Polymer renewable resources

Polysaccharides are macromolecules which make up a large part of the bulk of the vegetable kingdom. Cellulose and starch are, respectively, the first and second most abundant organic compounds in plants. The former is present in leaves and grasses the latter in fruits, stems, and roots. Because of their abundance in nature and because of contemporary interest in renewable resources, there is a great deal of interest in these compounds. Both cellulose and starch are hydrolyzed by acids to D-glucose, the repeat unit in both polymer chains. 

Polyesters are known to be produced by many bacteria as intracellular reserve materials for use as a food source during periods of environmental stress. They have received a great deal of attention since the 1970s because they are biodegradable, can be processed as plastic materials, are produced from renewable resources, and can be produced by many bacteria in a range of compositions. The thermoplastic polymers have properties that vary from soft elastomers to rigid brittie plastics in accordance with the stmcture of the pendent side-chain of the polyester. The general stmcture of this class of compounds is shown by (3), where R = CH3, n = >100, and m = 0-8. 

C. E. Carraher, Jr. and C. H. Sperling (eds.), Polymer Applications of Renewable Resource Materials, Plenum Press, New York and London (1981). 

Polyester chemistry is the same as studied by Carothers long ago, but polyester synthesis is still a very active field. New polymers have been very recently or will be soon commercially introduced PTT for fiber applications poly(ethylene naph-thalate) (PEN) for packaging and fiber applications and poly(lactic acid) (PLA), a biopolymer synthesized from renewable resources (corn syrup) introduced by Dow-Cargill for large-scale applications in textile industry and solid-state molding resins. Polyesters with unusual hyperbranched architecture also recently appeared and are claimed to find applications as crosstinkers, surfactants, or processing additives. 

Special mention must be made of poly(lactic acid), a biodegradable/bio-resorbable polyester, obtained from renewable resources through fermentation of com starch sugar. This polymer can compete with conventional thermoplastics such as PET for conventional textile fibers or engineering plastics applications. Hie first Dow-Cargill PLA manufacturing facility is scheduled to produce up to 140,000 tons of Nature Works PLA per year beginning in 200245 at an estimated price close to that of other thermoplastic resins U.S. l/kg.46 Other plants are planned to be built in the near future.45... 

Sei f-Tfst 19.4A (a) Write the formula for the monomer of the polymer sold as Teflon, — (CF2CF2),—. (b) The polymer of lactic acid (16) is a biodegradable polymer made from renewable resources. It is used in surgical sutures that dissolve in the body. Write the formula for a repeating unit of this polymer. 

Belgacem, M. N. Gandini, A. (Ed(s).). (2008). Monomers, polymers and composites from renewable resources, Elsevier, ISBN 978-0-08-045316-3, Oxford... 

Some of the potential uses of the fats and oils found in plants have been reviewed and some uses of carbohydrate-based polymers briefly discussed. Plants contain a whole variety of other chemicals including amino acids, terpenes, flavonoids, alkaloids, etc. When the potential for these naturally occurring materials are combined with the secondary products that can be obtained by fermentation or other microbial processes or by traditional chemical transformations, the array of chemicals that can readily be created from renewable resources is huge. In this section a few of the more interesting examples are considered. 

New natural polymers based on synthesis from renewable resources, improved recyclability based on retrosynthesis to reusable precursors, and molecular suicide switches to initiate biodegradation on demand are the exciting areas in polymer science. In the area of biomolecular materials, new materials for implants with improved durability and biocompatibility, light-harvesting materials based on biomimicry of photosynthetic systems, and biosensors for analysis and artificial enzymes for bioremediation will present the breakthrough opportunities. Finally, in the field of electronics and photonics, the new challenges are molecular switches, transistors, and other electronic components molecular photoad-dressable memory devices and ferroelectrics and ferromagnets based on nonmetals. 

J.J. Meister, Review of the Synthesis, Characterization, and Testing of Graft Copolymers of Lignin, p.305-322 of Renewable-Resource Materials New Polymer Sources, C.E. Carraher,... 

Hartmann, M.H. (1998). High molecular weight polylactic acid polymers. In Kaplan, D.L., editor. Biopolymers from Renewable Resources. Springer, Berlin. 

Poly(3HAMCL)s have also been produced from free fatty acid mixtures derived from industrial by-products which are potentially interesting low-cost renewable resources. Isolation and analysis of the polymer allowed the identification of 16 different saturated, mono-unsaturated and di-unsaturated monomers [46]. Except for the presence of diene-containing monomers and a large number of minor components, the composition of the fatty acid mixture derived PHA did not differ significantly from oleic acid derived PHAs. 

Most of the plastics and synthetic polymers that are used worldwide are produced from petrochemicals. Replacing petroleum-based feedstocks with materials derived from renewable resources is an attractive prospect for manufacturers of polymers and plastics, since the production of such polymers does not depend on the limited supply of fossil fuels [16]. Furthermore, synthetic materials are very persistent in the environment long after their intended use, and as a result their total volume in landfills is giving rise to serious waste management problems. In 1992,20% of the volume and 8% of the weight of landfills in the US were plastic materials, while the annual disposal of plastics both in the US and EC has risen to over 10 million tons [17]. Because of the biodegradability of PHAs, they would be mostly composted and as such would be very valuable in reducing the amount of plastic waste. 

This kind of plastic is usually made from petroleum, or oil (but polymers are beginning to be made from renewable resources like starch). 

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