Improving Sustainability of PVC through Novel Materials, Processes and Life Cycle Methodologies

PVC是一种独特的多用途聚合物，在许多工业部门中都有广泛的应用。应用范围从水管，窗框，排水沟和踢脚板到信用卡，食品包装，医用管道和血液储存袋。然而，PVC对环境和社会（特别是健康）的负面影响多年来一直存在各种担忧。这项研究的目的是使聚氯乙烯成为一种更环保的材料。这将通过解决在PVC生产、使用和处置过程中改善其环境足迹的方法来实现。PVC的一个特殊问题是，当它被加热时，它很容易降解并释放出氯化氢（HCI）气体。这种气体既有毒又有腐蚀性。在将PVC颗粒加热熔化制成产品（如窗框）之前，必须添加稳定剂以防止降解。一些传统上用来稳定聚氯乙烯的化合物本身是有毒的，比如各种重金属化合物（如铅）。在我们的研究中，我们的目标是找到更有效地分散无毒添加剂的新方法（通过使用纳米技术），使PVC更稳定，从而减少降解，消除对有毒稳定剂的需求。这也应该使PVC更容易回收。我们的目标是利用纳米技术将粘土颗粒分布在柔性PVC中，以减少增塑剂的迁移。我们研究的另一个目标是减少PVC生产过程中的能源消耗。大多数PVC是通过一种液体化学物质（称为氯乙烯）的液滴悬浮在水中的过程制造的。在控制温度下，氯乙烯可以反应生成聚氯乙烯颗粒。然后PVC颗粒必须干燥以除去水分，这个干燥过程消耗大量的能量。我们建议开发一种使用水以外的溶剂生产PVC的工艺，因此在生产过程中应该节省大量的能源。这也将产生减少二氧化碳排放的效果，从而帮助政府实现减少工业过程中二氧化碳排放的目标。为了支持所有这些工作，我们建议开发新的软件来检查PVC在其生命周期的各个阶段对环境的影响，从资源提取（摇篮）到废物处理（坟墓）。

PVC is a uniquely versatile polymer that is used in a large range of applications in many industry sectors. Applications range from water pipes, window frames, guttering and skirting boards to credit cards, food packaging, medical tubing and blood storage bags. However, there have been various concerns over the negative environmental and social (particularly health) impacts of PVC for many years. The aim of this research is to make PVC a more environmentally friendly material. This will be done by addressing ways of improving the environmental footprint of PVC during its production, use and disposal.One particular problem with PVC is that it easily degrades to give off hydrogen chloride (HCI) gas when it is heated. This gas is both toxic and corrosive. Before PVC granules can be heated up and melted to make products (such as window frames) it is necessary to add stabilisers to prevent degradation. Some of the compounds that have traditionally been added to stabilise PVC are themselves toxic - such as various compounds of heavy metals (eg lead). In our research we aim to find new ways of dispersing non-toxic additives much more efficiently (by the use of nanotechnology) to make PVC more stable, thus reducing degradation and eliminating the need for toxic stabilisers. This should also make it easier to recycle PVC. We also aim to use nanotechnology to distribute clay particles in flexible PVC to reduce migration of plasticiser.Another target for our research is to reduce the energy consumed during the production of PVC. Most PVC is made by a process during which droplets of a liquid chemical (called vinyl chloride) are suspended in water. At controlled temperature the vinyl chloride can be made to react to produce granules of PVC. The PVC granules then have to be dried to remove the water and this drying process consumes a lot of energy. We propose to develop a process for making PVC using a solvent other than water, which should therefore save a lot of energy during the production process. This will also have the effect of reducing CO2 emissions, thereby helping the government to achieve its target of reduction of CO2 from industrial processes.To underpin all this work, we propose to develop new software to examine the impacts of PVC on the environment during all stages of its life-cycle from extraction of resources (cradle) to disposal of waste (grave).