ABSTRACT
Plastic packaging materials derived from fossil fuels have grown at a faster rate than other polymeric materials since past decades. The current production of petrochemical polymers is 12.5 million tons, expected to grow up to 25 million tons by 2020 (Crank et al., 2005). This has been associated with a large number of changes and challenges; many of these changes are beneŠcial, and many have brought climatic and environmental threats to the present world. The synthetic
CONTENTS
18.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 373 18.2 Life Cycle Assessment .......................................................................................................... 375
18.2.1 Goal Scope and DeŠnition ........................................................................................ 376 18.2.2 Life Cycle Inventory Analysis .................................................................................. 379 18.2.3 Life Cycle Impact Assessment .................................................................................. 381 18.2.4 Life Cycle Interpretation........................................................................................... 381
18.3 Applications of LCA to Starch and Starch-Based Products ................................................. 382 18.3.1 Energy Consumption ................................................................................................ 383 18.3.2 Fossil Fuel Consumption ..........................................................................................384 18.3.3 Starch and Its Coproducts versus Petrochemical Polymers ...................................... 388 18.3.4 Global Climate Change ............................................................................................ 389 18.3.5 Market Status and Economics of Starch and Its Polymeric Materials ..................... 389 18.3.6 Food Supply .............................................................................................................. 391 18.3.7 Health ........................................................................................................................ 391 18.3.8 Socioeconomic Effects ............................................................................................. 392 18.3.9 Impact on Land Use .................................................................................................. 392
18.4 Impact from Water Use ......................................................................................................... 392 18.5 Material Recycling................................................................................................................ 393 18.6 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................... 393 References ...................................................................................................................................... 393
polymers have been criticized since long primarily due to nonrecyclability, nonrenewability, nonbiodegradability, or incorporation of toxic additives into the packaged materials or surrounding environments (Tang and Alavi, 2011). As a consequence of the societal concerns, legislative pressure, and environmental regulations, the growth of biodegradable materials has steadily increased in order to reduce environmental degradation by selecting more environment-friendly products (Vink et al., 2003; Crank et al., 2005). Since last decade, the development of packaging materials using renewable resources which are naturally biodegradable and the possibility of combining their biodegradability with cost reduction and market needs have been the object of intensive academic and industrial research. Bioplastics will grow at a signiŠcant pace over the next few years. In 2010, the global market for bioplastics achieved estimated sale of $2.74 billion, and this value is expected to grow by 32.4% a year from 2011 to 2015, reaching an estimated value of $11.14 billion in 2015 (Crank et al., 2005).
