Greening the Life Cycle of Polylactide

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This project has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° [309802].

Greening the Life Cycle of Polylactide:

Why we need transparency in LCA

Olivier Talon, Björn BergmannLille, 05/11/2014

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Polylactide (PLA)

Major producer

NatureWorks (US), Ingeo made from corn.

Biobased plastic

Made from corn starch, cane sugar, beet sugar… or anyfermentable sugar.

cornproduction

starchextraction

lactic acidfermentation /

purification

lactideoligomerization /

cyclization

PLARing Opening Polymerization

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InnoREX in one picture« Continuous, highly precise production of PLA using alternative

energies and metal-free catalysts for reactive extrusion »

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InnoREX consortium

For more information about InnoREX:www.innorex.eu

[email protected]

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InnoREX project: From a Life Cycle point of view

crop(corn)

sugar

lactic acid

use

chemicalrecycling other EOL

PLA Life Cycle

InnoREX focus

lactide PLA synthesis

pelletization

shaping

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Expected environmental benefitsHighly targeted energy use

By-pass of pelletization step

Alternative catalysts

energy for synthesis diminution of energy-related impacts (climate change, …)

energy saving diminution of energy-related impacts (climate change, …)

toxicity diminution of toxicity-related impacts for production and use steps, possible

indirect impact on end-of-life

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LCA, a tool for answering 2 questions

How much could we lower the impact?

How much do we lower the impact?

LCA should help us quantifying the contribution of the steps we work on to the overall impact of the Life Cycle of PLA

1st step: Focus on cradle-to-gate inventory for

PLA pellets

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What we expect LCI data to be…

corn production wet

millinglacticacid

production

lactideproduction

PLAproduction

- Modular- Disaggregated

- Transparent

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…so that we can:

corn production wet

millinglacticacid

production

lactideproduction

InnoREXPLA

production

- Identify hotspots and major contributors

- Replace process steps in new models

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What LCI data are…NatureWorks eco-profile

1 kg PLAEcoinvent 3 dataset

1 kg PLA

- slightly less aggregated- 1,507 kg corn

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It looks like data are not always as

modular, disaggregated and transparent as we

expect

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Transparency: the keyword of LCA?« Transparency is the quality of being done

in an open way without secrets »Cambridge online dictionary

« Transparency: open, comprehensive and understandable presentation of information »

ISO 14040 & 14044 standard

The word transparency appears 7/8 times in the text of the standards…

… but NOT in the « inventory » section

So… the way data are used has to be transparent…

… but opacity can be admitted for the way data are obtained???

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Who guarantees the reliability of the data we use?

Trust in my data…

Only trust does, because lack of transparency prevents

us from checking them

Feedback on databases for continuous improvement is encouraged (and mostlyefficient)… but opacity makes it uneasy and time-consuming for practitioners.

Third part review may confirm that data were generated following best practices, but are « best practices » enough strictly defined?

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Let’s say we trust.

How can we go on further with our

study?

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Home-made disaggregation based on published studies and

inventories?

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Almost impossible…(and highly time-consuming)

NatureWorks eco-profile1 kg PLA

EI3 dataset1 kg PLA

Different goals and scopes…

Different (and not really transparent) modelling hypotheses…

Different mass balances !!!

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Different mass balances???The strange case of Dr. Corn and Mr. PLA

How much corn is needed to produce 1 kg PLA?

1,5 kgecoinvent

1,7 kgNatureWorks LCA

2,95 kgNatureWorks other

2,2 kgNatureWorks

other

at lea

st 1,9

kgoth

er so

urce

most likely about

2,5 kgmy guess by

crossing sources

2,5

kg

2 kg

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And yet, corn in itself is a major contributor to the

impact of the Life Cycle of PLA…

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EI3 PLA impacts: corn contribution

calculation with ILCD2011 Midpoint+ v1.04

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But how to correct this in EI3 dataset?

Change corn input?Modify all other inputs and

emissions accordingly?Results would obviously not be the

same…

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PLA vs. modified PLAs

calculation with ILCD2011 Midpoint+ v1.04

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The next PLA eco-profile: A new hope?

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The case of PLA may not be representative of all data…

… but it is for sure not isolated.

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The strange case of Dr. Styrene and Mr. PS

Is polymerization the answer to global warming?

datasets from EI3, calculation with ILCD2011 Midpoint+ v1.04

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Seems nonsensical…To say the least, these datasets are not

compatible…

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What could possibly go wrong with opacity,

anyway?

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Case study: substitution of PET by PLA for bottle application.

Evaluation with a LCA webtool.

data

results

interpretation

decision

model

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But… what are these data?

Non transparent (and obviously not compatible) datasets used in the same database...

data

results

interpretation

decision

model

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The quest for transparency: an ancient history…

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What could be done?

1. Rethink the definition of transparency in the standards2. Put some of it in the « inventory » section of the standards3. Define more strictly the methodology for data generation…

4. …thus ensuring compatibility of datasets and interoperability of databases

LCA should become a science. Verifiability and refutability should be guaranteed by

enhanced transparency.

A compromise between transparency and confidentiality shallbe reached to preserve intellectual property.

But confidentiality cannot always win.

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Who could benefit from more transparency?

Industrialdata

provider

Database provider

User of LCA

results

LCApractitioner

- less risk of greenwashing accusation

- less risk of misuse of data by others

- more reliable input data from suppliers

- less time wasted- better models

- sounder interpretations

- better trust in the results- wiser decisions

- more reliable DB- better compatibility of

datasets- better modularity

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Thanks for your attention

contact:

[email protected]

InnoREX coordinator:

[email protected]

Greening the Life Cycle of Polylactide

Environment

Transcript of Greening the Life Cycle of Polylactide