18 TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COMPOSITE MATERIALS EVALUATING THE CARBON STORAGE POTENTIAL OF FURAN RESIN-BASED GREEN COMPOSITES T. Tumolva 1,2 , M. Kubouchi 1 *, S. Aoki 1 , T. Sakai 3 1 Department of Chemical Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan 2 Department of Chemical Engineering, University of the Philippines, Quezon City, Philippines 3 Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan * Corresponding author (mkubouch@chemeng.titech.ac.jp) Keywords : furan resin, abaca, natural fiber, green composite, carbon storage 1 Introduction guide and tool for the evaluation of carbon storage potential. However, analyses of this kind are mainly Awareness and understanding of the significant concerned on the overall CO 2 emission and not on impact to climate changes of anthropogenically the bio-based carbon content of the material. In this driven processes primarily run by fossil fuel study, it is attempted to develop a systematic combustion has grown over the last few years. This, approach to evaluating the carbon storage potential in turn, has fuelled various research investigations of green composites, using thermoset-based NFRP on options to mitigate likely impacts. Approaches composites as subjects. involving the capture of carbon dioxide and its Furan resin (polyfurfuryl alcohol) is a biosynthetic storage in geological formations, or in marine thermoset derived from vegetable byproducts such waters, paved the way to various proposed man- as corn cobs. Compared to other common resins, this made solutions. Ecological concerns and global highly stable polymer offers a very significant warming have initiated a considerable interest in improvement in the carbon storage potential of green using natural or renewable materials to produce composites when used as a matrix. In this paper, the “green” products and reduce anthropogenic carbon mechanical and environmental aspects of furan- dioxide emissions. Among the identified mitigating based natural fiber-reinforced plastic composites schemes, natural fibers have excellent potential in (NFRP) are measured quantitatively and evaluated not only lowering CO 2 emission levels but also in in comparison to those of an equivalent thermoset- conserving non-renewable resources- by replacing based NFRP, using orthophthalic-type unsaturated glass fibers in fiber reinforced plastics (FRP’s) [1]. polyester (ortho-UP) as representative petroleum- At present, there is already a great abundance of derived synthetic thermoset. The carbon storage research on natural fiber reinforced polymeric potential comparison is performed to quantitatively (NFRP) composites- mostly on the evaluation and determine the possibility of the more eco-friendly improvement of mechanical performance when furan as a feasible replacement to the more using non-biodegradable composite matrices such as conventionally used ortho-UP in various long-term thermosetting resins. However, limited data is applications. available to gauge the environmental advantages of these materials- in particular, the carbon storage potential with the use of renewable bio-based 2 Carbon Balance materials. Several reports on life cycle analysis (LCA) applied to natural fiber-reinforced composites Aside from the use of renewable materials, one advantage of using furan resin as NFRP matrix is the have been published- mostly aimed to compare the additional CO 2 fixation by the polymer itself. As a environmental impact of natural fibers with that of biosynthetic thermoset, it is strongly believed that glass fibers in the form of carbon dioxide emission furan resin has the capacity to store carbon from and total energy consumption [1-3]. Since carbon biomass produced by the utilization of atmospheric dioxide fixation capacity is the key environmental parameter evaluated in this study, certain LCA CO 2 by plants during photosynthesis. However, as principles are applied on the material to serve as a with any industrial process, the manufacture of this
material entails the use of energy, which translates to the comparative evaluation of NFRPs using different CO 2 emission that could easily offset the types of resins. The evaluation is necessary for effectiveness of furan to sequester CO 2 as stored bio- thermoset-based NFRPs since most investigations on based carbon. Therefore, it is also crucial to identify green composite aim to promote biodegradation- i.e., the different pertinent flow streams of carbon and carbon storage potential analysis is rarely done, and the energy consumption throughout the entire these very few and fairly recent investigations production process of furan resin. primarily focus on the production stage and with In the evaluation of carbon storage potential of green little consideration for the material’s lifetime. composites, the primary objective is to quantify the extent of carbon fixation by the material in bio- based form (e.g., as laminated natural fibers) by also 3 Experimental considering the amount of CO 2 released during the Furan resin was supplied by Hitachi Chemicals Co., material’s production stage- mainly from the Ltd. and cured using 1 wt% alkylbenzenesulfonic consumption of fossil fuels for energy supply. In acid solution. For the basis of comparison, ortho-UP terms of equivalent carbon content, there are (Rigolac U1557) was cured using methyl ethyl essentially two direct methods of evaluating carbon ketone peroxide from NOF Corporation as hardener storage potential that can be adopted: and cobalt naphthenate from Wako Pure Chemicals 1. The first method for defining carbon storage Industries as accelerator at a mixing ratio of potential is by calculating for the net bio-based 100:1:0.5 by weight, respectively. carbon content or E ( NB ) of the material [4]. By For the reinforcement, long, continuous fibers of abaca or Manila hemp ( Musa textilis ) were used. definition, the net bio-based carbon content Raw abaca fiber bundles were obtained from a local refers to the difference between the renewable, handicrafts vendor in Manila, Philippines. The fibers bio-based carbon content and the non- were cut into 20 cm lengths, washed and chemically renewable, fossil-based carbon content of the treated prior to lamination. The curing procedure for material, including the carbon-intensive energy consumption. the furan was adopted from a previous report [5], while ortho-UP was cured in a hot press at 50 ° C and 2. Because this energy is produced by fuel 10 MPa for 2 hours. The unidirectional (UD) fiber combustion, its generation has an equivalent sheets were laminated by hand layup method at amount of CO 2 emission. This energy-equivalent different fiber weight fractions. The resulting NFRP CO 2 may be classified as either fossil-based or specimens were cut and subjected to mechanical bio-based, depending on the nature of the fuel strength test according to ASTM methods. burned. This energy-CO 2 equivalence allows for For the evaluation of CO 2 fixation, some the quantification of carbon storage potential. assumptions were made to facilitate the audit of Net bio-based carbon content is a more direct pertinent carbon flow streams and energy representation since it expresses stored carbon in consumption rates. Finally, thermogravimetry were terms of carbon weight fraction within the material, performed on both furan and ortho-UP using while the energy-equivalent carbon in terms of CO 2 Shimadzu Simultaneous TGA/DTA Analyzer DTG- is viewed in the same manner depending on whether 60H to evaluate long-term carbon storage potential. fossil fuels or bio-fuels are consumed during production. On the other hand, expressing carbon storage potential in terms of amount and reduction 4 Results and Discussion of fossil-based CO 2 emission allows for a more 4.1 Net bio-based carbon content convenient assessment of carbon fixation through A schematic diagram of the major steps involved in comparison with emission data from pre-existing LCA studies. For this paper, both methods for furan resin production is presented in Figure 1. For expressing carbons storage potential are used- the the production of furfural, the steam consumption is first is used in the carbon audit around the based on the patented Skogh-Savo process [6]. The manufacturing process, while the second one is for basis of the mass and energy balance calculations for
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