Polyethylene life cycle assessment

Functionalization, silicone network preparation via, 22 568 Functionalized initiators, 14 255 Functional methacrylates, 16 240-242 Functional monomers methacrylate, 16 241-242 polymer colloid, 20 379-380 Functional perfume products, 18 354 Functional polyethylene waxes, 26 220 Functional properties, of wax, 26 215 Functional unit, in life cycle assessment, 14 809... 

FIGURE 2.10 Downgauging of polyethylene film in plastie garbage bag applications. Source Exxon Mobil Corporation. Life Cycle Assessment of Metallocene Polyethylene in Heavy Duty Sacks. ExxonMobil Chemieal Company May 2011. 

Acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene Brominated flame retardant(s) Dioctylphthalate Erucamide Ethylene glycol European Union Flame retardant(s) High-density polyethylene High-impact polystyrene Life cycle assessment Low-density polyethylene Melt flow index Municipal solid waste Molecular weight Oleamide Polyamide(s)... 

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). 

An analysis of the flows of energy involved in the production of any product is only one aspect of life cycle assessment. often one may wish to calculate the emissions and energy burdens associated with a specific product, e.g., the production of low density polyethylene resins, so that the potential and actual environmental and health effects associated with the use of the necessary resources and environmemental releases can be calculated. However, the focus of this article is the determination of the total, (both direct and indirect), energy required for the production of the product of interest, (energy flow analysis). 

It is sometimes assumed in that polymers from renewable resources are by definition environmentally friendly , or in modern parlance, sustainable . One definition of sustainable suggests that the development of new products for the benefit of society should not have an unacceptable effect on resource depletion and environmental pollution. However, unacceptable is a relative term and invites comparison of one material with another by life-cycle assessment (LCA). Companies engaged in the development of degradable polymers from renewable resources have initiated life-cycle assessment comparisons of their products with the commodity synthetic polymers, notably polyethylene. It has not so far been shown unambiguously that bio-based polymers are more environmentally sustainable than the present range of commodity polymers . This results from the same reason that led to concern in the 1980s namely lack of consistency and uniformity of the assumptions made. In some cases they actually contradict one another. 

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