Bioplastics | sustainability
New polymer and blend developments mean bio-based plastics can provide both a practical and sustainable option for long lifetime applications. Chris Smith reports from AMI’s Bioplastics Compounding and Processing conference
Bio-focus turns to durability
There are many ways to integrate the concepts of sustainability into a plastic product or production process . However, one of the most obvious– and certainly one of the simplest to communicate to customers and consumers – is to make use of full or partly bio-based polymers. In its most recent analysis of the bioplastics market,
industry trade body European Bioplastics predicted that global production volumes will reach 5.8m tonnes by 2016, a fi ve-fold increase on 2011 levels (Figure 1). Its assessment, based on data collected in partnership with the Institute for Bioplastics and Biocomposites at the University of Hannover in Germany, said that by far the highest growth rates will be seen in so-called ‘drop-in’ solutions – bio-based versions of bulk petrochemical-based polymers such as PE and PET (Figure 2). While the precise tonnage of new
bioplastics capacity may yet be impacted by the availability of low cost shale-derived plastics, the European Bioplastics’ prediction of an ongoing shift in emphasis among potential users of bioplastic away from biodegradability is widely supported. “Over the past decade, the bioplastics market focus has turned from biodegradability to bio-based origin,” said Dr Terry Cooper, CEO of consultancy fi rm Argo Group International and a specialist in bio-based monomer and polymer development. Speaking at the AMI Bioplastics Compounding and Processing conference in Miami, US, in May, Cooper said one of the key reasons for this is the rapid development of bio-based routes to existing monomers and chemicals, which will allow production of ‘conventional’ polymers from renewable resources. “There is a long list of monomers and chemicals for which synthesis routes from bio-based feedstocks are already commercially available or under development. Most large chemical and petrochemical companies are
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now involved,” he said. A further driver is the growing demand for durable
bioplastics from industry sectors such as electronics and automotive. These end user markets require performance and processing characteristics that match existing polymer options. Computer industry giant IBM is one of the companies
pushing forward with strategies to implement bio-based polymers within its product line. “Surveys of customers indicate overwhelming support for a greater level of sustainability in IT hardware,” said Joe Kuczynski, a senior technical staff member within the IBM materials and process engineering laboratory at Rochester in Minnesota, US, speaking at the same event. He said for an organisation such as IBM, meeting this demand provides a potential competitive advantage,
Main image: IBM is set to replace PC/ ABS blends with a
specially- developed
fl ame retardant PC/PLA on some
BladeServer enclosures
July/August 2013 | INJECTION WORLD 35
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