[Graeme]

Bioplastics Boom

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')lthough the plastics industry has depended predominantly on petrochemicals for feedstocks throughout most of its history, some early plastics were plant based. Parkesine, the first human-made polymer, was created by inventor Alexander Parkes in 1856 out of chloroform and castor oil. Henry Ford unveiled the now-legendary "soybean car," with soy-based plastic body panels, in 1941. Now, as the price of petroleum rises and concern mounts about the environmental effects of petrochemicals, the plastics industry is racing to create renewable polymers from bio-based sources.

To make the biopolymer, Braskem converts sugarcane-sourced ethanol into ethylene by a process called ethanol dehydration. This transfers 99 percent of the carbon in ethanol into ethylene, says Antonio Morschbacker, Manager of Technology for Green Polymers at Braskem. The main byproduct is water, which, when purified of contaminants (mainly ether and nonreacted ethanol), can be recycled. The ethylene is then polymerized. It would be impossible to tell Braskem's plastic from petro-polyethylene if not for a single difference: It contains trace amounts of the isotope carbon-14. Using the same process employed in radiocarbon dating, chemists can measure the amount of carbon-14 in plastic and use it to determine the percentage of biopolymer it contains. The ability to certify its bioplastic using ASTM International standards (in this case, ASTM D6866) gives Braskem a marketing edge. The material will be used in packaging for food and cosmetics, but Morschbacker expects the major application will be in the automotive industry, where the bioplastic will be used in injection and blow molding. Henry Ford's soybean car may well return, albeit in a slicker, smoother reincarnation.

"You can't argue with the fact that a bio-based plastic offers better possibilities for end-of-life treatment," says Williams. The carbon released from these plastics represents no net addition to the atmosphere, whereas the production and incineration of petrochemical plastics boosts CO2 levels. Because Braskem's polyethylene is identical to fossil-based plastics, it can be recycled along with them, making it possible to integrate the new material into established recycling systems. This trait also makes it easier for producers to adopt the new polymer. According to Morschbacker, it can be processed using the same equipment and settings that companies use for petroleum-based polyethylene. The machinery will never know the difference. Incineration at high temperatures (900 degrees Celsius) also shows promise. And though the technology is still new and the number of plants small, some companies are also using catalysts or microwaves to convert the polymers into gasoline or diesel. This could be good news for the biofuels sector as well: Recycling bioplastics into fuel could allay concerns about the use of food crops in biofuels production.

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'R')ecycling bioplastics into fuel could allay concerns about the use of food crops in biofuels production.

[yesplease]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', 'T')hat is an absurd assertion. Whether crops are processed into bioplastics or biofuel, the end result is the same: displaced food production. Bioplastics merely provide a transitive medium for making biofuels.

[emersonbiggins]

That's true, yesplease, but it's doubtful that marginal land that could be used for bioplastics wouldn't already be in limited food production. If only we could grow our bioplastics on the tundra...

[emersonbiggins]

Interesting as well. I'll check that out.

[mos6507]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', '
')Whether crops are processed into bioplastics or biofuel, the end result is the same: displaced food production.

[Tanada]

How much energy does the conversion process take? We will consume that energy no matter what if we can so if we get a ban on plastic recycling put through all the carbon in the bio-plastics would end up landfilled sooner or later and hence sequestered.

[efarmer]

Welcome to the age of Maize. Corn to eat, corn to sweet,
corn to hootch to run the fleet, corn for hogs and corn for cows,
subsidized for corporate sows. Corn is king and quite a treat.
Corn to plastic is the feat, could put corn condoms on your meat. It's Quite a party, yet I mourn, how are we growing all
this corn? So having burnt up half the oil, we have begun to
burn topsoil. It seems that corn is on a roll, let's all line up for
our corn dole.

The use of the d versus an h was a struggle and my better side
won.

[Tanada]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('efarmer', 'W')elcome to the age of Maize. Corn to eat, corn to sweet,
corn to hootch run the fleet, corn for hogs and corn for cows,
subsidized for corporate sows. Corn is king and quite a treat,
Corn to plastic is the feat, might put corn condoms on your meat. It's quite a party, yet I mourn, how are we growing all
this corn? So having burnt up half the oil, we have begun to
target soil. It seems that corn is on a roll, let's all line up for
our corn dole.

The use of the d versus an h was a struggle and my better side
won.

[efarmer]

The climate might shift in a few decades Tanada to where we are
in cane country in the heartland instead of corn country. I really
appreciate the corn farmers and their efforts and their industry
and I applaud the research to get cellulosic alcohol or pyritic
gas to alcohol via engineered microrganisms going ASAP.
Farming is the lifeblood of my region and may it remain forever.
But to do liquid fuels replacement with topsoil and cane or
corn and have it be any way a long term proposition is a
monstrous deceit that is a great boondoggle for government
subsidy and BS press releases from a world that is still running
on petroleum. Climate changes can take place in the blink of an eye compared to the creation of topsoil. This is papered over, gee whizzed around, and otherwise ignored. The world needs food more than biodiesel, ethanol, or bioplastics and to do that it needs topsoil that is intact to grow things. The physical structures of the plants and their biochemical inputs that allow them to capture solar energy and do photosynthesis come from the topsoil. So what is the plan? Burn off the topsoil in Brazil first, then Africa, and last we toast the topsoil in the USA? This is another short term plan from people who seem to see their long term plan, as a bizarre and reckless cascade of short term exploits interspersed with wars as necessary for the serious spot shortages. If we are going to convert solar power to ethanol it must be done by a system that can sustain production open ended. It might be sea water based, it might be a hybrid solution, but I do not believed it will be the reckless exploit of the cropland by a desperate throng of humans as an end of life kicker to the oil age. We may of course try this, just like we tried to borrow our way to economic success, or fight our
way to peace or oil sufficiency.


http://www.ecofuture.org/pop/rpts/mccluney_maxpop.html

Bruce Sundquist studied the food-growing limits to human population numbers and has this to say(5):

"Probably what people are really contemplating is the maximum population the Earth can sustain indefinitely in some sort of steady-state. Or perhaps they really mean how many people can the Earth support until fossil fuels are depleted. I have been working on the steady-state problem for over a decade now, but considering mainly topsoil as the limiting resource. I now have annotated reviews of the global literature on topsoil loss, forest land degradation, grazing land degradation, irrigated land degradation, and fishery degradation. It has become clear that there is no need to worry about energy-- agricultural top soil and those dependent on it will vanish long before the last barrel of liquefied coal is gone."

[yesplease]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('emersonbiggins', 'T')hat's true, yesplease, but it's doubtful that marginal land that could be used for bioplastics wouldn't already be in limited food production.