TY - JOUR
T1 - Material Flows of Polyurethane in the United States
AU - Liang, Chao
AU - Gracida-Alvarez, Ulises R.
AU - Gallant, Ethan T.
AU - Gillis, Paul A.
AU - Marques, Yuri A.
AU - Abramo, Graham P.
AU - Hawkins, Troy R.
AU - Dunn, Jennifer B.
N1 - Funding Information:
Northwestern University and Argonne National Laboratory were supported by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under contracts DE-EE0008928 and DE-AC02-06CH11357, respectively. The authors are grateful to Nichole Fitzgerald and Andrea Bailey of the Bioenergy Technologies Office for their support and guidance. The views and opinions of the authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the U.S. Government or any agency thereof or of any commercial entity. Neither the U.S. Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees or employees of contributing companies, makes any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society
PY - 2021/10/19
Y1 - 2021/10/19
N2 - Today, polyurethanes are effectively not recycled and are made principally from nonrenewable, fossil-fuel-derived resources. This study provides the first high-resolution material flow analysis of polyurethane flows through the U.S. economy, tracking back to fossil fuels and covering polyurethane-relevant raw materials, trade, production, manufacturing, uses, historical stocks, and waste management. According to our analysis, in 2016, 2900 thousand tonnes (kt) of polyurethane were produced in the United States and 920 kt were imported for consumption, 2000 kt entered the postconsumer waste streams, and 390 kt were recycled and returned to the market in the form of carpet underlayment. The domestic production of polyurethane consumed 1100 kt of crude oil and 1100 kt of natural gas. With the developed polyurethane flow map, we point out the limitation of the existing mechanical recycling methods and identify that glycolysis, a chemical recycling method, can be used to recycle the main components of postconsumer polyurethane waste. We also explore how targeting biobased pathways could influence the supply chain and downstream markets of polyurethane and reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and the exposure to toxic precursors in polyurethane production.
AB - Today, polyurethanes are effectively not recycled and are made principally from nonrenewable, fossil-fuel-derived resources. This study provides the first high-resolution material flow analysis of polyurethane flows through the U.S. economy, tracking back to fossil fuels and covering polyurethane-relevant raw materials, trade, production, manufacturing, uses, historical stocks, and waste management. According to our analysis, in 2016, 2900 thousand tonnes (kt) of polyurethane were produced in the United States and 920 kt were imported for consumption, 2000 kt entered the postconsumer waste streams, and 390 kt were recycled and returned to the market in the form of carpet underlayment. The domestic production of polyurethane consumed 1100 kt of crude oil and 1100 kt of natural gas. With the developed polyurethane flow map, we point out the limitation of the existing mechanical recycling methods and identify that glycolysis, a chemical recycling method, can be used to recycle the main components of postconsumer polyurethane waste. We also explore how targeting biobased pathways could influence the supply chain and downstream markets of polyurethane and reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and the exposure to toxic precursors in polyurethane production.
KW - biobased feedstock
KW - circular economy
KW - material flow analysis
KW - polyurethane
KW - recycling
KW - sustainability
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U2 - 10.1021/acs.est.1c03654
DO - 10.1021/acs.est.1c03654
M3 - Article
C2 - 34618441
AN - SCOPUS:85117617461
SN - 0013-936X
VL - 55
SP - 14215
EP - 14224
JO - Environmental Science and Technology
JF - Environmental Science and Technology
IS - 20
ER -
