Synthetic polymer sector

Polymers play a significant part in humans existence. They have a role in every aspect of modem life, such as health care, food, information technology, transportation, energy industries, and so on. The speed of developments within the polymer sector is phenomenal and, at same time, cmcial to meet the demands of today s and future life. Specific applications for polymers range from adhesives, coatings, painting, foams and packaging to stmctural materials, composites, textiles, electronic and optical devices, biomaterials, and many other uses in industries and daily life. Polymers are the basis of natural and synthetic materials. They are macromolecules and, in nature, are the raw material for proteins and nucleic acids, which are essential for human bodies. 

During the past century, petrochemicals have become a vital part of industrial and economic activity around the world. Synthetic polymers are an important part of numerous industrial products, consumer goods, and healthcare applications. Materials such as polystyrene, polyester, and polyvinyl chloride are used in an enormous range of products across a wide variety of market sectors [5]. Textile production, food packaging, construction materials, and communication and entertainment technologies are all reliant on a plentiful supply of plastics. Petrochemicals have also been used extensively as food preservatives, vitamin supplements, refrigerants, antifreeze solutions, cosmetics, detergents, pharmaceuticals, and disinfectants. Chemicals derived from oil have enormous industrial, economic, and social importance. 

The polymers sector is the major user of petrochemical intermediates and consumes almost half the total output of organic chemicals which are produced. It covers plastics, synthetic fibres, rubbers, elastomers and adhesives, and it was the tremendous demand for these new materials with their special, and often novel, properties which brought about the explosive growth of the organic chemicals industry between 1950 and 1970. 

Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) is a thermoplastic polyester characterized by mechanical and optical properties similar to polystyrene (PS) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). It is obtained from natural sources, completely biodegradable and compostable in controlled conditions as already stated in previous chapters. PLA offers some key points with respect to classic synthetic polymers, since it is a bioresource and renewable, while raw materials are cheap and abundant compared to oil. From a commercial point of view, a non-secondaiy approach, it can embellish with the word green so fashioned for the major stream consumers. Legislation can also help the commercial diffusion of biopolymers. As an example, a decisive leap has been made with the control of non-biodegradable shopping bags distribution in the European Commission and many of its member states. In addition, PLA has received some interest from the industrial sectors because of its relatively low price and commercial availability compared with other bioplastics. This is the veiy key point for any successful polymer application. In fact, the current price of commercial PLA falls between 1.5 and 2 kg , which is sufficiently close to other polymers like polyolefins, polyesters or poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC). Clearly, the PLA market is still in its infancy, but it is expected that the decrease in the production costs and the improvement in product performance will result in a clear acceleration in the industrial interest for PLA uses. It is estimated that PLA consumption should reach... 

Polymers are an indispensable commodity within modern society that is found in all sectors of a consumer economy, such as materials, pharmaceuticals, and energy. Typically derived from nonrenewable petroleum sources, synthetic polymers account for 7% of the gas oil consumed [1]. As of 2013, total US demand for crude oil was approximately 1 bUhon metric tons per year [2], and as humankind enters the twenty-first century, the search for renewable energy and materials is at an all-time high. To solve this problem, efforts have been focused on utilizing available renewable feedstocks. 

Abstract Aromatic amines are widely used industrial chemicals as their major sources in the environment include several chemical industry sectors such as oil refining, synthetic polymers, dyes, adhesives, rubbers, perfume, pharmaceuticals, pesticides and explosives. They result also from diesel exhaust, combustion of wood chips and rubber and tobacco smoke. Some types of aromatic amines are generated... 

The overall aim of this book is to aid the adhesive selection process. It provides concise, relevant technical data and details of sources for a wide range of synthetic polymer-based adhesives used for structural bonding in many industry sectors. 

Commercially successful fully synthetic polymeric materials were produced in the early years of this century, the first example being Bakelite. This was made from phenol and formaldehyde by Leo Bakeland in 1909. Before the end of the 1920s, a large number of other synthetic polymers had been created, including polyvinyl chloride and urea-formaldehyde. Today, there are literally hundreds of synthetic polymers commercially available with ranges of properties making them suitable for applications in many industrial sectors, including the electrical and electronics industries. 

In the plastic and synthetic materials sector, in which useful fabricated articles are produced directly, for example, from polymers such as polyethylene, polypropylene, and poly( vinyl chloride), there is now major emphasis on the reuse of plastic instead of discarding it, particularly as packaging of various sorts, in trash for landfill. The major problems are not so much technical as they are ones of logistics and the development of a new kind of infrastructure to accommodate recycling. 

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