Consumers are going green
Research indicates there’s consumer appeal in green products.
Life Cycle Assessment of Mirel: an overview
Consumers are increasingly concerned with environmental health, climate change and the growing burden on waste disposal systems globally. This is generating demand for brand owners, retailers and manufacturers to provide packaging and consumer products that are sourced responsibly, designed to be effective and safe, and which reduce environmental impact.
An independent life cycle assessment (LCA) study on Mirel biobased plastics was recently conducted by Dr. Bruce Dale, professor of Chemical Engineering at Michigan State University, to estimate the “cradle to factory gate” environmental performance of Mirel. Because Mirel is made from corn and utilizes renewable energy, the environmental benefits are significant.
The study has determined that Mirel provides a 200% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), and over a 95% reduction in the use of nonrenewable energy as compared to the production of conventional petroleum-based plastics.
Locally grown field corn will be supplied to the corn wet milling plant located in Clinton, Iowa, where the corn is separated into various products including starch that is converted to glucose syrup used in the fermentation process. Most of the energy used in the corn wet milling, fermentation and recovery processes is generated from a cogeneration power plant using biomass to generate electricity and steam, either directly on-site or via offsets. It is anticipated that only minimal grid power will be used, if any, and this will be purchased as Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs).
Professor Dale will be publishing the complete results of the Mirel LCA, and speaking at the Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals in May 2008 (www.simhq.org).
