Polyethylene biobased

Braskem, a Brazilian company, began producing biobased polyethylene on a commercial scale in 2010 [7]. The starting material is sugar cane. Conventional fermentation methods are used to produce ethanol from sugar. Ethanol is then dehydrated to ethylene. This ethylene can then be used to produce polyethylene, exactly as is done with ethylene from petrochemical sources. The resulting polyethylene is identical in performance to conventional polyethylene, and of course is not biodegradable. 

Inc., and Teijin Ltd., which is known as Ingeo in the USA and Biofront in Japan. Another company, Purac, also produces biomedical application-oriented PLA-based materials under the PURASORB brand name. Figure 8.1 shows the synthesis, recycUng, and degradation of PLLA [13]. However, due to the recent initiation of the production of biobased polyethylene (PE) from bio-ethanol, PLLA is not the sole mass-produced biobased polymer. To forestall biobased PE and other biobased polymers that will be produced in the near future, high performance PLA-based materials must be developed to suppress their hydrolytic/thermal degradabiUty and increase their mechanical performance. 

Several conventional plastics can be produced from organic sources. Biobased polyethylene and biobased PET resins are currently available. Other plastics can be produced with biobased sources Table 5.1 lists the biobased plastics that are commercially available. 

Biobased polyethylene is currently available from Braskem and DOW Chemical Company. Biobased polyethylene can be made from sugarcane or other agricultural materials. 

Biobased polyethylene Polyethylene Braskem, DOW Chemical Blown film, sheet, bottles, packaging products, fibers, etc. 

The composition of biobased polyethylene is the same as conventional polyethylene. Typically, polyethylene is produced from natural gas or petroleum products, for example, naptha. Biobased polyethylene is produced from biobased ethanol as depicted in Figure 5.1. 

Life cycle assessment (LCA) can be used to determine the environmental impacts of producing the biobased polyethylene. The LCA will consider the energy and GHG emission for producing biobased polyethylene from the raw materials to the plastic pellet. The cradle-to-factory gate approach can he useful for plastic packaging, bags, and other products. The cradle-to-gate LCA of biobased polyethylene and petroleum-based polyethylene are Usted in Table 5.3 (Hunter et al. 2008). 

Sustainable plastics are those plastics made with lower energy, lower carbon footprint, lower waste, and lower pollution than conventional plastics. Plastics that are made from plants or biobased sources and from recycled plastics can be made with lower energy, lower carbon footprint, lower waste, and lower pollution than conventional plastics. Biobased polyethylene, propylene, and PET can be made from sugarcane or other agricultural materials. Biobased plastics can be made with nearly identical mechanical properties as conventional petroleum-based plastics and can be manufactured on identical plastics processing equipment. 

Toray (2011) Toray Succeeds in Production of the World s First FuUy Renewable, Biobased Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Fiber, http //www.toray.coni/news/ fiber/nrl 11115.html (last accessed July 2013). 

Q.5.1 Biobased polyethylene can be produced from sugarcane as petroleum-based polyethylene. T or F ... 

P.5.2 How does the mechanical properties of biobased polyethylene compare to the mechanical properties of petroleum-based polyethylene ... 

P.5.3 What could be the reasons for biobased polyethylene to emit a negative amount of GHGs during production of the biobased plastic ... 

E.5.3 Calculate an LCA for biobased polyethylene based on data from Braskem or DOW. How does it compare with petroleum-based polyethylene ... 

Polyethylene In 2010, Brazilian Braskem was the first company to put a biobased polyethylene plant into operation in Triunfo with a capacity of 200000 tons per year [73]. The same company was first considering partnering with Dow Chemical for polyethylene resins from sugarcane-based ethanol. 

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