High-demand biopolymers for the plastics industry’s transformation — a technical, economic and environmental assessment of production processes
Research output: Contribution to journal › Research article › Contributed › peer-review
Contributors
Abstract
The petrochemical industry is facing the challenge of transitioning from fossil-based to renewable and circular feedstocks. One way to reduce the high greenhouse gas emissions in the plastics industry and to achieve climate neutrality in this sector is to produce and use bio-based polymers. Previous studies have addressed the development of productions routes, technical properties and the economic and environmental performance of various biopolymers. However, to date, no study provides a comprehensive overview of biopolymers that will be in high demand in the future, taking into account different biomass types and a combined technical, economic and environmental assessment. In this paper, seven high-demand biopolymers are selected, assessed through techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA), and compared to their petrochemical counterparts. The technical assessment indicates that polylactic acid (PLA) is the most advantageous biopolymer. Bio-based polyethylene terephthalate (PET) also performs well when all side streams are valorised. Comparing production costs, it becomes clear that bio-based polybutylene succinate (PBS), polyamide 6 (PA6), polyurethane (PUR) and PLA are roughly equivalent to their fossil counterparts. The LCA shows that, compared to their fossil counterparts, bio-based PUR and PBS are the most environmentally advantageous. Although the use of the biopolymers is application-specific and no biopolymer is optimal in every aspect for all industry demands, PLA is the biopolymer that performs best across the technical, economic and environmental assessments.
Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 101356 |
| Journal | Materials Today Sustainability |
| Volume | 34 |
| Publication status | Published - Jun 2026 |
| Peer-reviewed | Yes |
| Externally published | Yes |
External IDs
| Scopus | 105035526133 |
|---|---|
| ORCID | /0000-0001-7076-5971/work/230753046 |
Keywords
Sustainable Development Goals
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Keywords
- Biopolymers, LCA, Mass and energy balancing, Plastics industry, TEA