Discussion of Environmental Effects

LCAs on treatment of plastics waste basically calculate the resultant of two parts  

Total energy use for production virgin resin (feedstock -i- other)  

With this in mind, one can already say a lot about the maximum potential environmental bonuses per route  

Eor (1), MSWIs, the maximum bonus is limited by the calorific value of the plastics waste (about 40 MJ/kg). Eurthermore, the energy recovery is relatively low due to technical limitations in comparison to normal power plants. Normally, at best some 20% electrical energy is recovered (or some 50%-70% calculated as primary energy). 

In case (4), potentially the full 80-i- MJ/kg which encompasses feedstock and the fairly high energy requirement for producing plastics can be recovered. However, here various complications arise  

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Shrinkage, swelling, and evaporation. This is a short discussion of environmental effects that one needs to be aware of and account for in rheological data of in situ forming hydrogels and other polymeric materials. 

Even if the adhesive Joints are very strong initially, they are exposed to the environment and may suffer deterioration. For Instance, the simultaneous effect of moisture and stress can lead to failure. Apparently, silane coupling agents minimize this deterioration. For a detailed discussion of environmental effects and its mechanism see ref. Here again stabilization against oxidation is similar to that of bulk oxidation i.e. similar antioxidants have to be used provided they are of low volatility. 

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