Eco-profiles and Environmental Product Declarations of the European Plastics Manufacturers Long and Short-chain Polyether Polyols for Polyurethane Products ISOPA 1 Table of Content Table of Content ......................................................................................................................................... 2 Environmental Product Declaration .............................................................................................................. 3 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. ......................3 Meta Data ......................................................................................................................................................3 Description of the Product and the Production Process ..................................................................................3 Environmental Performance ...........................................................................................................................4 Additional Environmental and Health Information .......................................................................................... 5 Additional Technical Information .................................................................................................................... 5 Additional Economic Information ................................................................................................................... 5 Information....................................................................................................................................................6 Goal & Scope ............................................................................................................................................. 7 Intended Use & Target Audience..................................................................................................................... 7 Product Category and Declared Unit ............................................................................................................... 7 Product and Producer Description ..................................................................................................................8 Life Cycle Inventory .................................................................................................................................... 10 System Boundaries ...................................................................................................................................... 10 Cut-off Rules ................................................................................................................................................ 12 Data Quality Requirements........................................................................................................................... 12 Calculation Rules ............................................................................................................................. ............ 14 Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) Results .................................................................................................................. 15 Life Cycle Impact Assessment .....................................................................................................................23 Input ........................................................................................................................................................... 23 Output ......................................................................................................................................................... 23 Review......................................................................................................................................................27 Review Details ............................................................................................................................. ................ 27 Review Summary.......................................................................................................................................... 27 References ............................................................................................................................................... 28 2 Environmental Product Declaration Introduction Description of the Product and the This Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is Production Process based upon life cycle inventory (LCI) data from This EPD is for long-chain polyether polyols (MW > PlasticsEurope’s Eco-profile programme. It has been 1000 g/mol) and short-chain polyether polyols (MW prepared according to PlasticsEurope’s Eco-profiles < 1000 g/mol), polyether polyols used in the produc- and Environmental Declarations – LCI Methodology tion of flexible and rigid polyurethanes (PU). and PCR for Uncompounded Polymer Resins and Re- Polyether polyols are polymeric compounds contain- active Polymer Precursors (PCR version 2.0, April ing ether groups (R-O-R) an OH- groups. They are liq- 2011). EPDs provide environmental performance uids at short-chain lengths and when chains are data, but no information on the economic and social longer, they are waxy solids. aspects which would be necessary for a complete sustainability assessment. Further, they do not im- Polyether polyols are one of the precursors of poly- ply a value judgment between environmental crite- urethane foam. There are two types of polyether ria. polyols; short-chain polyether polyols and long- chain polyether polyols. Short-chain polyether poly- This EPD describes the production of polyether poly- ols are used to produce rigid PU foams while long- ols from cradle to gate (from crude oil extraction to chain polyether polyols are used to produce flexible granules or resin at plant). Please keep in mind that PU foams. comparisons cannot be made on the level of the polyether polyols alone: it is necessary to consider A combination of the different building blocks can the full life cycle of an application in order to com- be used for a variety of other polyurethane applica- pare the performance of different materials and the tions. (see Eco-profile Toluene diisocyanate (TDI) & effects of relevant life cycle parameters. This EPD is Methylenediphenyl diisocyanate (MDI)) intended to be used by member companies, to sup- The reference flows, to which all data given in this port product-orientated environmental manage- EPD refer, is 1 kg of long-chain and 1 kg of short- ment; by users of plastics, as a building block of life chain polyether polyols. cycle assessment (LCA) studies of individual prod- ucts; and by other interested parties, as a source of Production Process life cycle information. Polyether polyols are produced by the alkoxylation process. An addition reaction takes place where eth- Meta Data ylene oxide or propylene oxide reacts with an initia- Data owner ISOPA LCA practitioner PE International AG tor containing OH- groups like glycerine, saccharose Programme owner PlasticsEurope and other carbohydrates. A base like KOH is needed Programme man- DEKRA Industrial GmbH ager, reviewer, as a catalyst and fed into the solution. The reaction database manager runs under elevated temperature and pressure and Number of plants 7 (long-chain polyether polyols) included in data 4 (short-chain polyether polyols) is strongly exothermic. The process takes place in a collection batch reactor. When the reaction is complete, the Representativeness 90% coverage in terms of production volumes polyether polyol products are separated from by- Reference year 2010 products and water by means of precipitation and Year of data collec- 2011 tion and calcula- distillation. The amount of alkoxylation species can tion be varied to achieve different chain lengths and mo- Expected temporal 2022 validity lecular weights. Cut-offs No significant cut-offs Data quality Very good Allocation method Varies, see chapter “Allocation Rules” 3 Data Sources and Allocation Use Phase and End-of-Life Management The main data source was a data collection from Polyether polyols produced from glycerine and pro- European producers of polyether polyol. Primary pylene oxide are typically used in polyurethane-foam data on gate-to-gate polyether polyol production is production. derived from site-specific information for processes Flexible polyurethane foams produced from TDI or under operational control supplied by the participat- MDI and polyether polyols are typically used in up- ing companies of this study. holstery, mattresses and automotive seats. Six different producers of long-chain polyether poly- Rigid polyurethane foams produced from MDI and ols with seven plants in three European countries polyether polyols have good thermal insulation participated in the primary data collection. They properties and are used in the manufacture of freez- cover 90% polyether polyol producers in Europe ers and refrigerators, and in building and automotive (EU27) in 2010. applications. Three different producers of short-chain polyether Post-consumer recycling of polyurethane products is polyols with four plants in three European countries common for applications where high volumes are participated in the primary data collection. They available and no, or limited, sorting is necessary. A cover 90% polyether polyol producers in Europe range of mechanical (regrinding, bonding, pressing, (EU27) in 2010. and moulding) and chemical (glycolysis, hydrolysis, pyrolysis) recycling technologies