Life cycle assessment of nanocellulose-reinforced advanced fibre composites
Life cycle assessment of nanocellulose-reinforced advanced fibre composites
复制标题
DOI：
10.1016/j.compscitech.2015.08.024
复制
发表时间：
2015-10-30
影响因子：
9.1
通讯作者：
Lee, Koon-Yang
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Hervy, Martin;Evangelisti, Sara;Lee, Koon-Yang
The research and development of nanocellulose-reinforced polymer composites have dramatically increased in recent years due to the possibility of exploiting the high tensile stiffness and strength of nanocellulose. In the work, the environmental impact of bacterial cellulose (BC)- and nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC)-reinforced epoxy composites were evaluated using life cycle assessment (LCA). Neat polylactide (PLA) and 30 wt.-% randomly oriented glass fibre-reinforced polypropylene (GF/PP) composites were used as benchmark materials for comparison. Our cradle-to-gate LCA showed that BC- and NFC-reinforced epoxy composites have higher global warming potential (GWP) and abiotic depletion potential of fossil fuels (ADO compared to neat PLA and GF/PP even though the specific tensile moduli of the nanocellulose-reinforced epoxy composites were higher than neat PLA and GF/PP. However, when the use phase and the end-of-life of nanocellulose-reinforced epoxy composites were considered, the "green credentials" of nanocellulose-reinforced epoxy composites were comparable to that of neat PLA and GF/PP composites. Our life cycle scenario analysis further showed that the cradle-to-grave GWP and ADf of BC- and NFC-reinforced epoxy composites could be lower than neat PLA when the composites contains more than 60 vol.-% nanocellulose. This suggests that nanocellulose-reinforced epoxy composites with high nanocellulose loading is desirable to produce materials with "greener credentials" than the best performing commercially available bio-derived polymers. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
