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Diversity of plastics
Around 300 Mt of plastics are consumed each year worldwide. In Europe, only 46.3 Mt are
needed to meet that demand. They
are now everywhere in our lives,
since their discovery a few decades
ago. A huge amount is used in the
packaging sector, to protect the
final product after manufacturing
and during transport
to the
supermarket and finally to the
customer. In Europe, in 2013, this
sector covered 40% of the plastics
manufactured. The second most
important application is for building
and construction (almost 20%).
We, as consumers, may recognize some plastics thanks to an identification code, quite
common worldwide now. However, it is not compulsory for the plastic manufacturers to
stamp it on their products. Several codes exist as shown here.
What are plastics? Well, first, let me introduce some vocabulary. Remember the reforming,
FCC and steam-cracker units. They produce some molecules, the petrochemical
intermediates, such as olefins and aromatics. The next step is to add them together (the socalled polymerization step) in order to build a very long chain, with a successive
arrangement of repeating units, called a polymer.
Then, some additives, bringing resistance to oxygen, or to UVs, may be added to polymers.
After this step, we obtain mixtures called plastic compounds, most often available in pellet
form.
They have now to be converted to the final object. This is known as plastic material
processing.
And last, after being filled with soap, water, food, etc., the end product is sold to the
customer. Since we are able to combine different types of base chemicals, we can
manufacture almost as many polymers and plastics as we want!
This was made possible thanks to innovation that meets customer demand: customers
first is the rule in the plastics industry. It is the job of the product development engineer to
launch a market study to identify customers needs.
As an example of constant innovation, we can take a look
at the increasing part of plastics in aircraft manufacturing.
In this sector, innovation always looks to reduce the overall
weight of the aircraft, while maintaining high mechanical
strength. Composites, which are a mixture of plastic and
carbon fibers, meet this need. They are used for around
50% of all the materials.
We have chosen to show you some common polymers, with very high production quantities
and low prices. They are what we call commodity polymers.
Propylene can also be polymerized with itself, resulting in a polymer called Polypropylene,
used for car bumpers, but also for take-away food containers and lunch boxes.
A second example of packaging is injection blow moulding, for water bottles. An initial piece
of plastic , called a preform, is introduced into a mould. It is then heated and air is blown into
this plastic preform, which grows until it reaches the walls of the mould. Then the mould
opens to release the plastic.
Of course the choice of the process depends on what the final product will be used for, and
on the properties you want to obtain.
In Europe, in 2012, as shown in this graph, 25 Mt of plastics were collected, 36 % were burnt
to produce energy, 26 % were recycled and another 38 % were sent to landfill. It is no longer
acceptable to bury our rubbish and the objective to reach 0 % landfill in Europe before 2025
is possible but only if everyone takes action. Retailers who decide to ban single use bags are
making their contribution.
One possibility to reduce plastic waste is to promote mechanical recycling, as for PET bottles.
After being sorted, crushed and separated, flakes can be melted, and used to manufacture
either films, fleece jackets and new bottles.
In recent years, we have developed some new plastics to face environmental challenges.
Two new trends have appeared. First, instead of recycling or burning them, new plastics can
be biodegradable.
Second, to reduce the use of oil, they can be manufactured from bio-sourced materials. Both
types of plastic already exist and will be further developed in the coming years.
In conclusion, in this presentation, we have seen the end of the petrochemical chain, with
the manufacturing of the plastics that are present in our everyday lives. As a conclusion, we
can say that their diversity explains their success but, on the other hand, their complexity
also makes them difficult to be collected and sorted.