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Energy Inputs on the Production of Plastic Products
 
 
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Department of Sustainable Transport and Sources of Propulsion, Lublin University of Technology, ul. Nadbystrzycka 36, 20-618 Lublin, Poland
 
 
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Halina Marczak   

Department of Sustainable Transport and Sources of Propulsion, Lublin University of Technology, ul. Nadbystrzycka 36, 20-618 Lublin, Poland
 
 
J. Ecol. Eng. 2022; 23(9):146-156
 
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The paper considers plastic products in terms of energy consumption at two stages of their life cycle, i.e. at the stage of production of virgin polymers and at the stage of processing polymers into a finished product. Energy intake places were indicated and energy needs related to the production of polymer products were assessed. This allowed to indicate which polymer production and processing processes into finished products are particularly energy-intensive. The research shows that the greater the amount of energy accumulated in the plastic during its production, the greater the importance of this plastic in the post-consumer phase as a recyclable material. Recycling of waste plastics allows the use of this energy and reduces the consumption of virgin raw materials. Primary polymers were compared in terms of the energy efficiency index of their production process. This indicator is the quotient of the calorific value of the polymer and the energy consumption in its production. It shows how much of the energy input during the production of primary plastic can be recovered from the thermal processing of the waste plastic. The highest indicator value was obtained for polyethylene and polypropylene. It was found shown that the total energy consumption (converted to primary energy) of the PET virgin polymer production process and its processing into packaging reaches the value of 109.2 – 115.2 MJ/kg. This is almost five times the calorific value of this polymer.
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