Environmental Impact of Polymers E-Book

Rémi Deterre

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 569

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

This text addresses the common negative perception of polymer materials on the environment with a thorough analysis of what really occurs when industry and academia collaborate to find environmental solutions. The book examines the environmental and social effects of polymer materials and explains methods of quantifying environmental performance. With an emphasis on the importance of education, the authors stress the importance of awareness and activity in negating polymers' environmental impact.

Leseprobe

Contents

Preface

Introduction: The Societal Impact of Polymers and Plastic Materials: Solutions and Perspectives

I.1. Polymers, an ever young science in step with the economy and employment

I.2. The polymer industry: its role in the economy and the workforce

I.3. Polymeric materials to assist society in addressing the big problems facing the planet: water and energy

I.4. Polymers in daily life

I.5. What does the future hold?

I.6. Eco-design: toward an eco-innovation

I.7. The need for a multidisciplinary education for eco-design. What is the role of the course and of the teacher?

I.8. Bibliography

1 Some Notes on Two Controversies around Plastic Materials and their Media Coverage

1.1. Introduction

1.2. Socio-political aspects of the two controversies in the scientific literature

1.3. Plastics in the French media: a small sample

1.4. Conclusion

1.5. Appendix: equations of research to identify the “plastic” corpus

1.6. Bibliography

2 Plastic Waste and the Environment

2.1. Introduction: waste and the environment

2.2. The end of life of plastic parts

2.3. Conclusion

2.4. Bibliography

3 Polymers and Marine Litter

3.1. Introduction

3.2. The cycle of litter at sea

3.3. The degradation of litter at sea

3.4. The effect of marine litter on the environment

3.5. Socio-economic aspects

3.6. Conclusion

3.7. Acknowledgment

3.8. Bibliography

4 Between Prejudice and Realities: How Plastics Are Essential for the Future

4.1. From a gloomy picture to a solution for the future

4.2. Engineering polymers: what is wonderful, what is reassuring?

4.3. Plastic industries: progress to be made

4.4. Conclusion

4.5. Bibliography

5 Lifecycle Assessment and Green Chemistry: A Look at Innovative Tools for Sustainable Development

5.1. Contextual element

5.2. Lifecycle assessment, as an eco-design tool: definitions and concepts

5.3. Green chemistry and eco-design

5.4. Limitations of the tool

5.5. Conclusions: the future of eco-design

5.6. Bibliography

6 Are Bioplastics “Green” Plastics?

6.1. Introduction

6.2. Bioplastics and LCA – some basic points

6.3. Bioplastics in light of the 12 commandments of green chemistry

6.4. Conclusion

6.5. Bibliography

7 Environmental Characterization of Materials for Product Design

7.1. Introduction

7.2. Environmental characterization for a drink container

7.3. Suggested indicators for the materials considered in this example

7.4. Conclusion

7.5. Bibliography

8 Choice of Materials and Environmental Impact: Case of a Water Bottle

8.1. Introduction

8.2. Functional analysis

8.3. Choice of materials

8.4. Suitability for processing

8.5. Integration of an environmental criterion

8.6. Conclusion

8.7. Appendix: modeling of cost index [ESA 03]

8.8. Bibliography

9 Formulation and Development of Biodegradable and Bio-based Multiphase Materials: Plasticized Starch-based Materials

9.1. Introduction

9.2. Biodegradable polymers

9.3. Plasticized starch

9.4. Biodegradable multiphase systems based on plasticized starch

9.5. Acknowledgments

9.6. Bibliography

10 Different Strategies for Ecoplastics Development

10.1. Introduction

10.2. General points about the lifecycle of plastics

10.3. Energy

10.4. Material

10.5. The solution of ecoplastics

10.6. Scenario with compostable ecoplastic

10.7. Scenario with a recyclable ecoplastic

10.8. Conclusion

10.9. Acknowledgments

10.10. Bibliography

11 Thoughts about Plastic Recycling. Presentation of a Concrete Example: End-of-Life Polypropylene

11.1. Why do we use plastics?

11.2. What are the regulations governing the “end of life” of plastics?

11.3. Armed with these observations, how did we proceed?

11.4. Conclusion

12 Recyclable and Bio-based Materials Open Up New Prospects for Polymers: Scientific and Social Aspects

12.1. Introduction

12.2. Resources

12.3. Social acceptability of recycled and bio-based polymers

12.4. Formulation examples of blends based on recycled PA and bio-based PA and their toxicological considerations

12.5. Conclusion

12.6. Bibliography

13 Food Packaging: New Directions for the Control of Additive and Residue Migration

13.1. Introduction

13.2. Migration of packaging components

13.3. Assessing and controlling migration

13.4. Predicting and controlling migration at the molecular level

13.5. Conclusion

13.6. Bibliography

14 Biodegradability and/or Compostability?

14.1. Biodegradation

14.2. Composting

14.3. Ten questions about biodegradability and compostability

14.4. Conclusion

14.5. Bibliography

15 The Regulation by Law of Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies

15.1. Introduction

15.2. Obstacles in the legal regulation of nanomaterials

15.3. The legal regulation of nanomaterials

15.4. Conclusion

15.5. Bibliography

16 Teaching Sustainable Development

16.1. Introduction

16.2. The foundations of teaching sustainable development

16.3. Conclusion

List of Author

Index

First published 2014 in Great Britain and the United States by ISTE Ltd and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licenses issued by the CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned address:

ISTE Ltd 27-37 St George’s Road London SW19 4EU UK

www.iste.co.uk

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street Hoboken, NJ 07030 USA

www.wiley.com

© ISTE Ltd 2014

The rights of Thierry Hamaide, Rémi Deterre and Jean-François Feller to be identified as the authors of this work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014941853

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978-1-84821-621-1

Preface

Better known by its acronym GFP, the French group for the study and applications of polymers (www.gfp.asso.fr) is a non-profit organization established in November 1970. Its mission, recognized as a public utility in 1990, is to promote the development of polymers, not only in universities and research centers but also in industry.

The GFP Commission focuses on promoting all aspects of the teaching of “polymer science”, both in France and abroad. A significant part of its activity is devoted to the periodic organization of educational internships for teachers willing to update their knowledge in all the areas specific to polymers. Following each of these courses a textbook is published, which is available to all members of the GFP. The list of available titles can be found on the Website of the GFP (www.gfp.asso.fr).

The Education Commission therefore organized several meetings between teachers, researchers and industrialists on the theme of Polymers and the environment: the impact of polymers on society and the eco-design of plastic materials. What solutions can be proposed for the societal impacts of polymeric materials?

The main objective of these meetings was to go beyond the traditional analysis of the lifecycle of polymers and to provide for everyone willing to acquire the basic concepts of the environmental, and therefore societal, impacts of polymers and the means to reduce their effects, in order to update their knowledge and to be able to integrate it optimally into their lecturing. They wanted to share the solutions already in existence and implemented by industry and the prospects for the short and medium term. This book collates several contributions originating during these periods. It provides solutions already in existence, as well as predictable or desirable developments. It concludes with reflections upon the role of education and training in order to ensure and guide the future.

Thierry HAMAIDE President of the Education Commission of the GFP June 2014

Introduction: The Societal Impact of Polymers and Plastic Materials: Solutions and Perspectives

I.1. Polymers, an ever young science in step with the economy and employment

Whatever their origin, natural or synthetic, polymers involve chemistry and/or process engineering at one time or another in their lifecycle. Chemistry and process engineering are fundamental sciences for sustainable development; they are fundamental disciplines for understanding the world around us, at all scales, and for mastering its transformations. They are able to strongly interact with other disciplines – physics, biology, mathematics. Moreover, they are in a huge number of fields of application in our daily life: energy, materials, information and the living world.

If organic chemistry is essential to describe the majority of molecules around us, it is analytical chemistry that helps us identify them and catalysis is at the heart of transformation of materials and of energy savings; inorganic chemistry is strongly involved in the issues of production and energy storage. Process engineering – which includes different levels of physical chemistry – is essential for the feasibility, economics and environmental performance of production.

Finally, the interaction of humans with chemistry encourages a better understanding of our reading of the world, our opinions, beliefs, historical creations, representations and evolution.

This crossroads of science, economics and human values constitutes precisely the zone of overlap which is described by the term sustainable development. The evolution of how people view polymers, more commonly called plastics, is exemplary in many respects [BER 95] and illustrates this concept.

Polymers are used in more than 90% of materials, and their cohesion and properties depend closely on the chemical structure and the organization of chains which can be governed by the methods of production. Thus, polymer science consists essentially of three scientific disciplines, which are chemistry, physics and mechanics. Chemistry is involved in the transformation of raw materials and also in the production processes, which becomes possible due to chemical engineering [FON 08, FON 10, MER 96, ODI 04, ETI 12]. Physics leads to the development of analytical tools that make available the characterization of these macromolecules of different sizes, unveiling their organization. Finally, because of mechanics, properties of application of polymeric materials can be explored [OUD 94, FON 08, FON 10].

Polymer science is a relative young science, and the concept of macromolecules for understanding the properties of polymeric materials was introduced by H. Staudinger in 1919 and developed in the 1920s, in particular on cellulosic materials. The industry had certainly previously produced vulcanized rubber, a process invented by Goodyear in 1839, celluloid in 1865 with the Hayatt brothers, bakelite in 1910 developed by Baekeland, but the true nature of the chemical species was at that time not yet revealed. From 1930, a better understanding of the macromolecular structure led to the fast development of different chemical families: low-density polyethylene by radical polymerization synthesized in 1933, and the works of Carothers on polycondensation led to polyamides in 1938.

The period following the Second World War saw the emergence, with an accelerated speed, of new polymerization methods: in 1953–1954, polymerization catalysis by coordination was developed by K. Ziegler and G. Natta (Nobel Prize, 1963), which led to for high-density polyethylene (PEHD) and polypropylene (PP). Anionic polymerization and the concept of living polymerization proposed by M. Szwarc in 1956 led to the design of blocks copolymers and the first macromolecular architectures. We then saw the emergence of catalysis by metallocene in 1980 by W. Kaminski. Radical polymerization controlled by M. Sawamoto and K. Matyjaszewski in 1994 combined the benefits of radical and ionic polymerization without the drawbacks of the former.

Meanwhile, analytical physical chemistry made progress at the same speed. Significant evolution in chromatographic methods and the study of interactions between matter and radiation helped in analysis with higher precision of the polymer microstructure, and to revisit the intimate mechanisms of polymerization [TAN 00].

As in all areas, fundamental discoveries have often been generated by industrial developments which tackle global problems of the planet such as energy and water resources as well as those experienced at the level of individuals in everyday life such as health and hygiene, nutrition, comfort, communication, recreation and so on, and therefore we can claim that society has entered the “age of polymers”, which is explained in the first section of introduction.