Ruini Chiara, Neri Paolo, Cavalaglio Gianluca, Coccia Valentina, Cotana Franco, Raspolli Galletti Anna Maria, Morselli Davide, Fabbri Paola, Ferrari Anna Maria, Rosa Roberto
Dipartimento di Scienze e Metodi dell'Ingegneria, Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, via G. Amendola 2, Reggio Emilia 42122, Italy.
Università Telematica Pegaso, Centro Direzionale Isola f2, Napoli 80143, Italy.
ACS Sustain Chem Eng. 2023 Aug 1;11(32):12014-12026. doi: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.3c02269. eCollection 2023 Aug 14.
This work is focused on the application of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology for the quantification of the potential environmental impacts associated with the obtainment of levulinic acid from residual L. biomass and its subsequent valorization in innovative bioplasticizers for tuning the properties as well as the processability of biopolymers. This potentially allows the production of fully biobased and biodegradable bioplastic formulations, thus addressing the issues related to the fossil origin and nonbiodegradability of conventional additives, such as phthalates. Steam explosion pretreatment was applied to the epigean residue of L. followed by a microwave-assisted acid-catalyzed hydrolysis. After purification, the as-obtained levulinic acid was used to synthesize different ketal-diester derivatives through a three-step selective synthesis. The levulinic acid-base additives demonstrated remarkable plasticizing efficiency when added to biobased plastics. The LCA results were used in conjunction with those from the experimental activities to find the optimal compromise between environmental impacts and mechanical and thermal properties, induced by the bioadditives in poly(3-hydroxybutyrate), PHB biopolymer.
这项工作聚焦于生命周期评估（LCA）方法的应用，以量化从残余生物质中获取乙酰丙酸及其随后在创新型生物增塑剂中进行增值利用所带来的潜在环境影响，这些生物增塑剂用于调节生物聚合物的性能以及加工性能。这有可能实现完全生物基且可生物降解的生物塑料配方的生产，从而解决与传统添加剂（如邻苯二甲酸盐）的化石来源和不可生物降解性相关的问题。对地上部分的残余物进行蒸汽爆破预处理，随后进行微波辅助酸催化水解。纯化后，通过三步选择性合成，将所得的乙酰丙酸用于合成不同的缩酮二酯衍生物。当将乙酰丙酸基添加剂添加到生物基塑料中时，显示出显著的增塑效率。生命周期评估结果与实验活动的结果相结合，以在环境影响与生物添加剂在聚（3-羟基丁酸酯）（PHB）生物聚合物中引起的机械和热性能之间找到最佳平衡。
