The manufacturing and application of polymer materials are increasingly moving towards a more environmentally friendly and healthy (“green”) direction. The approaches to green development can be roughly divided into the following aspects:
1、Biodegradable polymer materials
2、Polymer materials synthesized from renewable raw materials
3、Recycling and reuse of polymer materials
4、Green and eco-friendly manufacturing and application processes (low hazard)
5、High performance and long-term stability in key application fields
1、Biodegradable polymer materials have been widely applied in food packaging, agricultural mulch films and other industries. Biodegradability enables polymer materials to decompose into fragments or gases in the natural environment after use, reducing or avoiding the long-term accumulation and harm of polymer materials in soil and water bodies. However, the biodegradation process inevitably produces certain toxic intermediates (even though the final products are mainly water and carbon dioxide). Biodegradable materials also have drawbacks such as short service life in the natural environment, low comprehensive performance, high material consumption and high total carbon emissions.
2、Polymer materials synthesized from renewable raw materials were once regarded as an important path for green polymer materials, and their importance is particularly prominent when petroleum resources are consumed and petrochemical products are in short supply. Corn and vegetable oil can be converted into monomers through biological and chemical processes, and the monomers are then polymerized into polymer materials. At present, a small number of polymer materials (such as some polyurethanes and polyesters) are produced from a relatively high proportion of renewable raw materials. Yet this approach has a problem: the acquisition of corn and oilseeds requires cultivated land, and their large-scale use will compete with human food demand and lead to a sharp increase in the costs of both.
The above two approaches have attracted numerous technological research and product development due to their respective advantages, but they have not been applied on a large scale because of their obvious limitations.
3、The recycling and reuse of polymer materials have attracted extensive attention and emphasis in recent years and become a well-known concept. The recycling of plastic bottles and cans used in daily life has become very common. The success of this solution requires sustained efforts from various parties, including government organization, public response and enterprise investment. Recyclable bottles and cans are generally marked with an internationally unified symbol, and several of the most commonly used polymers have internationally accepted recycling classification codes (PET for 1, HDPE for 2, PVC for 3, LDPE for 4, PP for 5).
4、Green and eco-friendly manufacturing and application processes (low hazard)The pursuit of green and eco-friendly manufacturing and application processes has gained extensive attention and been put into practice in the polymer material industry. Environmentally friendly solvents, catalysts and other raw materials have largely replaced highly polluting and hazardous compounds in the polymerization process; environmentally safe solvents, functional additives, pigments and fillers are adopted in product formulations; water-based coatings have largely replaced solvent-based coatings. These changes have brought about enormous social benefits, and there is still a need to develop more healthy and eco-friendly technologies.
Pfluon non-stick coatings mainly include water-based fluororesin systems and water-based ceramic systems. A small amount of solvent-based silicone coatings also adopt a high-solid, low-solvent system. The coating products meet food contact standards and feature high overall environmental performance. The manufacturing process of polyaryletherketone adopts full-process control, environmentally friendly solvent recovery and other measures, making the product one of the safest and most stable materials among polymers.
5、High performance and long-term stability in key application fieldsDue to the extensive publicity of biodegradable polymer materials over the years, it seems that unstable and non-durable materials are environmentally friendly, while high-performance and long-life materials are not. People have not classified polymers and their products with advantages in this regard as environmentally friendly substances.
In fact, in many application fields, high performance and long-term stability bring enormous, even crucial, environmental benefits. The application of self-lubricating and wear-resistant engineering plastics (such as polyaryletherketone) in key mechanical components avoids the use and pollution of a large amount of lubricating oil or grease, as well as component damage. Aircraft, vehicles, ships and other equipment all require materials with long-term stability and reliability, which cannot fail or cause malfunctions within a few months. A cookware with non-stick coating that can be used for more than 2 years can reduce material consumption, carbon emissions, substances entering the human body and product replacement costs by nearly 10 times compared with a non-stick pan that can only be used for about 2 months.
The product R&D team of Pfluon will continue to focus on the collaborative innovation of high performance, long service life, environmental protection and safety, drive the green transformation of polymer materials with technological strength, and contribute solid and warm material support to the sustainable development of humanity.