After 85 years of unmatched benefits to human life, our Polymer/Chemical Industry has come under scrutiny due to issues threatening the future, namely, (1) Climate Change (2) Land & Ocean Pollution and (3) Sustainability of Raw-Materials in the distant future.
In March of 2023, U.S. President Biden set a goal to replace 90% plastics with Bio-Materials over the next 2-decades. Policy statement invokes terms such as BIO-BASED / WASTE / RECYCLABLE to replace Fossil-Based Polymers.
A spirit of “Radical Innovations” in the field of chemicals/polymers has been underway; a phenomenon we have not seen in the chemical industry since the 1960’s. Future technologies that take Sustainability & Environmental impact to new heights can be categorized in two areas, for example,
Non-Fossil Feedstock: Transitioning from traditional fossil based raw-materials to Renewable BioMass, Waste(s) and GreenHouse Gas (GHG) Emissions.
Value Plastic-Waste: Cycling into Valued Products in a preferential order such as: Mechanical Recycling of Fossil/BioBased Plastics > Chemical Recycling into Building Blocks > Pyrolysis Oil > BioFuels > Incineration > BioDegradation > Landfil