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A COMPREHENSIVE LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF THE BIOPOLYMER POLYLACTIC ACID
Citation:
LANDIS, A., T. L. THEIS, M. GONZALEZ, AND R. L. SMITH. A COMPREHENSIVE LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF THE BIOPOLYMER POLYLACTIC ACID. Presented at 2006 Gordon Research Conference on Industrial Ecology, Oxford, UK, August 06 - 11, 2006.
Description:
Research into the environmental implications of biobased production has focused primarily on global warming and fossil fuel use, while neglecting other environmental impacts. There are a multitude of contemporary environmental problems associated with the production of agricultural feedstocks; for example nitrogen and phosphorus emissions from agriculture are the primary contributors to hypoxia and eutrophication. As society increases its reliance on bio-based feedstocks, it is important to critically examine the entire life cycle of biobased products to elucidate such tradeoffs between lessening global warming and lessening fossil fuel reliance and increasing other environmental impacts. This poster attempts to address the entire environmental implications of biobased production through a comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) of the biopolymer polylactic acid. The tradeoff effects of other nutrient cycles, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, are discussed while utilizing a probability approach to LCA.