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Study: Production of Bioplastics in Biorefinery Cuts GHG By About 80%
16 August 2008
Researchers at the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, University of Hawaii at Manoa have calculated that the production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) as a value-added byproduct from cellulosic ethanol biorefineries results in GHG emissions (CO2e) of 0.49 kg per 1 kg of resin on a full lifecycle basis. This compares to 2-3 kg CO2e for petrochemical counterparts—a reduction of between 76-84%.
The fossil energy requirement per kg of bioplastics is 44 MJ/kg resin, lower than those of petrochemical counterparts (78-88 MJ/kg resin). About 62% of fossil energy is used for processing utilities and wastewater treatment, and the rest is required for raw materials in different life cycle stages.
The team of Jian Yu and Lilian X. L. Chen published a paper on their work online 16 August in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.
Resources
Jian Yu and Lilian X. L. Chen (2008) The Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Fossil Energy Requirement of Bioplastics from Cradle to Gate of a Biomass Refinery. ASAP Environ. Sci. Technol., doi: 10.1021/es7032235
August 16, 2008 in Brief | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)
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GHG are no longer a real issue in renewable energy. There is simply too much evidence now that CO2 plays little or no role in global warming. Please update the programming.
Posted by: | August 16, 2008 at 11:55 AM
==There is simply too much evidence now that CO2 plays little or no role in global warming.==
Care to say what that evidence is?
Since I bet you can't find a single scientific institution in the entire world that says that manmade actions aren't a primary cause of the warming we've experienced in the past few decades.
http://greyfalcon.net/whatwouldittake
Posted by: | August 16, 2008 at 03:39 PM
@ anonymous
The dork in that video needs to get a girlfriend.
Posted by: smitty | August 16, 2008 at 04:47 PM
Try the American Physical Society.
Posted by: gored | August 17, 2008 at 12:20 PM
Who would have thought that plasic(s) would come to the aid of carbon pollution reduction.
The brainbox just got a bit bigger.
Posted by: arnold | August 17, 2008 at 06:47 PM