Comparative Eco-Profiles of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) and Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA) Using Life Cycle Assessm
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Comparative Eco‑Profiles of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) and Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA) Using Life Cycle Assessment M. A. Parvez Mahmud1 · Shahjadi Hisan Farjana2
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) are extensively applied to produce nano-energy by harvesting ambient mechanical energy for energizing wearable electronics. Nowadays importance has been given to study on both PET and PMMA due to their growing demand in building Triboelectric Nanogenerators (TENG) to replace small batteries. The manufacturing of both triboelectric polymers from raw materials is hazardous to the environment. However, there has been no comparative evaluation of the probable effects of PET and PMMA production plants yet. This study highlights their comparative eco-profiles. An inclusive Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) model is built for methodical assessment of their impacts. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been done by the ILCD midpoint method, Eco-indicator 99 endpoint method, Raw Material Flow (RMF) method, Greenhouse gas protocol method, and Ecopoints 97 method utilizing the Ecoinvent database and SimaPro software. The effects are assessed and compared for 21 impact categories such as global warming, acidification, eutrophication, terrestrial ecotoxicity, human toxicity, human carcinogenic toxicity, and fine particulate matter formation, marine ecotoxicity etc. The results indicate an estimated 3.01 kg CO2 eq./kg and 8.43 kg CO2 eq./kg of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission to the environment by a PET plant and a PMMA plant, respectively. Moreover, PET plants have the highest effect on land use, ionizing radiation and ozone depletion; whereas PMMA plants have the greatest impact on climate change, acidification, eutrophication and resources. Overall, PMMA polymer production plants are found to be more hazardous to the environment than PET polymer production plants. It is recommended that a better environmental profile from both types of production plants can be achieved through optimization, via abating the effects by replacing the problematic materials, designs, methods and devices with their equivalent environment-friendly options without compromising the quality and production rates. Keywords Polyethylene terephthalate · Polymethyl methacrylate · Life cycle assessment · Environmental impact Acronyms kg CO2eq. Carbon dioxide equivalent kg CFC-11 eq. Ozone Depletion Potential OZDP kg CFC-11 eq. CTUh Comparative Toxic Unit for human kg PM 2.5 eq. Unit for particulate matter kBq U235 eq. Unit for ionizing radiation (kilo Becquerel Uranium235 equivalent) kg NMVOC eq. Non-methane volatile organic compounds equivalent * M. A. Parvez Mahmud [email protected] 1
School of Engineering, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC 3216, Australia
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia
2
molc H + eq. Mole of Hydrogen equivalent molc N eq. Mole of Nitroge
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