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Project Proposal: Reformulation in the consumer product: Inflatable Water Slides.

Prepared for: Dr. Julia Haack, Chemistry 114Prepared by: Lexi Alaga

March 18, 2012

BriefObjectiveMy objective is creating greener more environmentally friendly inflatable water slides for children. Inflatable water slides are designed for home use, therefore we want to make it safe and no risk or hazardous materials leaking out. These inflatable water slides children enjoy playing with are coated from the thick strong polymer PVC Tarpaulin or Vinyl and nylon.

GoalsInstead of using a PVC Tarpaulin or Vinyl, I would replace the polymer to be more sustainably for the environment and safer for the children’s use. To facilitate this process I came up with a project proposal to hand out to all major companies and store that make and sell this product. I created my solution by thinking outside the box, I compared the polymer PVC and Vinyl to other polymers that react in the same way in order to make the product work and look the same, but use less energy to produce, and reduce the hazards and risks associated with PVC and Vinyl.

SolutionBy accomplishing my solution, the removal to PVC Tarpaulin would be replaced with the polymer polyethylene. Best solution would be reformulation, replacing one polymer with a another that acts in the same way. High density polyethylene would be the best replacement because it is a strong polymer that acts in the same way PVC does, but without the plasticizers.

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Green Chemistry & Life Cycle ThinkingGreen Chemistry Aspect

Green chemistry is the utilization of a set of principles that reduces or eliminates the use or generation of hazardous substances in the design, manufacture, and application of chemical products. So now lets take a look at the green chemistry side of what we want to replace the polymer PVC with Polyethylene.

1. Create materials that have a lower impact: Polyethylene can be processed as natural, but most of the time it will need something extra to make it more suitable for certain applications;inflatable water slide. The additives are not harmful. Polyethylene is one of the most environment friendly materials.

2. The manufacture of Polyethylene is relatively clean and efficient, the emission of harmful substances is minimal and there is barely any waste.

3. Polyethylene is extremely suitable for recycling. It is a thermoplastic material, it can be melted unlimited times and a new product can be made with it. But if is it collected after use, and cannot be processed again, it supplies high quality fuel for power supply.

Life Cycle Thinking Life cycle assessment is a tool to identify and quantify the materials and energy inputs and outputs associated with the full life cycle of a product. LCA considers all stages of the product life cycle as interdependent and this kind of comprehensive view provided a more accurate assessment of the environment and human health impacts that are so important for comparing PVC with PE

Polyethylene

The life cycle for polyethylene starts with the raw materials. Polyethylene has oil and natural gas. Naphtha is extracted from crude oil. Naphtha is another word for petroleum. By heating up and making the naphtha crack, ethylene is release. Then in the factory the ethylene is turned into polyethylene. Naphtha is a carcinogenic, a substance that is an agent directly involved in causing cancer. Naphtha like many hydrocarbon products, they are products of a refining process in which a complex soup of chemicals is broken in a range of chemicals, which are then graded and isolated mainly by their specifics gravity and volatility (substance to vaporize). The little tiny ethylene parts form a building block for polyethylene. The building blocks thread together

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into a sting and once the strings are ready they look like a branch. Ethylene, an organic compound that is combustible and used as an anesthetic and listed IARC group 3 is not classifiable as to its carcinogenicity to humans, is a gas when it enters the factory. In the factory the gas is transformed into polyethylene. The solidifying polyethylene strings that come out are cut into little pieces by a rotating knife, resulting in white granules, small grain like shapes, which look like coarse hail. The granules will go to companies as a raw material, where they are melted and process into different kind of products. Polyethylene is then turned into three main types, low-density polyethylene (LDPE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), and a mixture of both (LLDPE). Making the products out of one of the three types, the polyethylene granules are put in a cylinder where they are heated. The cylinder with the screw expressing the melted material is called an extruder. The extruder pressed the melted mass through an opening at the end after which the polyethylene can be process into different products before it cool and solidifies. Polyethylene can sometimes be process as it is (natural) but most of the time it will need something extra to make it more suitable for certain applications. In all the cases the additives are useful and necessary and not harmful. Polyethylene is one of the most environment- friendly materials. The manufacturing is relatively clean and efficient, the emission of harmful substances is minimal and there is barley any waste. Polyethylene is extremely suitable for recycling. It is thermoplastic material. It can be melted unlimited time and a new product can be made with it. But if is collected after use and cannot be processed again, it supplies high quality fuel for power supply.

Polyvinyl Chloride

The raw materials that make up PVC, include water and chemical additives, which are mixed together in an evacuated reactor. Then the liquid field vinyl chloride monomer is added. VCM raw materials come from a saturated salt solution called brine is extracted and purified. Brine is chemically treated to make chlorine. oil is first extracted and refined to form naphtha, which is then broken down to make ethylene. Ethylene and chlorine form ethylene dichloride (EDC) in the presence of an iron chloride catalyst. In the second step, the EDC intermediate is heated to form vinyl chloride monomer, VCM. A hydrochloric acid is a byproduct of this step. A mixture of the VCM droplets and polymerization initiator is heated. The heat activates the initiator and large polyvinyl chloride molecules form. Unreacted VCM remains in the solution. Processing removes unreacted VCM and or remaining water. The purified PVCis ready to be converted and formed into new consumer products.

The hazards associated with making suspension PVC:

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The End of Life Diagram of PVC including the hazards:

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Polyethylene ReportLexi AlagaLIfe Cycle Report • University Of Oregon • March 23, 2012

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THIS WILL INCLUDE A DISCUSSION OF THE RELATIVE HAZARDS AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE SOLUTION IN COMPARISON TO THE USE OF PVC

The two products in the graph i want you to focus on is PVC and HDPE. both product are compared in defined environment impact categories, which can be conceptualized by real environment detriment. This graph is comparing the two product choices, and why HDPE would be a better polymer to use instead of PVC. If you take a look at all ten categories HDPE does not result in maximum impact in any category. On the other hand if you take a look at PVC, it has a great impact in 8 out of the 10 categories, being the most important to human health and health to the environment.

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HOW AND WHY POLYETHYLENE IS A MORE SUSTAINABLE POLYMER

A chart showing the evaluation of PVC &HDPE, The darker green symbolize the more preferable

values.

In Conclusion

! In building a case for a greener inflatable water slide product, I will promote my project proposal to major companies that sell these products including, WAL MART, TARGET, SPORT AUTHORITY, BIG 5, & also to promote the idea all around the world. In order to get ride of the risk associated with PVC tarpaulins kids play with, we need to think about the plasticizers. Some of them rub off and getting on the skim, this can harm them, but the phthalates can leach into the water and harm out environment or maybe be consumed accidentally by one of the kids playing with the product. In the making of a PVC tarpaulin inflatable water slide, nylon or polyester, with a coat of PVC coating of soft PVC, usually contains DINP. Phthalates may be released from the Tarpaulin production, by washing, into rainwater and to the air. By reformulating the polymer to HDPE we will not have that risk, therefore that hazard will no longer be presented in the product. HDPE has no phthalates associated with it or added in to it, in order to act in the same way of PVC tarpaulin. HDPE is the studies and more inflexible type. HDPE is quite heavy but it can be used for paper thin-foil, that can act in a tarpaulin to make the new product HDPE inflatable water slides. HDPE is also made from recycled water bottles, and bottles, so we know that are sources are closed loop, and going right back into another product. HDPE is a more sustainable polymer. It is easy to process by most methods, and has a low cost and good chemical resistant. HDPE allows us to prevent waste where PVC we have to treat or clean up waste after its forms. HDPE is making the product be designed to preserve efficacy of function while reducing toxicity. Also the HDPE raw material feed stock is renewable, polyethylene is made out of petroleum, out supply of petroleum is limited, by recycling and reusing these polymers, we are not depleting whenever technically and economically practical. Unlike PVC, HDPE chemical products are designed so that the end of their function they do not persist in the environment and break down into innocuous degradation product. The end of life associated with PVC in our product would be harmful to the environment, where in the HDPE inflatable water slide, has more than one use

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associated with it, and we can recycle it into another plastic product when finished. Therefor, this results to HDPE being a more sustainable and a less hazardous material in the process, usage, and end of life of an Inflatable Water Slide.

Opportunities and Challenges

In creating a product towards a greener solution, some opportunities i took to my advantage while creating a greener product where all the information was given to me for PVC. The PVC material profile, helped break down what I liked about the polymer and what I did not like. I found what i did not like, and replaced it with a polymer i researched, and knew would not have those traits. A challenge i had to overcome, was understanding what was so bad with PVC, there are no cases or examples of people being harmed, but there were some for the environment. SOme gaps associated with my project including being, narrowing done what product i wanted to make more green, the business aspect and promoting my project. and how it will effect others. Also i needed to think more of the chemistry PVC vs HDPE, why HDPE is better and i needed to implement this in my project. the biggest challenge was coming up with policies relating to the HDPE product. I did not know where to look or where to start, but i talked with others in my company, and we came up with a good set of policy.

Policies & Economic Benefits Our review of PVC uses and alternatives makes it clear that a PVC phaseout is achievable and affordable. The alternatives are increasingly well known and well developed, and in many cases are already cost-competitive with PVC. It is realistic and practical to build health and environmental considerations into materials choice for municipal infrastructure, commercial and residential building, medical supplies, and consumer products. The cost impacts of substitution will be modest, and will grow smaller over time. There are policy initiatives at every level, internationally and within the US, calling for reduction and restriction of PVC use. Major industries are beginning to substitute less toxic materials for PVC throughout their product lines. The rapidly growing “green building” movement has created numerous successful examples of the use of safer alternatives materials. Two examples of policy the government has already enforced and i would like to enforce on my product are :A number of U.S. cities have passed procurement policies to phase out the purchase of products such as PVC that contribute to dangerous toxic pollution. In December, 2005, New York City passed legislation that will reduce the City’s purchase of PVC, wielding its $11 billion annual purchasing budget to drive markets for safer, environmentally friendly products. Other U.S. cities such as Boston, Seattle, San Francisco, and Buffalo have passed similar purchasing measures.

Phthalates were banned in toys in the United States in 2008. Similar bans have been enacted by the states of California, Washington and Vermont. Restrictions or bans have been placed on phthalates in PVC toys in the entire European Union, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Iceland Mexico, Norway, and Sweden. In 1998, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reached a voluntary agreement with manufacturers to remove two phthalates from PVC rattles, teethers, pacifiers and baby bottle nipples.

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