Using the LCA Method to Develop the Production of Pigment for Processing Plastics

Abstract

In recent years, the chemical industry has been developing more and more dynamically, which results in the introduction of many new chemical substances to the market. However, some of them do not meet the accepted standards and may be toxic to humans and the environment. This problem largely concerns polymer materials, which are currently widely used in many areas of the economy. This is indirectly related to the coloring of these materials during processing. Therefore, it became necessary to introduce modern research procedures that enable the quantitative and qualitative determination of the impact of coloring agents in the processing of plastics, in order to include their negative impact on humans and the natural environment. The LCA methodology was used in this work, with ReCiPe 2016 used as the test method. Among the analyzed technological operations, the highest negative impact on the environment was characterized by the process related to heating the tested material (2.08 × 10−1 Pt). Among the materials, polyethylene terephthalate was distinguished by the greatest harmful effect on human health (2.91 × 10−1 Pt) and the quality (2.35 × 10−2 Pt) of the environment. The use of recycling processes would reduce the negative impact on human health (about −3.71 Pt), the ecosystem (about −0.14 Pt), and resources (about −0.27 Pt).