Table 7 Life Cycle Analysis comparison of different thermoplastic/natural fiber composites
From: Polyethylene-coffee husk eco-composites for production of value-added consumer products
Product type/composite type | System boundaries | Functional unit | Polymer | Natural Fiber | Other | Manufacture Process | Impact Categories | Ref. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GWP (kg CO2-eq) | ODP (kg CFC11-eq) | AP (kg SO2-eq) | EP (kg (PO4)3-eq) | ||||||||||
Type | % | Type | % | % | |||||||||
Food packaging | Cradle to grave | 1 packaginga | HDPE | 100 | Sponge gourds residue | 0 | 0 | Extrusion, injection and other | 0.84 | 0.54 | – | – | [25] |
1 packaginga | HDPE | 90 | Sponge gourds residue | 10 | 0 | Extrusion, injection and other | 0.75 | 0.55 | – | – | |||
1 packaginga | HDPE | 70 | Sponge gourds residue | 30 | 0 | Extrusion, injection and other | 0.61 | 0.65 | – | – | |||
Composites | Cradle to grave | 1 kg composite | HDPE (recycled) | 72 | Recycled cotton (cotton linter) | 20 | 8 | Extrusion | 0.61 | – | 4.03E-03 | 2.67E-04 | [26] |
1 kg composite | PP (recycled) | 73.2 | Recycled cotton (cotton linter) | 20 | 6.8 | Extrusion | 0.70 | – | 4.25E-03 | 3.63E-04 | |||
1 kg composite | PP (recycled) | 50 | Rice husks | 45 | 5 | Extrusion | 0.71 | – | 4.87E-03 | 9.34E-04 | |||
1 kg | HDPE (virgin) | 100 | – | 0 | 0 | Extrusion | 1.88 | – | 2.14E-02 | 1.30E-03 | |||
1 kg | PP (virgin) | 100 | – | 0 | 0 | Extrusion | 1.99 | – | 2.03E-02 | 1.26E-03 | |||
Automotive parts | Cradle to grave | 1 m2 surface area covered | PP | 80 | Sugarcane bagasse | 20 | 0 | Extrusion, injection | 7.23E-06 | 4.18E-09 | 1.71E-06 | 1.67E-06 | [27] |
1 m2 surface area covered | PP | 80 | Talc | 20 | 0 | Extrusion, injection | 7.07E-05 | 4.46E-09 | 1.77E-06 | 1.71E-06 | |||
Transport pallet | Cradle to grave | Standard pallet (same service requirements) | PP | 58 | Glass fiber | 42 | 0 | Not specified | 75.3 | – | 0.653 | 0.0682 | [28] |
PP | 47 | China reed | 53 | 0 | Not specified | 40.4 | – | 0.411 | 0.0632 | ||||
Wood plastic composite | Cradle to Gate | 1 kg virgin composite | HDPE | 68 | Wood | 29 | 3 | Not specified | 2.18 | 1.10E-09 | 6.10E-03 | 6.20E-04 | [29] |
HDPE | 39 | Wood | 58 | 3 | Not specified | 1.73 | 9.50E-10 | 4.40E-03 | 4.90E-04 | ||||
1 kg recycled composite | HDPE | 68 | Wood | 29 | 3 | Not specified | 0.76 | 6.60E-10 | 1.40E-03 | 1.90E-04 | |||
HDPE | 39 | Wood | 58 | 3 | Not specified | 0.78 | 6.60E-10 | 1.50E-03 | 2.00E-04 | ||||
Biocomposites | Cradle to grave | Coffee jar lid (53 mm diameter) | HDPE | 100 | Banana fiber (untreated) | 0 | 0 | Extrusion, injection | 0.04 | – | – | – | [30] |
HDPE | 60 | Banana fiber (untreated) | 40 | 0 | Extrusion, injection | 0.03 | – | – | – | ||||
PLA | 100 | Banana fiber (untreated) | 0 | 0 | Extrusion, injection | 0.06 | – | – | – | ||||
PLA | 60 | Banana fiber (untreated) | 40 | 0 | Extrusion, injection | 0.04 | – | – | – | ||||