Sustainable engineering of biopolymer composites : end-of-life degradation mechanisms
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Biodegradable plastics and composites have the potential to replace traditional plastics and their composites in a variety of applications, thereby enabling sustainable material and energy life-cycles. The envisioned material life-cycle that is investigated here, is a microbially produced class of bioplastics, poly(hydoxyalkanoates) (PHAs), which can be anaerobically degraded at the end of their serviceable life into a methane-rich feedstock. By recovering methane produced from controlled anaerobic digestion (AD) of this bioplastic and its composites at end-of-life, these materials can be engineered to create a sustainable and industrially viable material cycle. The application primarily addressed in this work is biodegradable wood-plastic composites (WPCs), bio-WPCs, that can be used in large-volume applications, such as the construction industry. This work is also applicable to bioplastic applications, such as containers and packaging. Widespread adoption of these and other bioplastic-natural fiber composites has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the consumption of fossil fuels as a material feedstock, and the accumulation of plastic in the environment and in landfills. In order understand and engineer this material cycle, one must understand the biogas production properties, such as rate and quantity, in the end-of-life anaerobic degradation process. This work investigates relationship between processing, properties, and biodegradation of biodegradable polymers (bioplastics) and biocomposites by (i) evaluating kinetic models to for bioplastic degradation and methane recovery, (ii) developing a methodology that can be used to predict and model methane generation from bioplastics and biocomposites, and (iii) investigating the anaerobic degradation mechanisms of these materials in simulated anaerobic landfills or AD facilities. The results from this work can be used as inputs to life-cycle assessments of material end-of-life, to help optimize biocomposite materials properties, and design future resource recovery centers targeted for biopolymer and biocomposite degradation, methane collection, and biopolymer production.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2016 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Ryan, Cecily A |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. |
| Primary advisor | Billington, Sarah L. (Sarah Longstreth), 1968- |
| Primary advisor | Criddle, Craig |
| Thesis advisor | Billington, Sarah L. (Sarah Longstreth), 1968- |
| Thesis advisor | Criddle, Craig |
| Thesis advisor | Frank, C. W |
| Advisor | Frank, C. W |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Cecily A. Ryan. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2016. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2016 by Cecily Ryan
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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