Environmental Impacts of Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene Toughened Wood Fiber/Polylactide Composites: A Cradle-to-Gate Life Cycle Assessment
In this study, a life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to investigate the environmental benefits of using styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) to modify polylactide (PLA)-based wood plastic composites (WPCs), with a process-based and input−output hybrid model. The results showed that one metric...
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doaj-3a166ec5fddd46059ded157bf09d254f2020-11-25T01:08:56ZengMDPI AGInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health1660-46012019-09-011618340210.3390/ijerph16183402ijerph16183402Environmental Impacts of Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene Toughened Wood Fiber/Polylactide Composites: A Cradle-to-Gate Life Cycle AssessmentTao Qiang0Yaxuan Chou1Honghong Gao2School of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, Xi’an Technological University, Xi’an 710021, ChinaSchool of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, Xi’an Technological University, Xi’an 710021, ChinaSchool of Mechatronic Engineering, Xi’an Technological University, Xi’an 710021, ChinaIn this study, a life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to investigate the environmental benefits of using styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) to modify polylactide (PLA)-based wood plastic composites (WPCs), with a process-based and input−output hybrid model. The results showed that one metric ton of the SBS-modified WPCs required 1.93 × 10<sup>8</sup> kJ of energy (Sample 2) and 46 m<sup>3</sup> of water (Sample 4), and that it could produce 42.3 kg of solid waste (Sample 2) during its cradle-to-gate life cycle phases. The environmental impact load (EIL) and photochemistry oxidation potential (PCOP) accounted for the largest share, while the eutrophication potential (EP) took the smallest one. The total EIL index of Samples 1, 2, 3, and 4 added up to 1.942, 1.960, 1.899, and 1.838, respectively. The SBS-modified WPCs were found to be more environmentally friendly than their unmodified counterparts when they had the same or higher wood fiber (WF) content. SBS was viable to toughen the PLA-based WPCs from an environmental perspective. This cradle-to-gate LCA is likely to help optimize the manufacturing process and mitigate environmental impacts for the natural fiber-reinforced polymer biocomposites.https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/18/3402wood flourpolylactideSBSlife cycle assessmentenvironmental impact |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Tao Qiang Yaxuan Chou Honghong Gao |
spellingShingle |
Tao Qiang Yaxuan Chou Honghong Gao Environmental Impacts of Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene Toughened Wood Fiber/Polylactide Composites: A Cradle-to-Gate Life Cycle Assessment International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health wood flour polylactide SBS life cycle assessment environmental impact |
author_facet |
Tao Qiang Yaxuan Chou Honghong Gao |
author_sort |
Tao Qiang |
title |
Environmental Impacts of Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene Toughened Wood Fiber/Polylactide Composites: A Cradle-to-Gate Life Cycle Assessment |
title_short |
Environmental Impacts of Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene Toughened Wood Fiber/Polylactide Composites: A Cradle-to-Gate Life Cycle Assessment |
title_full |
Environmental Impacts of Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene Toughened Wood Fiber/Polylactide Composites: A Cradle-to-Gate Life Cycle Assessment |
title_fullStr |
Environmental Impacts of Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene Toughened Wood Fiber/Polylactide Composites: A Cradle-to-Gate Life Cycle Assessment |
title_full_unstemmed |
Environmental Impacts of Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene Toughened Wood Fiber/Polylactide Composites: A Cradle-to-Gate Life Cycle Assessment |
title_sort |
environmental impacts of styrene-butadiene-styrene toughened wood fiber/polylactide composites: a cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |
issn |
1660-4601 |
publishDate |
2019-09-01 |
description |
In this study, a life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to investigate the environmental benefits of using styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) to modify polylactide (PLA)-based wood plastic composites (WPCs), with a process-based and input−output hybrid model. The results showed that one metric ton of the SBS-modified WPCs required 1.93 × 10<sup>8</sup> kJ of energy (Sample 2) and 46 m<sup>3</sup> of water (Sample 4), and that it could produce 42.3 kg of solid waste (Sample 2) during its cradle-to-gate life cycle phases. The environmental impact load (EIL) and photochemistry oxidation potential (PCOP) accounted for the largest share, while the eutrophication potential (EP) took the smallest one. The total EIL index of Samples 1, 2, 3, and 4 added up to 1.942, 1.960, 1.899, and 1.838, respectively. The SBS-modified WPCs were found to be more environmentally friendly than their unmodified counterparts when they had the same or higher wood fiber (WF) content. SBS was viable to toughen the PLA-based WPCs from an environmental perspective. This cradle-to-gate LCA is likely to help optimize the manufacturing process and mitigate environmental impacts for the natural fiber-reinforced polymer biocomposites. |
topic |
wood flour polylactide SBS life cycle assessment environmental impact |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/18/3402 |
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