Comparative life cycle assessment for PBAT from fossil-derived and 2nd generation biobased feedstocks

Chenkai Luo; Ya Zhou; Zhitong Chen; Xinchao Bian; Ning Chen; Junjie Li; Yufeng Wu; Zhifeng Yang

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.176421

Comparative life cycle assessment for PBAT from fossil-derived and 2nd generation biobased feedstocks

Sci Total Environ. 2024 Sep 19:176421. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.176421. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Chenkai Luo¹, Ya Zhou², Zhitong Chen¹, Xinchao Bian³, Ning Chen⁴, Junjie Li⁵, Yufeng Wu⁶, Zhifeng Yang¹

Affiliations

¹ Guangdong Basic Research Center of Excellence for Ecological Security and Green Development, Key Laboratory for City Cluster Environmental Safety and Green Development of the Ministry of Education, School of Ecology, Environment and Resources, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China.
² Guangdong Basic Research Center of Excellence for Ecological Security and Green Development, Key Laboratory for City Cluster Environmental Safety and Green Development of the Ministry of Education, School of Ecology, Environment and Resources, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China. Electronic address: yazhou@gdut.edu.cn.
³ Key Laboratory of Polymer Ecomaterials, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, Polymer Research Institute, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China.
⁵ Engineering Research Center of Clean and Low-carbon Technology for Intelligent Transportation, Ministry of Education, School of Environment, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China.
⁶ Institute of Circular Economy, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China.

PMID: 39306119
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.176421

Abstract

With the increasing demand for plastics, plastic pollution is growing rapidly. A significant amount of plastic has leaked into the environment, leading to severe environmental issues. Biodegradable plastics are considered promising alternatives to conventional durable plastics, and the environmental impacts of biodegradable plastics have received increasing attention. Poly (butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) is a commercial and cost-competitive biodegradable polymer and has been applied in the packaging and agriculture sectors. The environmental performances of PBAT with second-generation feedstocks from forestry waste have been rarely investigated. Since China is the leading global producer and exporter of PBAT polymer, Chinese cradle-to-gate life cycle inventories of PBAT were compiled in this study. A comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted to explore the potential for environmental performance of PBAT with second-generation biobased feedstock compared to fossil-derived PBAT and conventional plastics. The results showed that feedstocks contributed to more than 70 % of 18 environmental impact categories of fossil-derived PBAT. In comparison, PBAT with 2nd generation biobased feedstock reduces the environmental loads in 16 impact categories by 15-85 %, and renewable energy substitution has the potential to reduce environmental impacts by 10 %. Biobased PBAT performs better than PVC, PP, HDPE, LDPE, and PET in 16 impact categories by 15-80 %. Biobased PBAT has GWP of 3.72 kg CO₂ eq, which is 37 % lower than fossil-derived PBAT (5.89 kg CO₂ eq) and 18-32 % lower than conventional plastics. Since feedstock dominates the environmental performance of PBAT, the development of biomanufacturing technologies for biobased polymers and chemicals could significantly improve environmental performance of biodegradable plastics and promote the sustainable development of the plastic industry. Results could serve as the basis for environmental impact and mitigation strategies for biodegradable plastics with biobased feedstocks, as well as the sustainable development of the PBAT industry.

Keywords: Biodegradable plastic; Life cycle assessment; PBAT; Poly (butylene adipate-co-terephthalate); Second generation biobased feedstocks.