Streamlined LCA Tool for Sustainable Polymers

The development of a streamlined Life Cycle Analysis tool for the purpose of guiding sustainable polymer design is presented. The NSF Center for Sustainable Polymers has an established Sustainable Polymer Framework which classifies sustainability considerations into four key stages: Feedstock, Process, Intended Use, and End-of-Life. The challenge lies in interlinking these framework components to evaluate potential trade-offs during the implementation or modification of polymer design and manufacturing processes. In response to this challenge, a tool is currently under development with the aim of facilitating informed decision-making within the polymer industry, while also being non-debilitating in the design phase. The tool will be open source, harnessing available data and models to create a collaborative community resource, and will be based in Microsoft Excel for ease-of-use. It is designed to address sustainability by estimating essential metrics such as energy intensity, water intensity, and greenhouse gas emissions at each stage of the Sustainable Polymer Framework.

Feedstock: The stage offers guidance on the selection of feedstock materials, which is often a challenge due to the multitude of available options. Leveraging data from the GREET (Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Technologies) model, outputs from this stage include a comparison of environmental impacts of producing a molecule of interest from different feedstocks when yield data is available.

Conversion: This stage addresses critical choices in polymer manufacturing processes, including the selection of solvents, reaction conditions, yield and selectivity, separation techniques, and the management of co-products or waste.

End-of-Life: In this phase, the tool assesses the environmental impacts associated with various recycling technologies such as mechanical, chemical, and biological methods based on literature-derived ranges. Data in this stage is standardized using the GREET model and allocation techniques are employed to quantify the impacts per kilogram of waste polymer.

The development of this streamlined LCA tool will enable scientists to quickly estimate environmental impacts when making decisions about sustainable changes in polymer design before they are even implemented. By providing an open-source platform that leverages existing data and models, this tool also seeks to foster collaboration and innovation, promoting a more sustainable future for the polymer industry.