Expansion of environmental impact assessment for eco-efficiency evaluation of biocomposites for industrial application

Abstract

In this paper, the comparative environmental assessment of a plastic pallet produced from selected biocomposites and composites based on the ReCiPe Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) method is presented. Five scenarios of pallet production were analyzed depending on the materials used. The system boundary considered in the analyses included the production of the particular materials and the injection molding to obtain a plastic pallet of complex properties. Environmental assessment was conducted in accordance with ISO 14044:2006. Life cycle assessment (LCA) analyses were related to the same functional unit (FU) – one heavy-duty plastic pallet made by an injection molding process. The results of the environmental assessment of a plastic pallet produced from biocomposites and composites based on polypropylene (PP), glass fibers (GF) and natural fibers – cotton fibers (CF), jute fibers (JF), and kenaf fibers (KF) – were shown. The share of the fillers in the polymer matrix ranged from 10 to 30 wt. % to achieve the required mechanical properties of a plastic pallet. A life-cycle assessment of the biocomposite production systems was performed using SimaPro 8 software (Pre Consultants B.V) and the Ecoinvent database 3.1. The highest environmental impact was observed in the case of the use of cotton fibers and glass fibers as a reinforcement of the analyzed biocomposites and composites. In the case of natural fillers, the highest environmental impact in all damage and impact categories was indicated for the cotton fibers. This situation can be caused by the industrial cultivation of cotton on a large scale. The lowest environmental impact was observed in the use of kenaf and jute fibers as reinforcement. For all analyzed materials (PP, PPGF composite and biocomposites: PPCF, PPJF, PPKF), it is impossible to assess unequivocally which material is the most environmentally friendly and has the lowest impact on the environment. The results of the environmental assessment were used for quantification of the eco-efficiency. The obtained results show that there is a relationship between the applied environmental impact categories for the evaluation of the analyzed materials and the eco-efficiency results.