From Science & Research
From Science & Research frustrated about the waste on the beaches in his country. He got himself a scholarship and is now working in our project.” Indonesia’s coasts are almost four times as long as those of China, so virtually the entire population lives near the coast. And many countries around the world do not recycle or incinerate waste to energy at all. However, as Lars Blank pointed out, this all works well and fast with e.g. thin PET films (and other polyesters including textile fibers), but is difficult, and up to now not yet possible for bottles with significant ratio of crystalline material. “But for bottles it is not that necessary, as bottles can be and are very well recycled, as the example of e.g. Germany shows,” he concluded. MT Rerences: [1] N.N.: What is the Unique Selling Proposition (USP) of P4SB? https:// www.p4sb.eu/about-p4sb.html [2] N.N.: Adding Value to Plastic Waste Streams, https://www.rwth-aachen. de/cms/root/Die-RWTH/Aktuell/Pressemitteilungen/November/~elvrd/ Die-Werte-der-Abfallstroeme-von-Kunststo/?lidx=1 [3] Wei R., Zimmermann W.: Microbial enzymes for the recycling of recalcitrant petroleum-based plastics: How far are we? 2017Microbial Biotechnology 10(6) DOI: 10.1111/1751-7915.12710 [4] Blank LM, Narancic T, Mampel J, Tiso T, O’Connor K.. Biotechnological upcycling of plastic waste and other non-conventional feedstocks in a circular economy. Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2019 Dec 24;62:212-219 www.p4sb.eu | www.mixup-eu.de Enzymatic process untreated top view treated What are enzymes? Enzymes are proteins that act as catalysts in all living organisms – microorganisms, plants, animals, and humans. As catalysts, enzymes serve as compounds that increase chemical reactions in biological systems. Enzymes are affected by a number of conditions, such as temperature and pH (acidity), and are subject to inhibition by various means. Enzymes are classified by the type of reaction they catalyse and the substance (called a substrate) they act upon. It is customary to attach the suffix “ase” to the name of the principle substrate upon which the enzyme acts. 1 µm 1 µm Source: www.amano-enzyme.com/about-enzymes/ How are enzymes produced industrially? Bacteria, yeasts or moulds are cultivated in closed steel tanks - the fermenters. Starch or other sugars are added to the liquid culture medium. The microbes grow and flourish and ideally release the enzymes into the medium. The proteins are then harvested: The medium is concentrated and filtered. Most enzyme preparations are sold as powders. 20 µm 20 µm Source: https://biooekonomie.de/enzyme-diesupertalente-der-bioindustrie side view 87 % weight loss Fig. 3: Enzymatic degradation of thin PET film (Sources: Wei et al., (2017) Microb Biotechnol 10:1308-1322; Zimmermann, Billig (2011) Adv Biochem Eng Biotechno/125:97-120; Alisch et al (2004) Biocatal. Biotrans. 22:347) technologies & processes polyesters polyurethanes polyamides polyvinyls PET PEF PCL PLA PHA PU PA6.6 PA11 PE PP PS enzymatic microbial thermochemical chemocatalytic separation P4SB MIX-UP Bio-Upcycling PHA, PGA bio-PU rhamnolipids HAA fatty acids phenol styrene methyl ketones itaconate malate succinate biopolymers (glyco)lipids aromatics org. acids Fig. 4: The Vision (Sources: Wierckx et al., Plastic waste as a novel substrate for industrial biotechnology, Microbial Biotechnology, 2015, 8: 900 – 903; Wierckx et al., Plastic biodegradation: challenges and opportunities, 2018, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-44535-9_23-1; Blank et al., Biotechnological upcycling of plastic waste and other non-conventional feedstocks in a circular economy. Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2019;62:212-219) 24 bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/20] Vol. 15
Polyolefin News Borealis producing certified renewable polypropylene Borealis (headquartered in Vienna, Austria) and its upstream partner Neste (headquartered in Espoo, Finland) are moving the industry closer to a circular economy of plastics thanks to the production start in December 2019 of renewable PP. After producing renewable propane using its proprietary NEXBTL technology, Neste sells this propane to the Borealis propane dehydrogenation plant in Kallo. Here it is converted to renewable propylene, then subsequently to renewable PP at Kallo and Beringen plants (both Belgium). Recently finalised audits have resulted in an ISCC Plus certification for the renewable PP produced at both Kallo and Beringen plants. This certification encompasses the entire value chain scope and verifies that the renewable feedstock used is certified as being 100 % renewable and sustainably produced, including traceability to point of origin. Downstream partners from a variety of industries such as consumer packaging, automotive, healthcare, and appliance industries can now commercialize their end-use products with a lower carbon footprint based on Borealis’ renewable propylene and PP. In response to increasing demand, Borealis is working with value chain partners to expand availability. Henkel (Düsseldorf, Germany), a global market leader in the adhesives sector and known for its strong brands in Laundry & Home Care and Beauty Care, has already embraced the values of the circular economy. Having made the use of sustainable materials a key pillar in its packaging strategy, Henkel is committed to work with its value chain partners to drive sustainable packaging solutions. Including renewable PP content in the packaging of a major Henkel brand over the course of the year marks another step in its efforts to reduce its use of fossil fuel-based virgin plastics by 50 % by 2025. “Producing renewable PP based on renewable feedstock for the first time in history is another concrete step towards a more sustainable carbon future,” says Lucrèce Foufopoulos, Borealis Executive Vice President Polyolefins, Innovation and Circular Economy Solutions. “Working closely with partners like Neste and Henkel, who share our EverMinds mind-set, is key to shaping a better tomorrow. Thinking circular means capitalising on growth opportunities that accelerate the transformation to a circular economy.” “It is great to see, for the first time in history, a propane dehydrogenation facility using renewable propane to replace fossil feedstock, enabling Borealis to produce mass balance certified renewable polypropylene for sustainability-focused brands like Henkel. This is an exceptional example of collaboration across the value chain making a positive sustainability impact in the polymers sector,’’ says Mercedes Alonso, Executive Vice President, Renewable Polymers and Chemicals, Neste. MT www.borealisgroup.com | www.neste.com DSM to create biobased Dyneema Royal DSM (Heerlen,The Netherands), SABIC (headquartered in Riad, Saudi-Arabia, and UPM Biofuels (Helsinki,Finland)recently announced a partnership that will help to reduce the environmental footprint of Dyneema ® , the world’s strongest fiber based on Ultra- High Moelcular Weight Polyethylene UHMWPE). This new partnership represents an important step in realizing the goal of sourcing at least 60 % of its feedstock from biobased raw material by 2030. The Dyneema biobased material will be ISCC Plus certificied and will not require re-qualification of downstream products. Biobased Dyneema will be available from April 2020. UPM Biofuels produces biobased feedstock UPM BioVerno (bio naphta) from the residue of the pulping process. This is then processed by Sabic to make renewable ethylene under their TRUCIRCLE umbrella of solutions. Trucircle includes certified renewable products, specifically resins and chemicals from biobased feedstock that are not in competition with the food chain and help to reduce carbon emissions. By applying a mass balancing approach, DSM is then able to create biobased Dyneema fiber that delivers consistent durability without compromising process efficiency or final product performance with a reduced environmental impact. The new partnership underlines DSM’s commitment to working closely with partners and suppliers to realize a (more) sustainable value chain. MT LCA for PP made from used cooking oil Elsevier (Science Direct) recently published an article on “Environmental life cycle assessment of polypropylene made from used cooking oil”. Used cooking oil (UCO) has received much attention as feedstock for the production of renewable fuels and biobased materials. The study aims to assess the environmental impact of UCO-based PP by a cradleto-factory gate Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA). 16 impact categories were assessed. The results were interpreted with normalization and weighting steps. For several multi-output processes, different allocation procedures were scrutinized. On a normalized and weighted basis, the environmental impacts of UCO-based PP are dominated by climate change (28 %), fossil resource use (23 %) and water use (11 %). The following environmental hotspots are identified: the polymerization process (38 %), the production of hydrogen (21 %), the production of LPG (18 %) and the combustion of LPG (8 %). Compared to petrochemical PP, cradle to factory gate impact reductions of 40–62 % for climate change and 80–86 % for fossil fuel resource use can be achieved by UCO-based PP, depending on the allocation approach chosen. For other impact categories, the environmental footprint of biobased PP is strongly influenced by the choice of the allocation method. MT https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.104750 www.dsm.com | www.sabic.com | www.upmbiofuels.com bioplastics MAGAZINE [02/20] Vol. 15 25
