Utrecht University in the Netherlands and contributor to many studies looking at production of chemical products from bio-based feedstocks. While it is likely that an increased focus on sustain-
Source: European Bioplastics/ University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hanover (Status May 2011)
2008 2009 2010
Biodegradable (incl. not biobased) Durable (biobased)
Total capacty
The biodegradable challenge The relatively modest growth predicitions for traditional biodegradable bioplastics come despite the consider- able progress that has been made in terms of their performance and cost. Few would disagree, however, that performance still falls short of traditional petro- chemical plastics in many areas and that costs are too high for applications that cannot take advantage of the unique end-of-life disposal route. This effectively leaves biodegradable bioplastics as niche players. “The higher price for bio-based plastics can be
accommodated in niche markets such as organic food or cosmetics but generally the premium is rather small,” says Martin Patel, assistant professor in the Department of Science, Technology and Society at
2015 Prognosis
ability will present further opportunities for biodegrad- able bioplastics, Patel says the picture is blurred by the wide variety of somewhat contradictory LCA analysis of the benefits they deliver. “My understanding on this aspect is that ‘good’ bio-based plastics allow users to reduce non-renewable primarily fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions by around 40-50%. But there are trade-offs, with probably the most important ones being related to land use, including toxicity and biodiver- sity impacts due to herbicide and pesticide use. We need to work on these to reduce the impacts,” he says. PolyOne has been one of the leaders in developing
added value compounds and additive systems based on bioplastics. The company’s global marketing director for biosolutions Marcel Dartée agrees it has been difficult to exploit the value of biodegradability in real applications and this has acted as a brake on market development. “Biodegradability will continue to be embraced as a functional attribute in, for example, agricultural films and other agricultural applications, for use in organic waste bags and some other applications,” he says. “But it has proven to be very complex to exploit composting as an additional waste management option for com- postable plastics and thus realise its full potential. If you cannot use the compostable waste stream to dispose of your compostable items, then how can you capture the benefit?” This difficulty in exploiting the biodegradability
in metric tons
attributes of bioplastics such as starch blends, PLA and PHA, together with their higher cost, is also seen as a big obstacle by Léon Mentink, product manager at French starch processing company Roquette, which has developed its own line of durable grafted starch polymers with more than 50% renewable content under the Gaialene brand (last month it commissioned a 25,000 tonnes/year production unit at Lestrem in northern France). “[Traditional biodegradable bioplastics] are con-
1 only hydrated cellullose foils
BIOPOLYMERS PRODUCTION CAPACITY 2015 (BY TYPE) Source: European Bioplastics/University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hanover
46 COMPOUNDING WORLD | June 2012
ceived to be biodegradable/compostable, that is to say designed for niche markets which are very dependent on local regulation and local structures. The market is looking now for green durable and semi-durable products which can be used as classical plastics – the same applications, same physical performance, same machines, same speed of production,” he says. While it has proved difficult to exploit biodegradabil- ity in some applications, there are still significant niche opportunities yet to be exploited and investment in this