Sustainability Appraisal of Polymer Chemistry Using E-Factor: Opportunities, Limitations and Future Directions
Sami Fadlallah, Florent Allais
Abstract
Sustainability assessment of polymer production processes is of utmost importance to evaluate their environmental, social and economic impact, but it remains poorly studied. This chapter aims to raise the awareness of researchers and readers in academia, industry and civil society about this issue and some of the easy and straightforward methods to assess the greenness of polymers. To that end, it begins with an overview of polymer waste reduction, followed by the main methods of reducing the waste generated. It then describes in more details how readily available green metrics, such as environmental factor (E-factor), can help to assess manufacturing processes and polymer products, and identify areas where improvements can be made. Then, it describes methods that can be used in conjunction with E-factor to better assess the sustainability of a production process, while also showing the limitations/challenges linked to these methods. The main approaches to polymer development from biomass are presented, followed by a focus on E-factor calculations of examples of the widely used lignin-derived monomers and polymers (e.g., vanillin), as well as the rapidly evolving field of levoglucosenone-derived monomers and polymers. Future directions for improving the field of (sustainable) polymer chemistry is also provided.