RECENT TRENDS IN BIOPLASTICS

Recycling is the groundwork of worldwide efforts to diminish the number of plastics in waste. Mostly around 7.8–8.2 million tons of poorly-used plastics enter the oceans every year. Non-biodegradable plastics settlements in landfills are uncertain, which hinders the production of land resources.

Non-biodegradable plastic solid wastes, carbon dioxide, greenhouse gases, various air pollutants, cancerous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and dioxins, are released to the environment cause severe damage and harmfulness to the inhabitants. Due to the bio-degradability and renewability of biopolymers, petroleum-based plastics can be replaced with bio-based polymers in order to minimize the environmental risks [1].

Figure 1. The Schematic diagram of Bio-recycling [1].

In recent years, S. Thakur et al., have been discussed bio degradability of polymers, and the mechanisms of bio-recycling have been particularly emphasized in that the review article (Figure 1) [1].

Bioplastics constitute an emerging and innovative industrial segment, characterized by new synergies and collaborations among the chemical, biotechnological, agricultural, and consumer sectors [2].

The concerns about the accumulating plastic waste pollution have stimulated the rapid development of bioplastics, in particular biodegradable bioplastics derived from renewable resources.

Driven by a low carbon circular economy, bioplastics production is estimated to reach a 40% share of the plastics market by 2030 (Bioplastics Market Data, 2018). It is expected to substitute petrochemical-based plastics in many applications, from food packaging, pharmaceuticals, electronics, and agriculture to textiles.

The current biodegradable bioplastics have met challenges in competing with engineering polymers such as PET and Nylon in terms of processing capacity at the industry scale, mechanical robustness, thermal resistance, and stability.

Figure 2. The four general types of plastics grouped by materials of renewable (top) and fossil (bottom) origin, not biodegradable (left) and biodegradable (right) polymers, respectively [3].

Bioplastics encompass both bio-based materials synthesized from biomass and bio-degradable plastics which break down into organic matter and gases, mostly CO₂, by the action of naturally occurring microorganisms including algae, fungi, and bacteria. The latter may be of fossil or renewable origin. Plastics can thus be categorized into four groups given their biodegradability and raw materials (Figure 2) [3].

Examples of well-known non-biodegradable and biodegradable oil-based plastics include polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) in the first group (non-biodeg.), and poly(e-caprolactone) (PCL), poly(butylenes succinate/adipate) (PBS/A), and poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBA/T) in the second family, respectively [4].

On the other hand, not all bio-based plastics are necessarily biodegradable: in contrast to cellulose, cellulose acetate does not decompose in the environment. Linkwise, bio-PET from bio-based ethylene glycol, whose content of renewable C is approximately 30%, is not a bioderadable polymer.

Figure 3. The trend in the global production of bioplastics [5].

European Bioplastics has estimated that the global bioplastics production capacity is set to increase from ca. 2.05 million tonnes in 2017 to approximately 2.44 million tonnes in 2022, with fully bio-based and biodegradable biopolymers such as PLA (polylactic acid) and PHAs (polyhydroxyalkanoates) as the main drivers of this growth (Figure 3) [5].

The manufacture of bio-based PE is predicted to continue growing in the coming years, while that of bio-based PET will not at the expense of a new 100% bio-based substitute such as bio-PEF (polyethylene furanoate), with improved barrier and thermal properties for the packaging of drinks, food, and non-food products.

References

[1]. S. Thakur, J. Chaudhary, B. Sharma, A. Verma, S. Tamulevicius, V. K. Thakur, Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry, 13, 2018, 68-75.

[2]. A. U. B. Queiroz, F. P. Collares-Queiroz, Journal of Macromolecular Science R, Part C: Polymer Reviews, 49:65–78, 2009.

[3]. OECD, 2013, Policies for Bioplastics in the Context of a Bioeconomy, http://search.oecd.org/officialdocuments/publicdisplaydocumentpdf/?cote=DSTI/STP/BIO(2013)6/FINAL&doc-Language=En, last access February 11th, 2019.

[4]. C. Xu, M. Nasrollahzadeh, M. Selva, Z. Issaabadi, R. Luque, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2019, 48, 4791.

[5].https://www.european-bioplastics.org/global-market-forbioplastics-to-grow-by-20-percent/, last access February 11th, 2019.

Blog Written By

Dr. A. S. Ganeshraja

National College

Thiruchirappalli, Tamilnadu, India

Blog Editors

Dr. S. Chandrasekar

Dr. K. Rajkumar

Comments

PROSPECTS ON PHOTOBIOREFINERY

Very recently, Prof. Dr. K. Faungnawakij and his research group have summarized a mini review report on an emerging renewable technique of Photobiorefinery . This is one of the beyond technique of Artificial Photosynthesis (AP) [1] . Despite great promises, AP technologies for solar H2 production and CO2 reduction are far uncompetitive to other promising technologies at the current stage . However, despite an enormous effort, time, and budget paid on AP-related researches throughout several decades, AP technologies have struggled to strive beyond laboratory demonstration except a very few exceptions [2] . This bitter reality makes the translation of this excellent science to practical application questionable [3] . Technoeconomic analysis shows that without achieving the aggressive technology targets, this technology will not be commercially viable. This has directed the research community towards the development of highly efficient yet expensive devices. While tremendous p...

Impact on Climate and Land Use Changes Around Ganga River

In India, Ganga is the largest river and also famous spiritual river, in meantime pollution issue in Ganga river is considered to be one of the most discussed topics on river water quality in the past decades . The river gets s everely polluted with untreated industrial and human wastes, and the river crossed around 11 states in India and provides water for about 40% of India's population, approximately 500 million people, we couldn’t find more than any other river in the world [ 1, 2 ]. Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has mentioned that 764 grossly polluting industries were discharging into the Ganga river, 487 industries are from the Kanpur region. Therefore, the Kanpur region was treated as the main polluted spot and immediate action should be taken for further recovery of water quality. The Kanpur region is one of the most important industrialized place in India. It is the most polluted stretch of the Ganga River, because of its excessive pollutant discharge from the i...

Electric Vehicle: Public Health and Climate Benefits

A research team led by Daniel Peters at Northwestern University has investigated that if we introducing electrifying vehicles in the streets of the United States could annually prevent hundreds-to-thousands of premature accidental deaths.This work highlights the potential of a synergistic solution to reduce CO 2 emissions by hundreds to millions of tons annually. The estimate of economic damages induced by introducing electrifying vehicles (EV) adoption is substantial. With current infrastructure, about 25% of electrifying vehicles adoption in the US can save approximately $16.8 billion annually, has been told in the study entitled"Public Health and Climate Benefits and Trade offs of U.S. Vehicle Electrification," in GeoHealth on 13 th August 2020 [1] . Vehicle electrification in the United States could prevent hundreds to thousands of premature deaths annually while reducing carbon emissions by hundreds of millions of tons. This highlights the potential of co-beneficial...

AN ACT OF FACE MASK MATERIAL USED TO PROTECT US FROM SARS-COV-2

“ In the absence of a vaccine, or effective antiviral, one of our only remaining strategies for controlling COVID-19 is to physically block the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the community ” On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global pandemic [1] . In the absence of a vaccine, or effective antiviral, one of our only remaining strategies for controlling COVID-19 is to physically block the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the community. Given that COVID-19 is a respiratory illness, the most effective physical defense likely involves widespread public use of face coverings, in conjunction with other control measures [ 2 ] . Face coverings (also variously referred to as face masks, nonmedical masks, community masks or barrier masks ) function primarily in source control; capturing droplets expelled by an infected individual [3] . Figure 1. DIY masks to protect against from viruses sounds like a crazy idea. source click here In the absence of an...

RENEWABLE ENERGY'S ROLE IN ENVIRONMENTAL CLEEN-UP PROCESS

Human activity is overloading our atmosphere with carbon dioxide and other global warming emissions. These gases act like a blanket, trapping heat. The result is a web of significant and harmful impacts, from stronger, more frequent storms, to drought, sea level rise, and extinction. Most of global warming emissions come from our electricity sector. Most of those emissions come from fossil fuels like coal and natural gas . Sulfur dioxide (SO2) , which cause acid rain, comes from electricity generation. Nitrogen oxides (NOx) , which react with sunlight to create ground level ozone and smog, come from electricity generation. Ozone (O3) occurs naturally in the upper atmosphere where it is beneficial. Particulate matter is a type of air pollution more commonly referred to as soot. Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is a greenhouse gas that contributes to global climate change. Mercury is a highly toxic metal that is released from coal-fired power plants. In contra...

Scientific Research Focus on “To End Hunger”

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO UN), Hunger Report, Ending hunger is a major objective of the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), hunger is the term used to define periods when populations are experiencing severe food insecurity - means that they go for entire days without eating due to lack of money, lack of access to food, or other resources [ 1 ]. Hunger is strongly interconnected with poverty, and it involves interactions among an array of social, political, demographic, and societal factors. An attention is must in the following topics to put an end card for poor hunger: Global Hunger Index (GHI). World Food Program’s 2020. Global Report on Food Crises. Smallholder-farming. Ceres2030. The two main international institutions are the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) , joined forces to estimate what it would cost to ...

Novel Approach of Plastic Waste to Flash Graphene

Prof. Algozeeb and his research collaboration team have investigated an novel approach of upcycling plastic waste (PW) products to flash graphene (FG). This method relies on Flash Joule Heating (FJH) to convert PW into FG. A sequential direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC) flash is used in order to make a high-quality graphene. In this FJH process, they established without catalyst and works for PW mixtures that can make the process suitable for handling landfill PW. In 21 st century, PW pollution is considerable one among the various environmental issues. A very large fraction of PW ends up in the ocean, which leads to the formation of micro- and nanoplastics that threaten marine life, micro-organisms, useful bacteria, and humans. From the intense carbon footprint process, most of these synthesized plastics are used only once before dumping into landfills or water ways that terminate in the oceans. Hence, upcycling PW to higher value materials and chemicals is econ...

Electromagnetic Field: Non-Chemical Water Treatment Technology

An interesting review report on “A critical review of the application of electromagnetic fields for scaling control in water systems: mechanisms, characterization, and operation” was reported by Lu Lin, Wenbin Jiang, Xuesong Xu and Pei Xu published in Nature Partner Journals Clean Water published on June 2020 [1] . Water is the precious matter in the world. source U.S. General Services Administration has interested on non-chemical water treatment technologies. It has mentioned following important points: n on-chemical technology promises to increase the period between required blow-down cycles, thus reducing water consumption , minimizes associated issues of chemical storage, handling, and disposal, and may permit on-site re-use of cooling-tower “blow-down” water as “grey water” , it promises to be life cycle cost effective based solely on the reduction in chemical costs , this technology may reduce or eliminate chemical costs, it may not reduce other contractor costs ...

Electro-Organic Synthesis: Next Emerging Technique

Industrial developments, excessive energy consumption, sustainable technologies, environmental cleaning processes are major topics of political and social discourse. Current innovations are rated not only focusing on their benefit and utility but also concerning their eco-friendly approaches. The development of green technological processes is becoming more important and requires harmless energy sources. Particularly over the past decade, the severe limitations of fossil resources intensify the movement towards sustainable synthesis techniques with a strict cutback in the ecological footprint [ 1 ]. Electro-organic synthesis belongs to the synthetic organic chemistry discipline that facilities the direct use of electricity to generate valuable compounds. Hence, it is possible to transfer green aspects of sustainable energy sources to the whole production process [ 2 ]. Since the Kolbe’s discoveries of using electricity as a reagent for organic transformations over 170 years ago, ...

Innovations of Integrated Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the study of methods to imitate intelligent human behavior. AI is widely heralded as an ongoing “revolution” transforming science and society altogether [ 1 , 2 ]. While approaches to AI such as machine learning, deep learning and artificial neural networks are reshaping data processing and analysis [ 3 ], healthcare, transportation and the production chain [ 4 ]. Figure 1. Integrated concept of artificial intelligence. AI Ethics Guidelines National and international organizations (European Commission, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), UK House of Lords, Singapore Commission) have responded to these concerns by developing ad hoc expert committees on AI, often mandated to draft policy documents in various countries. In 2018 alone, companies such as Google and SAP publicly released AI guidelines and principles. The advisory council on the ethical use of AI scientific team have announced that results reveal a global co...

Search This Blog