Water Footprint Assessment of Selected Polymers, Polymer Blends, Composites, and Biocomposites for Industrial Application
Abstract
This paper presents a water footprint assessment of polymers, polymer blends, composites, and biocomposites based on a standardized EUR-pallet case study. The water footprint analysis is based on life cycle assessment (LCA). The study investigates six variants of EUR-pallet production depending on the materials used. The system boundary included the production of each material and the injection molding to obtain a standardized EUR-pallet of complex properties. This paper shows the results of a water footprint of six composition variants of analyzed EUR-pallet, produced from biocomposites and composites based on polypropylene, poly(lactic acid), cotton fibers, jute fibers, kenaf fibers, and glass fibers. Additionally, a water footprint of applied raw materials was evaluated. The highest water footprint was observed for cotton fibers as a reinforcement of the analyzed biocomposites and composites. The water footprint of cotton fibers is caused by the irrigation of cotton crops. The results demonstrate that the standard EUR-pallet produced from polypropylene with glass fibers as reinforcement can contribute to the lowest water footprint.
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- Category:
- Articles
- Type:
- artykuły w czasopismach
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Polymers
no. 11,
ISSN: 2073-4360 - Language:
- English
- Publication year:
- 2019
- Bibliographic description:
- Korol J., Hejna A., Burchart-Korol D., Chmielnicki B., Wypiór K.: Water Footprint Assessment of Selected Polymers, Polymer Blends, Composites, and Biocomposites for Industrial Application// Polymers -Vol. 11,iss. 11 (2019), s.1791-
- DOI:
- Digital Object Identifier (open in new tab) 10.3390/polym11111791
- Bibliography: test
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