASTICS




6. CONCLUSION

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Opportunities and Challenges


• Opportunities

Increase the lifespan of the bio-based plastics products

Expand the application areas

Improvement from sustainability point of view

Increase the marketability

• Challenges

Stakeholder engagement

Investing time and money

Transparent communication

1. INTRODUCTION


PLASTICS




6. CONCLUSION

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Conclusion


• LCA of a blend, made of bio-based plastics was done

• Eco-design strategies were taken from the results of LCIA,

scenario analysis and mechanical properties of the blends

• The proposed eco-design strategies are then discussed

with the stakeholders with the feasibility and timeframe

• The impacts of the product after applying these eco-

design measures need to be studied

• These measures could pave way to design and

manufacture sustainable bio-based plastics products

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION


Contact:

Venkateshwaran Venkatachalam, M.Sc.

Research Associate

Institute for Bioplastics and Biocomposites, Hannover, Germany

E-mail: [email protected]

Phone: +49 511 9296 2251

mailto:[email protected]

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