Life cycle assessment and eco profile of plastic, glass and unimium bottle

Luodi Wang Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Eco-Profile of Plastic, Glass, and Aluminium Bottles an analysis of which type of bottle is the most environmental: least impact on climate change and toxic effects to the environment Abstract: In recent years, as climate change becomes more prevalent, much research has been going into microplastic to eliminate extracting plastic from gas oil or natural gas, using bio grade substitutes for raw materials, and replacing plastic bottles with glass bottles However, modern solutions only solve a portion of the carbon footprint in the bottle production industry, and many carbon dioxide emissions are still produced from it In this contribution, different types of one time liquid storages- plastic, glass, and aluminium bottles- were analyzed step by step starting from raw material extraction to recycling for the least amount of carbon dioxide each stage producedthe Life Cycle Assessment process The results show the production of glass bottles has the least amount of CO2 emissions, and aluminium bottle production produces the highest amount of carbon dioxide by far Introduction: Climate change has been increasing in intensity over the past decades, and especially over the past decade According to NOAA, the 10 warmest years in history over the past 126 years have all occurred since 1998, and out of the 10 happened since 2005 Contributions from climate change and increasing temperature are attributed strongly to a proliferation of greenhouses gas, which is any gas that has the property to absorb infrared radiation emitted from Earth’s surface and reradiate it back to the surface contributing to the greenhouse effect Carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapor are the most important greenhouse gases, however, there are many other types that have a significantly less proportion Despite being 84 more times powerful and toxic than carbon dioxide, the annual methane emissions are at only 570 million tons a year while CO2 contributes to more than 36 billion tonnes per year Much of the 36 billion tonnes comes from the production of gas and oil, the raw material of all plastic products The production process of plastic, glass, and aluminium bottles all involve processors that emit large amounts of CO2 The surge of demand for single use bottles including plastic bottles which are extracted from fracking oil or glass bottles using carbon dioxide emitting furnaces per year is increasing to 500 billion bottles yearly production To find the amount of CO2 emitted from the three types of bottles production, a Life Cycle Assessment is used to analyze and calculate the carbon footprints-in CO2e-of specific products through a step process: raw material extraction and processing, raw material transport, production process, transport of finished goods, and end-of-life management There have been previous studies on carbon emissions per gram of polyethylene produced for plastics production specifically in Europe or how much CO2 is emitted from the nascent stages of glass production, but none have been done from the data recorded recently or a data for the accumulated CO2 emitted per annum from the total global production of plastic, glass, or aluminium bottles Some previous researches show that these bottles are produced from complex sources that all to some degree emit levels of CO2, which sets an accurate dataset for the cumulative CO2 emissions of bottle production However, few studies have been done on the comprehensive amount of carbon dioxide emissions and environmental effects of plastic, glass, and aluminium bottle production, and in one such study, CO2 is only measured based on per bottle rather than emissions based on total bottles produced around the world Most studies are regionally based, which causes the numbers to vary by many times, but this research is specifically focused on calculating and finding the global average Analysis of these data is to research which type of single used bottles is the most harmful towards the environment and what steps could be taken to minimize such effects- whether it’s investigating the recently developed modern approaches to producing polyethylene or gradually eradicating a type of bottle entirely Each step in the production process of plastic, glass, and aluminium bottles, even from producing raw materials involve CO2 emissions A majority portion of plastic, for example, is produced from gas extraction, which produces flares, and the processors produce a large amount of CO2 Thus, with the information of how much CO2 each step of plastic and glass bottles, and aluminium can produce, there would be renewed awareness to use the most environmental processors and techniques to produce these bottles Most importantly, the analyzed data shows which part of climate change could be easily eliminated One of the major aspects in such rapid temperature increase is the continuous CO2 emissions emitted during the production of plastic, glass, and aluminium bottles Thus, this research is specifically pointed towards analyzing and calculating the specific amount of the total CO2 footprint from each step in making and transporting the annual capacity of plastic, glass, and aluminium bottles and how much CO2 directly contributes to total global annual CO2 emissions and temperature increase within a year Methodologies & Calculations: The finalized data of total CO2 emissions from plastic, glass, and aluminium bottles are calculated by multiplying and averaging data points for smaller units based on the emission from one single bottle or gram of ethylene, the material molded into plastic Because small discrepancies occur between data points from different regions in previous researches, Standard Deviation is used to calculate the amount of inaccuracy between each region Some processes contain a general data of CO2 emissions per MJ of energy in production, but it couldn’t be calculated because of the complex composition and a lack of information It’s primarily used as an individual reference For the transportation process no precise data could be analyzed or calculated because it’s difficult to know the value to each of the variables: distance, CO2 emitted/gas mileage, what types of trucks are used, and the transportation process not only in trucks but also from cargo ships and aeroplanes Only plastics have one such data for the calculation of the total CO2 emissions, in glass and aluminium bottles it’s already calculated within the total There is little purpose to calculate the precise amount of CO2 from transport since it’s a small proportion and for example, refrigeration of glass bottles emits more carbon dioxide than transporting it Plastic Production Note: Calculations are done here not to express the total number of CO2 emitted, but rather raise awareness about the possible elimination of such numbers had plastic been replaced biologically or by other types of bottles Gross raw materials required to produce 1 kg of HDPE in mass mg Fuel Type Input in Mg Crude oil 910,000 Gas/Condensate (flaring) 580,000 Coal 100,000 Total Number of Raw Materials Needed: Crude Oil, Gas/Condensate, Coal ton = 1,000 kilograms ton = 109 mg ● Crude 910,000 mg/kg of HDPE 3.75 * 1010 kg of HDPE per year * 910,000 mg/kg of HDPE = 3.4125 * 1016 34,125,000 million tonnes of crude required for all HDPE production/ year * 0.41 (percent of HDPE use for blow moulding or making into plastic bottles) 13,991,250 million tonnes of crude required for plastic bottle/ year ● Gas/Condense 580,000 mg/kg of HDPE 3.75 * 1010 kg of HDPE per year * 580,000 mg/kg of HDPE = 2.175 * 1016 21,750,000 million tonnes of gas/condense required for all HDPE production/ year * 0.41 8,917,500 million tonnes of gas/condense required for plastic bottle/year ● Coal 100,000 mg/kg of HDPE 3.75 * 1010 kg of HDPE per year * 100,000 mg/kg of HDPE = 3.75 * 1015 3,750,000 million tonnes of coal required for all HDPE production/ year * 0.41 1,537,500 million tonnes of coal required for plastic bottle/year CO2 emitted per kg of HDPE production in units of megajoule of Crude, Gas/Condense, and Coal Megajoule is equivalent to million joules liter of gasoline is equal to 34.8 megajoules Fuel Type Total Energy (MJ) Crude (oil) 40.83 Gas/Condense 30.39 Coal 2.90 a Oil production emitted 10.3 grams of emissions for every megajoule of crude Which emits 420.549 grams of CO2/ MJ of crude *data unavailable for gas/condense and coal Flaring of gas productions, baseline for extracting the raw materials of ethane (C2H6) which make the raw materials of ethylene (C2H4) Although most ethane derives from natural gas, which is naturally formed from organisms that died 100 million years ago, ethane could also be produced through gas oil or bioethanol However, most of the drilling and fracturing emit highly toxic flares, a combination of CO2 and methane (CH4) Image of Ethane, (C2H6) When an oil well begins to emit, less valuable natural gas comes up alongside crude oil, natural gas pipelines capture the gas, however, some refineries like ones in the ocean don’t have pipelines availible, manufacturers get rid of the gas to avoid pumping oil Igniting the gas, also known as flaring, is released into the air Gas flares burn up the flammable gases released by pressure relief valves to prevent these harmful excess gases from leaking into surrounding areas, which produces carbon dioxide and water vapor Gas flares are primarily- more than 90%composed of methane, but inert gases including CO2 exist The oil production emits 10.3 grams of CO2 emissions for every megajoule of crude, which requires 20 MJ/ kg of ethylene For flaring, there are 145 billion cubic meters of gas flares global gas flaring emits more than 350 million tons of carbon dioxide in a year = carbon emissions of 90 coal-fired power plants ton= 1,000 cubic meter Amu of CO2 is 44.01; 350,000,000 million tons of carbon dioxide/145,000,000,000 billion cubic meters of gas flares There are about 0.0024137931 tons of CO2 per cubic meter of a gas flare Or with same units, 350 million tons of CO2/145 million tons of gas flares 2.4137931 tons of CO2 per ton of gas flare emitted Catalytic cracking of gas oil from crude oil, making the extracted ethane into ethylene C2H4 Ethylene is produced by several methods in the petrochemical industry But there are two major ways, a Steam cracking of ethane and propane, or of naphtha from crude oil b Catalytic cracking of gas oil from crude oil In short, steam cracking (or thermal cracking) goes over 800°C with hydrocarbons and steam and requires no catalyst while catalytic cracking uses a temperature of 550°C with a catalyst zeolite which contains aluminium oxide and silicon oxide Steam cracking converts large hydrocarbons into smaller ones beginning unsaturation When ethane is the raw material, ethylene is the product Ethylene is separated from the resulting mixture by repeated compression and distillation Light olefins (ethyne, polyethylene) are produced or emitted from steam cracking Despite there being two major ways for ethene to be produced from natural gas or crude oil, catalytic cracking is more efficient and widely used than steam cracking Steam cracking is the higher temperature, more extreme part of a larger process called thermal cracking It yields a higher quantity of well-controlled branched-chain, unsaturated, aromatic hydrocarbons compared to steam cracking A catalytic cracker as used to produce alkenes from gas oil In catalyst cracking, all of the carbon dioxide produced is regenerated as the catalyst altering the enthalpy because the fundamental difference between hydrocracking and catalytic cracking is that catalytic cracking is an endothermic process, including a while hydrocracking is an exothermic process The heat for catalytic cracking is supplied by the regeneration of catalysts Thus, only steam cracking could be considered for CO2 emissions A steam cracker used to produce alkenes from gas oil, which emits CO2 In state of the art steam cracking plants, greater than 90% of the CO2 emissions are directly turned to the high energy consumption of the endothermic conversion in the cracking furnaces However, in most steam crackers, the emitted CO2 is more than 300 million tonnes of CO2 per year For catalytic cracking there are about 0.99 pounds of CO2 emissions per kWh for modern processors Manufacturing of Ethylene into Polyethylene (C2H4)n HDPE is made by cracking under controlled conditions by applying intense heat to gas creating ethylene gas The gas molecules then attach to form polymers, which then produces polyethylene Polyethylene is made by addition or radical polymerization of ethylene (olefin) monomers (Chemical formula of Ethene - C2H4) Ziegler-Natta and Metallocene catalysts are used to carry out polymerization of polyethylene Making HDPE from Polyethylene HDPE HDPE is primarily produced by techniques: Slurry Process and Gas Phase Polymerization HDPE are produced by two principle types of processes which all operate from a pressure of 10-80 atm and ranging from temperatures between 350-420 K In all three processes, hydrogen is mixed with the ethene to control the chain length of the polymer types of catalyst are principally used in the manufacture of HDPE: ● a Ziegler-Natta organometallic catalyst (titanium compounds with an aluminium alkyl) ● Phillips-type catalyst, inorganic example is chromium(VI) oxide on silica (i) Slurry process The Ziegler-Natta catalyst is mixed with a liquid hydrocarbon and a mixture of hydrogen and ethene is then passed under pressure into the slurry, resulting in the ethene being polymerized to HDPE The manufacture of polyethene using the slurry process in a loop reactor (ii) Gas phase process (fixed bed reactor) Low pressure gas-phase process Ethene polymerizes to form grains of HDPE Some modern plants use two or more of the individual reactors, and each are under slightly different conditions, so the linear polymer chains would fit closer together with fewer branches; hence, it creates stronger intermolecular bonds in polyethylene making the material stronger had it been solely produced by one type of processor 37.5 million tonnes of HDPE are produced Based on 2204.6 pounds per ton; 8.26725*10^10 pounds of HDPE 41 percent of HDPE are used for blow moulding, which are created for plastic bottles Thus, 3.3895725*10^10 pounds of HDPE specifically for plastic bottles 1.478 pounds of CO2 is emitted per pound of HDPE production So the total pounds of CO2 emitted for plastic bottle HDPE is 5.009788155*10^10 pounds, Which is 22,724,250 million tonnes of CO2 emitted solely for HDPE production in plastic bottles General, modern processors: about 1,478 lbs carbon dioxide is emitted per 1,000 lbs HDPE during HDPE production 79% of the greenhouse gas emissions are fuel related and 21% are process related However, HDPE has a 14% recovery rate Under such a recovery rate, 19,542,855 millions tonnes of CO2 are emitted General Data (amount of product produced at each processing stage): 134 million tonnes of ethane is produced per annum 166 million tonnes of ethene is produced per annum 99.6 million tonnes of polyethylene are manufactured each year, 60% of world’s ethene production 37.5 million tonnes of HDPE are produced each year 41 percent of HDPE are for blow moulding, plastic bottles 480 billion plastic bottles are made each year Final Data of Plastic Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Note: (Western European Data from 2007 converted to now) 3.87 million tonnes of HDPE production from data, 89.7 percent of all European production 5.8 million tonnes from Europe current HDPE, 37.5 million tonnes total in the world HDPE So by current world calculation, all the data are based on HDPE production that is 8.69 times less compared to current calculated proportions. Discrepancies are small, and it doesn’t affect the per unit data measurements Glass Production Soda-lime glass is used in the production of glass jars and bottles 46% of the world’s heavy sodium carbonate is used to make glass bottles Production of Sodium Carbonate (Na2CO3 ) used for Glass Na2CO3, "soda" are used, heavy and light Light form is first produced, which is then converted into heavy form Each type has different uses and only the heavy sodium carbonate is the solid used to make glass Although it’s part of the glass making process, Sodium carbonate is used as a flux in the melting of sand to lower the glass transition temperature Annual production of sodium carbonate is 52 million tonnes Sodium carbonate is made from different processes that produce high levels of carbon dioxide, but it isn’t necessarily emitted into the environment ● salt and calcium carbonate through the ammonia soda process (Solvay Process) ● Sodium carbonate and hydrogencarbonate ores through the trona and nahcolite ores The first type of process is defined by the following formula: CaCO2 + 2NaCl → CaCL2 + Na2CO3 A Furnaces are fed with a limestone and coke mixture (13:1 by mass) The coke burns in a counter-current of preheated air: Through combustion, the temperature is raised in the furnace, and the limestone decomposes The resulting gas contains approximately 40% carbon dioxide B During its process in the Solvay Tower, the carbon dioxide is passed up the tower and dissolves to react with dissolving ammonia forming ammonium hydrogen carbonate C However, the sodium hydrogencarbonate is heated in ovens at 450 K to decompose into sodium carbonate, water and carbon dioxide: The carbon dioxide, however, is sent back to the Solvay Tower for use The Second Type of Process is using trona and nahcolite ores, which accounts for ⅓ of the world’s sodium carbonate’s production A The ore is solid and heated to emit carbon dioxide for the yield sodium carbonate: So far, only the nahcolite ore production of sodium carbonate emits CO2 Melting of Raw Materials (Silica/Sand) Sand, which is mostly composed of silicon dioxide, and other raw materials are heated until they melt and turn into a liquid at a temperature of 1700 Celsius The soda-lime-silica glass is first made with sand that’s mixed with waste glass, soda ash (sodium carbonate), and limestone (calcium carbonate) then heated in a furnace Then soda is added to reduce the sand’s melting point to save energy and lime (CaO, calcium oxide, generally obtained from limestone is added to avoid glass becoming soluble) To improve chemical durability, sometimes magnesium oxide (MgO) and aluminium oxide (Al2O3) are added Soda-lime glasses (Na2O) + lime (CaO) + magnesia (MgO) + alumina (Al2O3) make up over 75% of manufactured glass The total transformation of raw materials into glass is around 1320 Celsius 650,000 tonnes of CO2 is emitted by furnaces each year and with more energy efficiency practices, 13500 tons of CO2 would be saved The soda-lime-silica is either poured into molds to make bottles, glasses, and other containers Glassblowing Free-blowing and mold-blowing are used occasionally for the production of glass bottles, however, they not emit any calculable amount of CO2 Glassblowing involves three furnaces that are contained in one structure The first is "the furnace" The second is used to reheat a piece in between the working steps The final furnace is used to slowly cool the glass over a period of a few hours to a few days, depending on the size of the pieces, used for the annealing process keeping the glass from cracking or shattering due to thermal stress During the transformation of raw materials into glass, it takes place at around 1,320 °C The glass is then left to cool off to the working temperature- reduced in the furnace to around 1,090°C Most glassblowing is done between 870 and 1,040 °C, "soda-lime" glass can be blown at as low as 730 °C Finally, annealing is done between 371 and 482 °C Transporting Glass Glass transportation is heavier in weight and breaks more easily making transporting it to be more inefficient and risky However, despite such, the CO2 emitted from transportation only takes up about 3.6% of the total emissions per glass bottle produced around the world average _ The total fossil fuel energy consumed to make glass in North America is 16.6 MJ megajoule per kilogram of container glass The GWP averaged 1.25 MJ per kg of container glass produced I t averages to about less than a liter of gasoline to make kg of glass a about 185 kg of CO2 is released per ton of glass production The global production of glass bottles quantifies at 60.8 million metric tons of glass bottles 1.1248*1010 kg of CO2 12,398,794.07 million tons of CO2 produced each year b metric ton= 35273 ounces 2.144659200000 trillion ounces which equals about 268,082,400,000 BOTTLES produced each year The average is 0.13775 kg/CO2e is emitted per average container 3.69283506*1010 kg emitted per year from glass bottles ton = 907.185 kg 40,706,526.89 tons of CO2 e is produced each year from glass bottle production Aluminium Production Bauxite is the ore eventually made to create aluminum bottles The ratio between products are noted as follows: for every pounds of bauxite, pounds of alumina can be produced For every pounds of alumina, pound of aluminum is produced pounds of bauxite produces pound of aluminium (other materials not included) Extraction of Bauxite Most common raw material is bauxite to make aluminium Bauxite is formed naturally through the weathering of many rocks and composed of other minerals Approximately 100 kg CO2 per ton of bauxite is produced during the process of pit mining Total world production of bauxite is approximately 246 Mt ton = 907.2 kg 246 Mt * 100 kg CO2 = 246 billion kg of CO2 271,164,021.2 million tonnes of CO2 from annual bauxite production Processed into Alumina or Aluminium Oxide 90% of worldwide refineries use the Bayer process to transform bauxite into alumina - Al2O3 - a white powder However, it can only be used on bauxite with a low content of admixtures, particularly silicon The Bayer process functions in the following order: ● Crystallised aluminium hydrate found in bauxite is dissolved in concentrated caustic soda (NaOH) at high temperatures ● Lowered temperature the concentration of the solution increases again and aluminium hydrate crystallises ● After aluminium hydrate gets dissolved in caustic soda the ballast is isolated and removed into red mud Alumina is the direct source of aluminium in the aluminium production process However cryolite is added to create the right environment for electrolysis Cryolite is made by mixing hydrofluoric acid with aluminium hydroxide and soda Smelting Aluminium (Hall-Héroult Process) (Recycled aluminium doesn’t use this process.) Electrolytic reduction is the heart of an aluminium smelter to make aluminium The constant voltage at the electrodes of each reduction cell varies in the range of between and volts, with high amperages of 300, 400 KA is the main production force of this process Cathode: Al3+ + e− → Al Anode: O2- + C → CO + e− Overall: Al2O3 + C → Al + CO More CO2 is formed at the anode than CO: Al2O3 + C → Al + CO2 For every tonne of aluminium produced 280,000 cubic metres of gases are emitted 58.3 Mt of aluminium are produced each year worldwide For every about 1.6 kg of CO2 are emitted for every kg of aluminum produced 0.0017637 tons of CO2 for every kg of aluminum produced * 52888870342 93,280,100 tons of CO2 17% of aluminium goes to cans or packaging related products → 15,857,617 tons of CO2 for aluminium bottle/can production For 1 ton of aluminium, it emits 1.5 tons of CO2 87,450,000 tons of CO2 are emitted To reduce the emissions, every reduction cell is equipped with a gas removal system that catches the gases emitted during the reduction process and directs them into a gas treatment plant Moulding and Transport Molten aluminium is transported to the casthouse of the smelter At this stage the metal has admixtures which could have a drastic impact on the property of aluminium The admixtures are removed by remelting the aluminium in a special furnace at 800 Celsius The resulting pure aluminium is cast into special moulds to solidify _ The International Institute of Aluminium estimates that since 1880 almost a billion tonnes of aluminium has been produced around the world with about 750 Mt of Aluminium still used today kg of recycled empty beverage cans save about kg of bauxite, kg of various fluorides and 14 KWH of electricity Total CO2 Calculations: 0.2655 kg/CO2e per aluminium bottle 220 billion aluminium bottles (cans) world wide production ton = 907.182 kg 220 billion * 0.2655 = 5.841*1010 In tons, 64,386,198.14 tons of CO2 from aluminium bottle production How Man-Made Carbon Dioxide Affects Temperature Increase Carbon dioxide determines the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere and thus the size of the greenhouse effect From the current amount of CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere, the temperature will increase at least another 0.6 degrees Celsius However, without greenhouse gases, Earth would be frozen at 18 degrees Celsius But, too many greenhouse gases would keep the temperatures around 400 degrees Celsius The greenhouse carbon dioxide functions through the following It has a wider range of atmospheric temperatures than water and provides the initial greenhouse heating needed to maintain the water vapor concentrations After the carbon dioxide concentrations drop, the water vapor falls out of the atmosphere resulting in the Earth’s cooling When carbon dioxide concentrations rise, more water vapor evaporates into the atmosphere which then makes air temperatures go up The following calculations are based on an equation of the relationship between the amount of CO2 and temperature However, note that this equation is not official Because plastic, glass, and aluminium bottle production produces many Mt of CO2 per year, the carbon emissions data from the LCA is used to determine the amount of temperature increase from bottle production Which could be calculated by the following equation brought by Graham can be expressed in a single equation to calculate the rise in temperature dT because the increase of the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere C: dT= alpa0* alpha ln (C/C0) in degree centigrade with alpha0= 0.266 degree centigrade/ w/m^2, alpha= 5.35 w/m^2, The constant will be alpha* alpha0= 1.42 degree centigrade Assume doubling the CO2 concentration, then dT for doubling=0.984 degree centigrade So finally, dT= 1.42 ln (C/C0) degree centigrade and for every doubling to temperature the rise in temperature will be about one degree centigrade Assume that the above equation remains linear in ln (C/C0) This can be valid so long as the CO2 concentration is still small compared to the major air gases[16] (not enough information to calculate) Non Carbon Dioxide Environmental Effects of Bottle Production Plastics: ● Additives added during plastic production are highly toxic for humans particularly the organotin compounds Polyethylene additives include antioxidants for process stabilization, antiblock compounds to reduce sticking of adjacent film layers, and slip agents to reduce friction ● In the fracking process, millions of liters of water, thousands of liters of chemicals and thousands of pounds of sand are injected underground at very high pressure to create fractures in the rock so gas can flow up the wells However, these fracking operations deplete water sources and contaminate groundwater with methane and chemicals The safety of fracking wastewater disposal is also minimal Fracking overall harms the environment and destroys the ecosystem of plants and animals ● Natural gas produces lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions are combined emissions associated with extraction, combustion, and methane and CO2 releases Fracking releases large amounts of natural gas into the atmosphere consisting of both CO2 and methane Methane in particular is a very powerful greenhouse gas It can trap 20 to 25 times more heat in the atmosphere than CO2 which increases Earth’s temperature many times more than CO2 ● Because polyethylene requires the extraction of crude oil, a new plant was constructed in Brazil for the production of bio-based poly(ethene), from ethene, made from sugar cane via bioethanol However, this requires large pieces of land and the distillation process is harmful towards the environment ● Flue gas from burning trash, mostly plastics are as a result of using the energy from burning trash and converting as energy for homes, offices, and etc The emitted material produced contains pollutants such as particulates, sulfur dioxide, mercury, and carbon dioxide But most flue gas consists of nitrogen oxides and high levels of nitrogen dioxide can cause damage to the human respiratory tract increasing a person's vulnerability to respiratory infections and asthma Long-term exposure to high levels of nitrogen dioxide can cause chronic lung disease ● The accumulation of plastic corrosion and neglect of plastic bottles in wastelands led to recent developments of microplastic Microplastic are fragmented larger pieces of plastic and range less than 5mm In 2014, it was estimated that there were between 15 and 51 trillion individual pieces of microplastic in the world's oceans estimated to weigh between 93,000 and 236,000 metric tons Microplastics are now present in every part of the environment Risks are likely to become widespread within a century if pollution remains at its current rate, and take hundreds of years to dissolve For example, marine life faces ingestion of microplastics and becomes embedded in animal tissue ● Plastic bottles, if not recycled, take about 450 years to decompose in the environment Glass: ● 50 billion tons of sand are extracted from the environment each year ● Extracting sand from the environment creates destruction to ecosystems because the immense volume has a major impact on rivers, deltas, coastal, and marine ecosystems Sand mining results in great loss of sand by river or coastal erosion, which decreases the amount of sediment supply ● Glass bottles take million years to decompose in the environment ● Currently, only 40 percent of glass thrown into single-stream recycling collections actually gets recycled ● While glass is completely recyclable, unfortunately there are certain facilities that choose to crush the glass and use it as a landfill cover instead because it is cheaper than recycling the glass,or finding another cover material for landfills Long term use of this makes damages towards the environment and increases the CO2 emissions Aluminium: ● It takes more energy to mine and produce aluminium than any other metal The energy it takes to make soda cans is equivalent to filling can with gasoline and thus emits many emissions including methane ● Close to 80 billion tons of natural resources are extracted per year to make aluminium bottles around the world Discussions: From the final calculations, plastic bottles emitted 88,680,000 million tonnes of CO2 followed by 64,386,194 tons of CO2 from aluminium bottle production and 40,706,526 tons of CO2 e is produced each year from glass bottle production With the consideration of surplus environmental damages outside of carbon footprint, plastic is the most harmful as the hypothesis predicted Based on each type of bottle’s carbon footprint through the LCA, it showed that much like other researches, plastic bottles (PET) inflicts the greatest damage upon the environment Although the carbon emissions produced by annual global production of each bottle type is different in amount compared to single units, the single units are more accurate and used for the concluding data of this experiment Thus in conclusion, if each bottle has a capacity of 335 mL, 0.18475 of kg CO2 e is produced from plastic, 0.13775 kg/CO2e produced from glass, and 0.2655 kg/CO2e aluminium In conclusion, aluminium emits the largest amount of CO2 per bottle of 335 mL [include data about the climate change aspect, how much more temperature increased] The particular weaknesses and discrepancies were that specific, inaccuracy proof data weren’t available because of a lack and sometimes conflicting information Because this report is solely based on a calculation analysis retrieved from other sources and calculated based on appropriate adjustments to annual global production- which none of the reports have- it would be different if these bottle types were made in a laboratory Furthermore, different sizes and use of bottles was not considered, as it would be impossible to so Further research necessary to answer the questions of my results would be to have a precisely calculated experiment to find out the exact CO2 emissions for each process Conclusions: Many initiatives have been taken already to decrease carbon emissions and pollutants emitted from plastic bottles, glass bottles, and aluminium bottles Plastics: In the plastics industry, new technology to replace the use of fossil fuel by using bioethanol as replacements Companies are producing polyethylene from sugarcane A Brazilian company is developing a production capacity of 200,000 short tons (180,000,000 kg) that will produce high-density and low-density polyethylene from bioethanol derived from sugarcane High yields are done through ethanol vapor using a catalyst containing a mixture of MgO, alumina, and silica at 600-750 K Polyethylene could also be made from crops such as wheat grain and sugar beet A new type of plastic is being produced- bakelite Bakelite or polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride is the first synthetic plastic to be made It was revolutionary because of its heat resistance and electrical nonconductivity Bakelite is made through several processes First, the mixture of phenol and formaldehyde is heated with a catalyst, hydrochloric acid, zinc chloride, or base ammonia Then, it’s turned into a liquid condensation product soluble in the alcohol family It’s then heated to a higher temperature with the violent foaming of the mixture until the product becomes “insoluble hard gum.” Finally, the previous product is then placed into a “Bakelizer” under a pressure of about 150 Celsius which makes it hard, infusible, and insoluble Bakelite has a number of properties: it’s smooth, quick to make, resistant to exterior damages, and electricity Glass: Glass manufacturing accounts for the lowest amount of CO2 emissions, yet its use from the natural environment requires millions of tons per year However, with higher levels of recycling, there would be a smaller amount of GWP and emissions used during total production Furthermore, furnaces use the emitted CO2 back into the three-part furnace to use less power for glass production According to estimates, if a glass manufacturing facility used 50% recycled content to make new glass, then there would be a 10 percent decrease in GWP This would result in a 50 percent recycle rate and would remove 2.2 million metric tons of CO2 from the environment Such a reduction would be equal to remove 400,000 cars off the road each year Aluminium: Aluminium production is constantly refined to minimize environmental footprint while maximizing quality percent of the world’s energy is spent on producing aluminium, however, replacing it with recycled aluminium would only take percent of the percent to produce new aluminium, which would only require 0.1 percent of the world’s energy Aluminium production is constantly refined to maximise quality while minimising costs and the environmental footprint For example, modern reduction cells have been designed to operate around 400-500 KA amperage while older ones are being replaced with the newer ones To reduce even more amperage, cutting edge technologies such as the inert anode process are being worked on This allows the aluminium production to stop using carbon anodes, which emit large amounts of CO2 With inert anodes, they emit pure oxygen instead and one could produce as much oxygen as 70 hectares of forest Inert anodes are also infinite in energy Because the worldwide demand of aluminium bottles is increasing drastically, the trend of smaller bottles and caps, and neck diameters Manufacturers also rigorously diagnose techniques to study bottle sheets by examining the crystalline structure of the metal with X-ray diffraction This would make bottles more efficient and smaller Works Cited: Kellogg, Kathryn “Which Is Better For The Environment? Glass or Plastic?” Going Zero Waste, June 2020, goingzerowaste.com/blog/which-is-better-for-the-environment-glass-or-plastic/ “Aluminum: Material-Specific Data.” EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, 25 Mar 2020, www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/aluminum-material-specific -data “Aluminium Cans Consumption.” The World Counts, 2020, www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/consumption/foods-and-beverages/aluminium-cans-facts “Aluminum Beverage Can.” How Products Are Made, www.madehow.com/Volume-2/Aluminum-Beverage-Can.html “A Study of the Balance between Furnace Operating Parameters and Recycled Glass in Glass Melting Furnaces.” Glass Technology Services Ltd., September 2004, https://www.glass-ts.com/userfiles/files/2004%20-%20A%20Study%20of%20the%20Balance% 20between%20Furnace%20Operating%20Parameters%20and%20Recycled%20Glass%20in%20 Glass%20Melting%20Furnaces%20(Carbon%20Trust).pdf How Aluminium Is Produced, www.aluminiumleader.com/production/how_aluminium_is_produced/ Nico Tyabji, William Nelson “Mitigating Emissions from Aluminium.” The Global Network for Climate Solutions, September 2014http://climate.columbia.edu/files/2012/04/GNCS-Aluminum-Factsheet.pdf “Extracting Metals Using Electrolysis - What Are Electrolytes and What Happens in Electrolysis? - OCR 21C - GCSE Combined Science Revision - OCR 21st Century - BBC Bitesize.” BBC News, BBC, www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zxyq4qt/revision/4 Cecilia Springer, Ali Hasanbeigi “Emerging Energy Efficiency and Carbon Dioxide EmissionsReduction Technologies for Industrial Production of Aluminum” June 2016, https://china.lbl.gov/sites/all/files/06-06-16_lbl_ceg_aluminum_ee_techs.pdf I Boustead for Plastics Europe, “Eco-Profiles of the European Plastics Industry” March 2005, http://www.inference.org.uk/sustainable/LCA/elcd/external_docs/hdpe_311147f2-fabd-11da-974 d-0800200c9a66.pdf Nico Tyabji, William Nelson, “Mitigating Emissions from Aluminium” April 2004, http://climate.columbia.edu/files/2012/04/GNCS-Aluminum-Factsheet.pdf Cecilia Springer, Ali Hasanbeigi, “Emerging Energy Efficiency and Carbon Dioxide EmissionsReduction Technologies for Industrial Production of Aluminum” June 2016, https://china.lbl.gov/sites/all/files/06-06-16_lbl_ceg_aluminum_ee_techs.pdf What are electrolytes and what happens in electrolysis? - OCR 21C, BBC News, BBC Bitesize, https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zxyq4qt/revision/4#:~:text=Aluminium%20ore%20is%20 called%20bauxite,electricity%20can%20pass%20through%20it https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_is_the_statistical_relationship_between_CO2_con centration_level_and_Global_change_in_Temperature ... kg of glass? ?? a about 185 kg of CO2 is released per ton of glass production The global production of glass bottles quantifies at 60.8 million metric tons of glass? ?? bottles 1.1248*1010 kg of. .. sticking of adjacent film layers, and slip agents to reduce friction ● In the fracking process, millions of liters of water, thousands of liters of chemicals and thousands of pounds of sand are... tonnes of CO2 based on 335 mL size of each bottle Glass Production Soda-lime glass is used in the production of glass jars and bottles 46% of the world’s heavy sodium carbonate is used to make glass

Định dạng
Số trang	26
Dung lượng	782,65 KB