Importance of

BIOPOLYMERS &

POLYMERS

CONTENTS

POLYMERS

CLASSIFICATION

APPLICATIONS

POSITIVE POINTS

NEGATIVE POINTS

SOLUTIONS:FUEL, RECYCLING, PLASTIC ROADS, BIOPOLYMERS

POLYMERS

A polymer is a large molecule,

or macromolecule, composed of many

repeated subunits.

Polymerization is the process of combining

many small molecules known as monomers

into a covalently bonded chain or network.

Examples include DNA, RNA, poly ethylene,

poly styrene, poly carbonate, poly propene…

APPLICATIONS

Automotive Field

Medical field

AEROSPACE APPLICATIONS

Housings

Interior components

Valve seats and seals

Slide rails

Splines

Standoff insulators

Wear pads

Wire wrap insulation

Aircraft tray tables and arm rests

Aircraft windows and canopies

Air-return grills

Avionics instrument panels

Bearings and bushings

Composite tooling

Fasteners

Gears and gear spaces

Guides and stops

PLUS POINTS

Polymers can be very resistant to chemicals.

Polymers can be both thermal and electrical insulators.

Generally, polymers are very light in weight with significant degrees of strength.

Polymers can be processed in various ways.

Polymers are materials with a seemingly limitless range of characteristics and colors.

Polymers can be used to make items that have no alternatives from other materials.

THE

NEGATIVE

SIDE

WHAT WE CAN DO?

REUSE

RECYCLE

Levi’s uses recycled PET for

WasteLess denim

Each pair contains an average of eight 12-ounce to 20-ounce PET water bottles.

Levi Strauss & Co. has launched WasteLess—a new line of jeans made from a

fabric that incorporates recycled polyethylene terephthalate bottles (PET) and

trays gathered from municipal recycling programs in the U.S.

Each pair of jeans is about 20 per cent recycled PET, the equivalent of about

eight 12-ounce to 20-ounce PET post-consumer bottles, the company says. The

plastic is sorted by colour, crushed into flakes and turned into polyester fibre

before being blended with cotton to create the WasteLess fabric. The colours of

the bottles used “adds a unique finish to the final product,” the company says.

Plastic roads in INDIA

While polymer roads in the US are made with asphalt that comes pre-mixedwith a polymer, plastic tar roads are a frugal invention, made with a discarded,low-grade polymer.

Every kilometer of this kind of road uses the equivalent of 1m plastic bags,saving around one tonne of asphalt and costing roughly 8% less than aconventional road.

Dr R Vasudevan, a chemistry professor and dean at the Thiagarajar College ofEngineering in Madurai, came up with the idea through trial and error, sprinklingshredded plastic waste over hot gravel and coating the stones in a thin film ofplastic. He then added the plastic-coated stones to molten tar, or asphalt. Plasticand tar bond well together because both are petroleum products. The processwas patented in 2006.

Plastics As Fuels

Plastics are created primarily from energy feed stocks, typically natural gas or oil. The hydrocarbons that make up plastics are embodied in the material itself, essentially making plastics a form of stored energy, which can be turned into a liquid fuel source.

Plastics are collected and sorted for recycling. Then the non-recycled plastics (or residuals) are shipped to a plastics-to-fuel facility, where they are heated in an oxygen-free environment, melted and vaporized into gases. The gases are then cooled and condensed into a variety of useful products.

Depending on the specific technology, products can include synthetic crude or refined fuels for home heating; ingredients for diesel, gasoline or kerosene; or fuel for industrial combined heat and power.

Companies sell the petroleum products to manufacturers and industrial users, while fuels can help power cars, buses, ships and planes.

THE USE OF BIOPOLYMERS

– Biopolymers are either biodegradable which can be derived from renewable

and non renewable resources or non-biodegradable which can be derived from

renewable resources.

– Examples include cellulose, chitin, chitosan, PLA, starch, DNA , RNA, PHB,…

IMPORTANCE OF BIOPOLYMERS

Plastics materials are used world wide today for multitude of application. Most of these plastics are derived from petroleum and are not biodegradable.

The non renewable sources are decreasing steadily due to the high consumption.

Due to unorganized and improper disposal , non degradable plastics causing harm to the environment.

Derived from renewable resources such as edible and non edible crops.

Reduces the dependence of fossil fuel.

Carbon dioxide neutral and zero carbon foot print.

Bio degradable and bio based has end of disposal options.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS

Biopolymers can be sustainable, carbon neutral and are always renewable.

Raw materials for biopolymers come from agricultural non food crops. Therefore, the

use of biopolymers would create a sustainable industry.

In addition, biopolymers have the potential to cut carbon emissions and reduce

CO2 quantities in the atmosphere: this is because the CO2 released when they degrade

can be reabsorbed by crops grown to replace them: this makes them close to carbon

neutral.

Biopolymers are biodegradable, and some are also compostable.

Some biopolymers are biodegradable: they are broken down into CO2and water

by microorganisms.

Some of these biodegradable biopolymers are compostable: they can be put into an

industrial composting process and will break down by 90% within six months.

Biopolymers that do this can be marked with a 'compostable' symbol, under

European Standard EN 13432 (2000).

Packaging marked with this symbol can be put into industrial composting processes

and will break down within six months or less. An example of a compostable

polymer is PLA film under 20μm thick: films which are thicker than that do not

qualify as compostable, even though they are biodegradable.

In Europe there is a home composting standard and associated logo that enables

consumers to identify and dispose of packaging in their compost heap.

Lets shake our hands with nature for

a better tomorrow

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING