Life Cycle Management in bioplastics production Francesco Degli Innocenti 1 , Francesco Razza 1 , Maurizio Fieschi 2 , Catia Bastioli 1 1 Novamont S.p.A. Italy 2 Studio Fieschi, Italy 1
Why bioplastics? • Waste production is increasing at a fast rate • Use of renewable resources is encouraged, whenever possible (global warming) • Bio-based and biodegradable polymers are considered a promising solution 2
3 Biodegradable products already exist…
Traditional vs biodegradable & biobased products? • Not necessarily. The advantage of one class or the other depends very much on the framework • When are biopolymers and bio-products of benefit? 4
LCA is applied to compare products • The question generally asked is: are the biodegradable and biobased products better than the traditional ones from an environmental viewpoint? 5
6 • Catering meals with disposable cutlery: is biodegradability and compostability of An example cutlery an advantage?
Introduction • We have carried out a preliminary study on disposable cutlery used in fast food restaurants, canteens and town festivals. • Disposable tableware is more and more distributed for reasons of simplification • As a consequence there is the generation of huge amount of waste 7
Scope of the study • The main scope was to evaluate the environmental consequences of using different disposable cutlery in fast food restaurants, town festivals etc. • Different cutlery allows different waste treatment systems 8
9 Current scenario
10 Plastic or coated paper mug Food scraps Plastic cutlery Plastic foam
• the at source separate waste collection is a very difficult option in fast food restaurants and town festivals 11
An heterogeneous waste is generated. • Plastic waste : plastic cutlery, dishes, plastic or laminated paper cups, foam polystyrene containers, etc. + • Food waste : kitchen and guests leftovers expired food, etc. 12
The heterogeneous waste cannot be recycled • the food waste is biodegradable and compostable • the plastic tableware is not biodegradable and compostable • the mixed heterogeneous waste is eventually landfilled and/or incinerated. 13
14 Alternative scenario
• A very interesting alternative is to only use tableware that is biodegradable and compostable (B&C), similarly to the food scraps. 15
16 B&C mug Food scraps B&C cutlery B&C foam
An homogeneous waste is generated • B&C plastic waste • Food waste Both fractions are compostable and can be collected as a whole homogeneous fraction 17
The homogeneous waste can be recycled • by means of organic recovery, i.e. composting or anaerobic digestion followed by composting. Compost is a valuable soil improver. 18
19 The Study
Functional Unit • serving 1000 meals, which generates 150 kg organic waste (on average 0,150 kg/meal) with the use of 1000 sets of disposable cutlery 20
Functional Unit Material mass (kg) fork +knife packaging a Organic waste Mater-Bi (YI) 15,70 1,4 150 Polycarbonate (PC) 13,68 1,2 150 11,78 1,2 150 General Purpose Polystyrene (GPPS) a Mater-Bi cutlery packaging is made with a biodegradable Mater-Bi NF type film; in all the other cases the packaging is made with polypropylene. 21
CURRENT SCENARIO • serving 1000 meals using traditional plastic cutlery • collecting the total waste in a single heterogeneous stream • disposing the waste by means of landfilling and incineration with energy recovery 22
MEAL PRODUCTION crude oil raw material raw material production production T PC/GPPS Electricity mix PP granule granule production of different production european countries T PP film meal production Electricity mix production monouse cutlery Italy+ import production wrapping T meal meal consumption distribution WASTE (traditional plastic cutlery +organic fraction) NOT INCLUDED IN THE SYSTEM stream % Waste 84 LANDFILL TREATMENT PHASES NOT INCLUDED INCINERATION 16 ENVIRONMENTAL CREDITS T TRANSPORT NOT INCLUDED Electricity production Heat production 23
ALTERNATIVE SCENARIO • serving 1000 meals using compostable disposable cutlery (Mater-Bi Y, a material containing a cellulose-based constituent and starch) • collecting the total waste in a single homogeneous stream • composting 24
raw material 1 raw material 2 raw material n MEAL PRODUCTION …… production production production raw material raw material production production T Mater-Bi Electricity mix Mater-Bi granule granule production Italy + import production T film meal production production monouse cutlery production wrapping T meal meal consumption distribution WASTE (compostable cutlery +organic fraction) NOT INCLUDED IN THE SYSTEM COMPOSTING PHASES NOT INCLUDED ENVIRONMENTAL CREDITS Compost use T TRANSPORT NOT INCLUDED 25
26 Results
Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) data referring to the treatment of 150 kg organic waste. Two different fates are compared: 1. Landfill after stabilisation and incineration in an 84:16 ratio (corresponding to the current situation in Italy). 2. Composting 27
LCIA results of different organic waste treatment options (food leftovers produced by serving 1000 meals) Impact category Unit Composting with Landfill ** (84%) and compost credits * incineration *** (16%) molH + /g,max eq. Acidifying compounds -1,97 1,28 Eutrophicating comp. g O 2 /g,max eq. -831 2790 Greenhouse gases kg CO 2 eq. -26,5 11,1 Ozone depleting gases kg CFC-11 eq. -9E-07 4,8E-07 Photochemical ozone kg C 2 H 4 eq -0,00018 0,000191 Solid waste kg - 9,26 Resources en non ren MJ -912 60,8 * : Carbon sequestration, savings of N,P and K (as fertilizers), increasing water holding capacity; ** Biogas capturing = 55%; *** Energy recovery (net yield=16% of the calorific value of the feedstock material); 28
“Cradle to grave” LCIA results of two scenarios • B&C cutlery is composted together with the organic waste. • The cutlery made with traditional plastics is disposed of with the organic waste according to the Italian scenario (landfill 84%, incineration with energy recovery 16%). 29
Total impact Cutlery type Waste treatment Impact category Unit Mater-Bi PC GPPS composting Landfill & Landfill & incineration incineration molH + /g,max eq. Acidifying compounds 5,85 16,38 11,25 g O 2 /g,max eq. Eutrophicating compounds 789 4945 4207 kg CO 2 eq. Greenhouse gases 22,1 110,3 64,2 kg CFC-11 eq Ozone depleting gases 0,00000765 0,0000025 0,0000021 kg C 2 H 4 eq. Photochemical ozone 0,0057 0,0275 0,0022 creation Kg Solid waste 0,25 24,5 21,3 MJ Resources_en_non ren_MJ 128 2081 1491 PC=polycarbonate; GPPS=general Purpose Polystyrene 30
Non renewable energy (MJ) produced by serving 1000 meals either with B&C or with traditional plastic cutlery 2500 2000 1500 1000 MJ 500 0 -500 biodegradable and compostable PC cutlery GPPS cutlery cutlery -1000 -1500 cutlery organic fraction total 31
Greenhouse gases produced by serving 1000 meals either with B&C or with traditional plastic cutlery. 120 100 80 60 kg CO 2 eq. 40 20 0 -20 biodegradable and compostable PC cutlery GPPS cutlery cutlery -40 cutlery organic fraction total 32
Sensitivity analysis to verify the effect of a higher incidence of incineration with energy recovery. (scenario: 50% landfill and 50% incineration) 120% 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% s n J s s s d o e e M d e n i t s t s n s u a _ a u a a e n o g w g o r e p p c g r m e d m n s e n i o i l u n o o o t c e o o c S n l h g p z _ g n n o n e n i e e d t l i a y a _ e e f c c r s i G i d i n m e h i o c c p z e r A o u O h r o c t u o s E e t o R h P Waste management scenario: landfill 84% incineration 16% Waste management scenario: landfill 50% incineration 50% 33
34 Conclusions
Composting is the favourite treatment of organic waste. • Organic waste is rather wet ( “humid fraction”). The high water content reduces the net calorific value. Landfilling of organic fraction is conducive of biogas formation • On the other hand, composting is a real form of recycling of the organic fraction with the creation of a product whose use is particularly beneficial for the environment . 35
36 • The B&C cutlery has a good environmental The study shows that: profile
The environmental performance of the B&C cutlery can be further on improved on condition that: 1. the mass per item (fork, knife, and spoon) is decreased, thanks to an improved design; 2. the renewable fraction is increased 3. the environmental impact of the cellulose processing phase is decreased thanks to improved green chemistry technologies. 37
The substantial environmental effect: • the use of compostable cutlery makes it possible to collect the mixed waste as a whole, homogeneous fraction , which can be recycled through composting or anaerobic digestion followed by aerobic stabilisation. 38
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