Life cycle assessment of biobased polymers for skin-contact applications
Résumé
Biobased polymers are currently developed to replace petro-sourced ones in a wide range of
applications. During the European project Polybioskin, prototypes of biopolymers for skin-contact
products were studied. The aim was to developed a diaper, a wound dressing and a beauty mask, made
of biobased polymers with biodegradability properties. The main biopolymers used were polylactic acid
(PLA), polybutylene succinate (PBS), Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), chitosan, pullulan for supports and
a microcapsule-like systems based on a complex chitin-nanofibril/nanolignin (C-N/NL), suitable for
entrapping active molecules as glycyrrhetinic acid (GA) [1]. Environmental impacts of the life cycle of
the developed products were studied thanks to life cycle assessment (LCA). LCA is a method designed
to assess the impacts of a product or process on the environment, more and more applied to recent
materials, as biopolymers