Comparative life cycle assessment of PET and corn stover-based PLA with focus on anaerobic digestion end-of-life

Date

2025-8-19

Author

Hasan, Sidrah

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This thesis presents and compares a comprehensive cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA) of plastic bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polylactic acid (PLA). Furthermore, the end-of-life (EoL) option of anaerobic digestion is explored for PLA through a comparison of two conditions i.e. thermophilic and mesophilic. The cradle-to-gate assessment shows that PLA had a higher global warming potential (GWP) with a value of 10.17 kg CO2 eq, whereas the value for PET was found to be 4.92 kg CO2 eq. However, gate-to-grave LCA of PLA demonstrated an overall reduction in GWP which is a promising result. Comparison of the two conditions showed higher impacts for mesophilic conditions compared to the thermophilic conditions of anaerobic digestion. The results of the study demonstrate a need for future exploration of mesophilic anaerobic digestion systems as an option and comparing that with other bioplastic EoL options such as recycling and landfill. Results also indicate that using corn stover as a feedstock for PLA has the potential to reduce the impacts if ways are sought to address the environmental hotspots of prehydrolysis, purification and polymerization stages.

Subject Keywords

End-of-life, Environmental Impact, Life Cycle Assessment, Polylactic Acid, Bioplastic

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/117349

Collections

Northern Cyprus Campus, Thesis