Review of Biopolymer LCA Studies

In summary, the LCA studies show that, assuming current technological and energy use practices, PLA exhibits comparable nonrenewable energy use and greenhouse gas emissions to PE and PET [27, 38]. The life cycle environmental impacts of petro-polymers are often taken from the European Association of Plastics Manufacturers (APME). The APME has an extensive database of LCl data for numerous polymers, including PE, PET, PP, and PS. 

Within previous studies, the Ufe cycle environmental impacts are evaluated only from the cradle to pellet. The LCA becomes much more complex with the multiple methods of production, products, uses, and finally the different 

H2O = water use, EQ = ecosystem quality (including acidification and soil health), LU = land use. PHA = polyhydroxyaUcanoate PLA = polylactic acid. 

The results of the PLA studies in Table 26.1 that estimate global warming and fossil fuel use show similar usage of 

The fermentation stage consumes 65% of the fossil fuel used during PLA production. However, the actual fermentation of starch is not responsible for the majority of the energy use since approximately 50% of the fossil fuel usage during fermentation is due to lactic acid distillation and separation steps and about 40% is attributable to electricity used during fermentation and filtration [27, 43, 46]. 

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