SBIR Phase II: Expanding the Sustainability of Bio-plastics and PLA by Postponing End-of-Life through the use of Reactive Extrusion Chemistries

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第二阶段项目将开发强大的制造方法，将由废弃的聚乳酸树脂制成的新型生物基塑料商业化，从而产生一种新的方法，有效地解决生物塑料，特别是聚乳酸(PLA)的报废管理问题。聚乳酸是行业领先的生物塑料，因为它是可堆肥的，由玉米制成。然而，今天生产的许多解放军产品在寿命结束时被填埋或焚烧。尽管解放军和其他生物塑料是可堆肥的，但美国的工业堆肥基础设施非常有限。在这项工作下，将开发和优化商业规模的反应挤出工艺，以便从废弃的聚乳酸中稳健地生产超支化聚乳酸聚合物。第一阶段研究证实，超支化显著改善了废聚乳酸的熔体强度和力学性能。这些好处使超支化的解放军性能达到或超过了维珍解放军。正在开发的工艺技术将克服废弃聚乳酸原料的显著差异，使生产的树脂具有统一的产品质量。提供超支化的反应挤出过程具有成本效益和可扩充性。这一过程将使一个有生存能力的企业能够将回收的聚乳酸树脂作为一种用于耐用品应用的增值材料进行销售。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发一种重要的、新颖的、具有成本效益的方法并将其商业化，通过为使用最广泛的生物塑料聚乳酸增加价值来满足使塑料更可持续发展的迫切需求。用更低成本的原料生产改进的聚乳酸树脂，最终将扩大聚乳酸的商业应用，并为废弃聚乳酸创造一个新的市场。目前，解放军在美国的市场规模约为3亿英镑，并以每年约15%的速度增长。使用聚乳酸的商业塑料加工商和复合商将能够通过使用这项技术，用回收的聚乳酸取代或补充原始聚乳酸的使用。此外，通过提供一种具有商业吸引力的方法来回收聚乳酸，这一新工艺将有效地激励回收商将聚乳酸从其废物来源中移除。由于聚乳酸树脂价格较高，聚乳酸进入耐用品市场的速度一直很慢。通过使用超支化、可回收的聚乳酸作为来自包装或消耗品的原料，可以显著降低耐用产品的材料成本。通过超支化回收聚乳酸提供了一种显著延长寿命的方法，并帮助聚乳酸充分发挥其作为可持续、资源可再生生物塑料的潜力。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop robust manufacturing methods to commercialize novel biobased plastics made from scrap PLA resins, resulting in a new method to effectively address end-of-life management of bioplastics, specifically polylactic acid (PLA). PLA is the industry leading bioplastic as it is compostable and made from corn. However, many PLA-based products manufactured today are land filled or incinerated at their end of life. Despite being compostable, industrial composting infrastructure for PLA and other bioplastics in the United States is very limited. Under this work, a commercial scale reactive extrusion process will be developed and optimized for the robust production of hyperbranched PLA polymers from scrap PLA. Phase I research verified that hyperbranching dramatically improves the melt strength and mechanical properties of scrap PLA. These benefits give hyperbranched PLA properties that meet or exceed those of virgin PLA. The process technology being developed will overcome the significant variability in scrap PLA feedstocks, allowing for production of resin with uniform product quality. The reactive extrusion process to impart hyperbranching is cost-effective and scalable. This process will enable a viable business to sell recycled PLA resin as a value-added material intended for durable goods applications. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is the development and commercialization of an important, novel, and cost effective way to meet the pressing need of making plastics more sustainable by adding value to the most broadly used bioplastic, PLA. Creating improved PLA resins from lower cost feedstock will ultimately expand commercial applications for PLA and create a new market for scrap PLA. The current U.S. market for PLA is approximately 300 million pounds and growing at approximately 15% annually. Commercial plastic processors and compounders using PLA will be able to replace or supplement use of virgin PLA with recycled PLA by using this technology. Additionally, by providing a commercially attractive method to recycle PLA, this new process will effectively incentivize recyclers to remove PLA from their waste sources. Penetration of PLA into durable goods markets has been slow due to the higher price of PLA resin. By using hyperbranched, recycled PLA as a feedstock that originates from packaging or consumable products, the materials costs for durable products can be significantly reduced. Recycling PLA by hyperbranching offers a way to significantly extend the end of life and help enable PLA achieve its full potential as a sustainable, resource renewable bioplastic.