Sony Pioneers Use of Corn Based Plastics
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 08.27.05
One of our readers suggested we pay more attention to Sony's growing use of corn-based plastic. Turned out to be a great idea. Here's an overview, with some life cycle analysis thrown in. In early 2003, a Sony webpage was dedicated to promoting and explaining corn-based plastic materials. In early 2004, Sony, in conjunction with Mitsubishi Plastic, announced that they had developed a new engineering polymer from corn-based polylactide. The corn polymer was said to be as strong as ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene). This was the breakthrough material needed for housings. Importantly, Sony used inorganic flame retardants instead of brominated retardants such as PBDE's (polybrominated diphenylethers), as such substances will be prohibited under the EU's RoHS Directive from July, 2006, forward. In the 2004 announcement, Sony mentioned they planned to use the new material for the manufacture of front panels for electronic goods, the Walkman's in particular. Much more below:
From cultivation to disposal, the corn based plastic was said to emit 20% less of the greenhouse gas per volume than conventional petroleum-based plastics. We have to assume they did some life cycle inventory studies to back this up.
Although critics have pointed to the use of genetically modified corn in the PLA feedstock, as always, TreeHuggers should be mindful of the tradeoffs. Step one, make it practical. Step two, seek life cycle perfection. Examples abound. Take Tantalum for example. Some of this rare inert metal's ore comes from Africa. Google the topic and you'll see allegations of what Tantalum ore (coltan) mining means to conservation, social stability, and human rights there. The analogy is direct and simple. Peviously you could not own a handheld electronics device of any kind that does not rely on tantalum for capacitor functionality. Alternatives are under development, but until then you won't be canceling your cell subscription right? There's more. Got some body piecings? You could even be wearing it. Been to see a surgeon? Those surgery tools are likely made from it. Tradeoffs. OK now: back to our story.
Less than two years following Sony's lead, corn based polymer has captured the attention of designers in several industries. Versace, taken by corn plastic's ability to mimic wool, cotton or silk, has begun weaving apparel out of NatureWorks' Ingeo fibers. Smaller fashion designers have accepted Ingeo as well. Families are now eating Del Monte fruits and vegetables from corn plastic containers, drinking Biota water from corn plastic bottles and soda at McDonald's out of corn cups. Fujitsu Ltd. in a tie-up with Toray Industries Inc. has developed nonflammable, vegetable and petroleum-based plastics for its laptop personal computers. NEC Corp. said that a new technology, jointly developed with Unitica Ltd., blends the vegetable plastic with kenaf fiber to increase the material's heat resistance.
Overall sales of the PLA based plastic were reported up 60% last year. ALthough still more expensive than tradtiional engineered plastics, we can surmise that the continued upward march of oil and natural gas, both important feedstocks for petro-plastics, will put PLA plastic in a more favorable light. Combining this trend with the European and Japanese regulations that are slowly pushing toxic heavy metals like lead and cadmium out of the electronics design palatte, TreeHugger thinks that the Cradle-to-Cradle (C2C) ideal has a hope for success in the electronics field.
PLA and other plant-based polymers reduce our need for fossil fuel, as does biodiesel. But the question that arises from this is, how much cropland will this take, in a world that is becoming more arid while the demand for food grows sharply.
A former member of MBDC (inventors of the Cradle-to-Cradle concept) tells me that the model is not balanced, and will have to depend heavily on GMO crops and energy-intensive farming practices. Plus, since these crops are not intended as food, there will be little incentive to abandon toxic synthetic fertilizer/pesticide practices. They may actually start 'pouring it on' like never before.
The promise is there with these new plastics, but if no one pays attention to the risks, the tradeoff of one problem for several others may not be a good bargain in the end.
====author's response follows=====
Legitimate critique. It has, unfortunately, been too long since I have studied the PLA product life cycle and reaction process alternatives for me to offer a full and reliable response. However, I seem to recall that lactic acid is created by anaerobic fermentation of corn (presently) while ethanol must be produced under aerobic conditions. Thus, I am wondering if the byproduct residuals created by ethanol fermentation could be refermented anaerobically to produce lactic acid. If so, that would compete against the ETOH-for-fuel process residuals being used as animal food supplements: just one of several possible drawbacks.
If you view corn as one of several possible PLA starting points, then the best "virgin" and the best ":waste to food" feedstock will be identified by market economics as well as by philospophy. Waiting several decades for this to happen is not good, I would agree. We TreeHuggers have our best traction with philosophy this early in the game. If corn based PLA starts to compete with petro-plastics on price soon, the feedstock choice will be in the hands of designers. C2C is most relevant then. Does this help?
Thanks for the insight. Lets hope for several other comments that help fill in the blanks.
Thanks John! and cool link-- i totally want to go to the sony eco-plaza now!! ...and while i do agree that it's incremental and baby steps are good-- i do have one thing to add (sure, everyone's a critic):
I only wish that there was a little less cornyness going on... Methinks its due to cargil and ADM "supermarket to the world" but you know, we can make poly-L plastics from many many things...
for example another TH hero, Eichi Ozeki down at Shimadzu in Tokyo has been making every grade of Poly-L imaginable from Beer Waste! I mean, why grow something on a planet with, arguably, not enough food, that's not meant to be eaten? oh, and then pay somehwere else to deal with a "waste product?" While coors has been zerowaste for ages, their partner Molsons pays through the nose to haul off and treat their goopy waste (which could be easily fermented and made into all of these great (& compostable) products!
...of course it's going to take a public who likes buying these products and awareness and after a bunch of more baby steps.. so in the meantime, i guess we can just raise a glass to this step, it is a great one!
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incidentally regarding coltan, it does suck what is going on with the bonobo and in rawanda/congo border.. and it's great to hear that alternatives are in development (MORE JOHN MORE!! WHO? WHAT???), in the meantime, i think all of those cellphone recycling organizations you've mentioned before are super imortant now! and if you are going to get a new cell-- didn't TH have something about these cats and their sexy retro cellphones? seriously, need a new phone? go retro cool and save a bonobo
>that does not rely on tantalum for capacitor functionality
This is only partially true. Tantalum is but one type of capacitor available to a designer. Tantalums do offer high capacitance verses size and are used in many products, however they are not available at higher voltages. Further they have a failure mode where they can violently explode. Because of these reasons most desingers tend to avoid tantalum unless absolutely required by the application
More accuratley, I would say that you could possibly have tantalums in your electronics.
I would be interested to see an analysis of ABS verses sustainable plastics. Any orginization that sells product in Eurpoe and worldwide will be making everything RoHS complient after 2006 because it doens't make sense to develop two products (one for Europe, and one for everywhere else). Recently I have been personally suffering from the lurking problems of complying with lead-free in electronics. What are the potential lurking problems for switching from ABS to corn based plastics?
===author's response follows===== Good to hear from a reader with knowledge of electronics design. Your critique is accepted gratefully. Obviously, firms on the cutting edge of designing useful new devices and replacement materials for high value electronics will not wish to divulge the details; so ,in that sense, the discussions we have here are based on trailing indicators. It is certain, however, that passive electronic devices made of niobium are being "sampled" to electronics designers as a substitute for tantalum. Niobium has the advantage of being more widely available (and not reliant on conflict zone extraction). It too, ends up in surgical and body piercing applications!Sony worked on the corn polymer formulation for over 4 years and reported over 100 trials before they hit on the right mix of properties such as UV resistance, hardness, fire retardance, scratch resistance, color fastness, etc. The critical flaw with any new polymer formulation is likely to be price. The other specs are so uniformly understood that I am certain it would not be released without passing them. Incidentally, the only other biopolymer in wide commercial use that I am aware of is "nylon 11": . N11 is commonly seen in the colored brake hoses that connect truck cabs to trailers, in the rollers in skates and skateboards, and other very high performance applications where the added cost is worth the extreme resilience and wear resistance. They could certainly use N11 to make electronic devices if they wished to pay the premium, but that would make no sense if a newer biopolymer meets the specs for less money.
I am looking into self healing polymers that work with cappillary action i`ve found examples of materials that use petro chemicals but was wondering if anyone new of any research into self healing bio polymers?
Could please let me know were I can buy thr corn based material.
Best Regards,
Mike Florian
Could you please let me know were I can buy their corn based material.
Best Regards,
Mike Florian