1. Natural Oil Polythiols and Polyols– A Life Cycle Comparison
Thomas A. Upshaw, William J. Young, Eric J. Netemeyer
Chevron Phillips Chemical Co., LP
World Adhesive Conference & EXPO
April 22, 2008
4/22/2008
Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008

2. Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008
Outline
Product, properties, applications summary
Study objectives
Modeling tools and information sources
Modeled systems and assumptions
Mercaptanized soybean oil (MSO)
Petrochemical (flexible polyether) polyol
Castor oil
LCA Methodology
Impact results and BEES ratings
Conclusions
4/22/2008
Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008

3. Soy Polythiol – MSO (Polymercaptan 358)
4/22/2008
Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008

4. Potential Application Areas for Soy Polythiols
Benefits:
High biobased content
Adhesion
Hydrophobicity
Weathering/UV stability
Antioxidant properties
Chemical & corrosion resistance
Higher refractive index
Applications
Adhesives
Sealants
Coatings
Technologies
Polyurethanes
Epoxy resins
Free radical/UV systems
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5. Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008
Objectives
Develop a soy polythiol life cycle inventory (LCI) platform for product life cycle assessment through the product manufacturing stage
Compare life cycle environmental impacts using updated castor and petrochemical (polyether) polyol LCI data
4/22/2008
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6. Life Cycle Modeling Tools
SimaPro 7.0 software, using SimaPro 7.0 database and U.S. LCI database
BEES (Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability) impact model software
NIST sponsored & EPA supported
Methodology used by USDA BioPreferred program
Conducted in accordance with ISO 14040:1997(E) standard
TRACI (Tool for the Reduction and Assessment of Chemical and other Environmental Impacts) – EPA life cycle impact assessment method
4/22/2008
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7. Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008
Data Sources
Soybean data
Agriculture data from U.S. LCI database
Processing data from NREL LCA report on biodiesel 1998
Soy Polythiol – Chevron Phillips Chemical Co.
Process inputs estimated from commercial production facility, assuming conventional H2S process technology
Petroleum (flexible polyether) polyol
U.S. LCI database data
Castor oil
Purdue University article and various internet sources
Incomplete process data supplemented by analogous data on other seed oils in U.S. LCI database
4/22/2008
Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008

8. Petro Polyol System Boundaries
Process
energy
Air emissions
Upstream mat’ls
& energy
production
Water effluents
Raw matls
production,
transport
Waste
Process
energy
Polyol
production
(avg plant data)
Air emissions
Water effluents
Raw matls
production,
transport
Waste
Transportation to
the customer
Truck
transport
Polyol delivered to the customer
4/22/2008
Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008

9. Petro Polyol Assumptions
Consolidated proprietary information for 5 North American plants, data
Polyether polyol, glycerin-initiated, 3500 mol wt (on average)
KOH-catalyzed, solvent, water-washed
7.6 to 1 wt ratio PO/EO
4/22/2008
Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008

10. Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008
MSO System Boundaries
Upstream Materials
Soybean
production
Process
energy
Air emissions
Water effluents
Soy oil
production
& refining
Matls
production,
transport
Waste
Process
energy
MSO
production
Air emissions
Matls
production,
transport
Transportation to
the customer
Truck
transport
MSO delivered to the customer
4/22/2008
Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008

11. MSO Polythiol Assumptions
Designed process based on existing plant capabilities at Borger TX facility:
UV reactor
Estimated stoichiometric excess of H2S
Stripping and recycle of H2S
Known reaction conditions from lab/pilot work
Conventional energy sources (nat. gas)
4/22/2008
Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008

12. Castor Oil System Boundaries
Upstream Materials
Castor beans
production
Process
energy
Air emissions
Matls
production,
transport
Water effluents
Castor oil
production
& refining
Waste
Truck
transport
Transportation
from India to
the customer
Barge
transport
Castor oil delivered to the customer
4/22/2008
Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008

13. Castor Oil Assumptions
Complete data were not available
Significant uncertainty, need better data
Analogous LCI data for other seed oils were used (adjusted for 45-55% castor oil yield)
Irrigation water assumed similar to soy process
Since rapid growth and modernization of castor agriculture is projected based on drive for growing biodiesel production, mechanized production and irrigation were assumed
8200 mile barge transport from India to U.S. market assumed before distribution
4/22/2008
Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008

14. Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008
LCA Methodology
LCAs built in SimaPro 7.0 software
Impact methods and weighting – BEES 4.0 (NIST)
Life Cycle Inventory – quantified listing of inflows and outflows per 1000 lbs of product
Converted to equivalent units per 1000 lbs and combined into LCIA impact categories
Normalized to unitless dimensions corresponding to fraction of total U.S. impact per year per capita
Overall BEES environmental score: sum of normalized impacts weighted by importance
2006 BEES Stakeholder Panel
4/22/2008
Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008

15. Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008
Impact Comparison
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16. Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008
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Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008

17. Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008
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Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008

18. Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008
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19. Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008
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Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008

20. Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008
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Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008

21. BEES weighting factors
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Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008

22. Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008
Weighted BEES Scores
Caveats:
Weighting factors are subjective and change based on the emphasis of the stakeholders and society’s relative concern about each impact factor.
Weighted results change as LCI database data updates occur.
ISO standard does not recommend using single score comparisons.
4/22/2008
Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008

23. Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008
Conclusions
Global warming potential of MSO and castor oil are significantly lower than the petroleum-based polyol due to the crop oil raw material source.
Future use of renewable energy for MSO production would result in a significant reduction in global warming potential (GWP) and fossil fuel consumption.
Next generation process technology currently under development is expected to significantly reduce fossil fuel consumption, GWP and SOx generation (i.e., criteria air pollutant and acidification impacts).
Castor oil is comparable to MSO by weighted BEES score, but further analysis with better life cycle input data is needed
Castor score was expected to be lower since the oil is not further chemically converted, but suffered from the use of the solvent extraction process and (probably high) estimated fertilizer use
4/22/2008
Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008

24. Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008
Acknowledgements
Adhesives and Sealants Council
Jim Pollack, OmniTech International Ltd.
Anne Landfield Greig, Four Elements Consulting, LLC
Chevron Phillips Chemical Company, LP
4/22/2008
Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008

25. Backup slides

26. Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008
Data Sources
Soybean data
Agriculture data from U.S. LCI database (data updated 2003 by NIST/USDA Biobased Advisory Group)
Processing data from NREL LCA report on biodiesel 1998
Soy Polythiol – Chevron Phillips Chemical Co.
Process inputs estimated from commercial production facility, assuming conventional H2S process technology
Petroleum (flexible polyether) polyol
U.S. LCI database (Plastics Industry LCI Study )
Castor oil
Purdue University article
Incomplete data supplemented by analogy to other seed oils:
Corn production module of U.S. LCI database (Fertilizers, energy)
Sunflower seed data (herbicides, pesticides)
Soybean data for irrigation
4/22/2008
Adhesives and Sealants Council World Adhesive Conference 2008