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Developing Bioderived CO2-Responsive Polymers as Alternatives to Petroleum-derived Polymers
Summary
Researchers examined the development of bioderived, CO2-responsive polymers as sustainable alternatives to petroleum-derived plastics, using life cycle assessment principles and green chemistry frameworks to guide material design. The work addresses the environmental harms of petroleum-based plastic production and low recycling rates, proposing bio-based responsive polymers as a route toward materials with reduced environmental impact across their full lifecycle.
Petroleum-derived materials have become essential to society but are detrimental to the Earth. Every day, billions of liters of crude oil are extracted from the Earth, refined, and used as fuel or as starting materials for chemicals and materials. Petroleum is currently an abundant resource but is finite, which means that it will eventually be depleted in the future. Society must prepare for the future by examining renewable resources as alternative starting materials for sustainable material development to ensure that future generations can meet their needs as we currently do. Petroleum-derived products are used for a variety of purposes, all of which contribute some amount of harm to the environment, but petroleum-derived plastic materials receive more scrutiny than many other materials. Plastic makes up a percentage of petrochemical production. However, due to low recycling rates, a significant portion of plastic ends up in the environment. Plastic is persistent in the environment and the damage it causes through chemical leaching and microplastics has raised many societal concerns. Reducing the environmental harm from material production and usage requires knowledge about where the most harm is coming from. A life cycle assessment (LCA) can quantify the harm done by a material during its lifespan. This is a necessary but cumbersome process that can slow the development of new materials. Instead, LCA and green chemistry thinking can be used together to guide the development of potentially less environmentally harmful materials. This thinking can include selecting the least harmful reagents wherever possible, using renewable resources as starting materials, reducing waste generation, and incorporating or improving recycling processes. This work was focused on developing bioderived CO2-responsive polymers as potential replacements for specific petroleum-derived polymers. Using the 12 principles of green chemistry and LCA thinking, replacement polymers for adhesives, expanded foams, and protective coatings were developed. Small molecules obtained from renewable resources were modified with CO2-responsive and polymerizable functionalities using the greenest feasible preparation methods based on green chemistry and LCA thinking. Using CO2-responsive functionalities with renewable resources provides a bioderived material capable of expressing different properties when in the presence or absence of CO2 and water.
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