Polymers in liquid formulations and sustainability

What are PLFs?

Polymers in liquid formulations (PLFs) are polymers used in formulations that are liquid during the manufacturing process and/or are liquid up to the point of use. Around 36 million metric tonnes of PLFs are made and sold for $125 billion each year. The way PLFs are made using petrochemical feedstocks, used and disposed of is putting a lot of strain on the environment by releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, relying on fossil fuels, and generating waste.

Why do PLFs matter for sustainability?

• Agrochemicals is the second largest market for PLFs, many of which are applied to land as components of fertilisers, soil conditioners, wetting agents and seed coatings. Increased sustainable agricultural productivity can reduce land requirement and biodiversity loss by improving soil and crop efficiency for global food productivity. Ensuring such materials are biodegradable is an important challenge.
• PLFs used as flocculants make a significant contribution to clean water and wastewater treatment. However, PLFs also enter waterways as waste through products that are washed down drains. Designing these materials to be safely biodegradable in the environments they could enter will reduce any burden they may place on the environment.
• A high percentage of PLFs are liquid at the point of waste and so will be discharged into wastewater treatment systems or will be washed directly into water courses. It is imperative that industry understands how to mitigate harm for PLFs that go down the drain. Furthermore, as the chemical industry grows and supports other industries, a circular approach to PLFs and the products they contribute to can enable greater resource efficiency and reduced waste.
• Curable PLFs such as paint or resins may enter the marine environment as solid objects and break down to microplastics. Biodegradability will reduce this environmental burden.
• Moving away from fossil feedstocks and towards biobased feedstocks and a more circular economy will reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with PLFs.

Developing bio-based polymers

Replacing established (petroleum-based) polymers by greener alternatives with a traditional experimental approach is tedious. First of all, any polymer must first be synthesized before being characterized, which is resource- and time-consuming; secondly, experiments are often slowed down by limited lab capacities; and thirdly, it is often not possible to get all necessary insights with a purely experimental setup. Overall, this trial-and-error approach has become too slow, costly and inefficient. On the other hand, the computational route to replace traditional polymers by greener alternatives is gaining momentum. One can understand the performance of a polymer via direct insights into the fundamental interactions on a molecular level, study polymers that have not been synthesized yet, and perform automated high-throughput screening. 

At Nextmol we employ a combination of Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations and Machine Learning (ML) methods to complement and accelerate the experimental R&D carried out by our customers with respect to bio-based polymers in applications such as home care, personal care, or food packaging.

If you are interested in developing bio-based polymers in liquid formulations, request a demo and see how NEXTMOL Lab platform can support your next innovation.

Sources:
– Sustainable polymers in liquid formulations, Royal Society of Chemistry
– The PLFs Revolution: Our 2040 roadmap for sustainable polymers in liquid formulations, Royal Society of Chemistry