WO2012069721A1

WO2012069721A1 - Biodegradable thermoplastic material

Info

Publication number: WO2012069721A1
Application number: PCT/FR2011/052404
Authority: WO
Inventors: Cyril Ciccarelli; Olivier Ciccarelli; Fabrice Legriffon
Original assignee: Antola; Collectors
Priority date: 2010-10-12
Filing date: 2011-10-14
Publication date: 2012-05-31
Also published as: FR2965815A1; FR2965815B1

Abstract

The invention relates to a biodegradable thermoplastic material that can be obtained by compounding a composition comprising: between 20 and 90 wt.-% of at least one biodegradable thermoplastic polymer, and between 80 and 10 wt.-% of at least one residue resulting from the infusion and/or decoction of a plant material. Preferably, the residue is coffee grounds or tea apothem. The invention also relates to a manufactured object that is obtained, in particular, by injection-moulding or extruding said biodegradable thermoplastic material in the form of leaves.

Description

Biodegradable thermoplastic material

The present invention relates to the production of biodegradable manufactured articles made from residues of the infusion and / or the decoction of a plant material, in particular coffee grounds or the apothem of tea.

In the context of the present invention, the term apothem, a deposit appearing on the surface of infusions and plant decoctions.

In the context of the present invention, the term "manufactu" object bi biodegradable or biodegradable material, a manufactured object or a material, which meets at least one of these standards:

ISO14855 (standard for the quantification of aerobic biodegradability in a composting medium), - EN13432 (standard for recovery by composting and biodegradation, by determining the possibility of composting and anaerobic treatment),

- ASTM 6400-99.

Many synthetic materials, among which non-biodegradable polymers such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, polyamide, polyethylene terephthalate, polycarbonate, give rise to serious environmental problems. , because when man and animals are exposed to these m aterials are unfortunately abandoned in the wild, their degradation occurs only after several decades.

Certainly, operations of recycling and incineration of these manufactured objects are more and more often implemented in an attempt to limit these harmful effects. The population is particularly aware of these environmental and recycling issues.

However, the fact remains that the development and optimization of these operations are very expensive to achieve a significant reduction in pollution. Indeed, the costs generated by the sorting, cleaning and recycling are very high, which can be a brake on attempts to implement upgrading of these manufactured objects.

That is why, nowadays, many research works are concerned with the development of new biodegradable materials. In parallel to this, the craze for espresso type coffee pods has increased in recent years. He then posed the problem of recycling, not only the pod "as such", but also the residue remaining in the pod after the preparation of the coffee, or in other words coffee grounds.

To date, various applications of coffee grounds are known. These are essentially so-called "domestic" uses that everyone can use at home. More specifically, it is known to use the coffee grounds as an additive in a compost or as an ant repellent or chips.

But there are few uses of coffee grounds in industry, and in particular its reuse in industrial processes such as the manufacture of objects.

This would, however, provide economic and ecological advantages if the recycled coffee grounds could be reused, not only for the recycling of the coffee pods mentioned above, but also for the dispensers of beverages, in particular hot drinks, of which have many companies.

It is then easy to understand the advantage of using new biodegradable materials from residues such as coffee grounds or tea apothem, since they would be quite advantageous alternatives to the use of non-organic materials. -biodegradable during the manufacture of objects, and in particular objects of everyday life.

Of course, these fully biodegradable materials, in order to fulfill this alternative function to non-biodegradable materials, should be able to exert equal mechanical (or even better) mechanical properties to these products. They are also biodegradable so that they can easily be used in the manufacture of objects.

The inventors of the present invention have quite surprisingly developed a novel composition which, by compounding, provides a biodegradable material which fulfills these requirements detailed above.

Indeed, the present invention relates to a composition which comprises by weight: between 20 and 90% of at least one biodegradable thermoplastic polymer,

between 80 and 10% of at least one residue resulting from the infusion and / or decoction of a plant material.

In a preferred manner, the composition according to the invention comprises, by weight:

between 30% and 70% of at least one biodegradable thermoplastic polymer,

between 70% and 30% of at least one residue resulting from the infusion and / or decoction of a plant material.

By biodegradable thermoplastic polymer is meant a thermoplastic polymer meeting at least one of the above standards.

The biodegradable thermoplastic polymer may be chosen from the group consisting of polyesteramide, polycaprolactone (PCL), polylactic acid (PLA), aliphatic and / or aromatic copolyesters, polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), polyhydroxyvalerate (PHV), poly-butylene succinate (PBS), poly-butylene succinate / adipate (PBSA), polyester carbonate (PEC), poly-ethylenesulfonate (P ES), polybutylene adipate / terephthalate (PBAT) , polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), cellullose acetate (CA).

Advantageously, the biodegradable thermoplastic polymer is chosen from cellulose acetate and polylactic acid.

Most preferably, cellulose acetate is used. Indeed, cellulose acetate has the following advantages:

- a natural origin and resulting mainly from revaluation process, because from natural resources, an ability to contact food, both hot foods and cold foods; which is particularly advantageous, if the composition according to the invention is shaped for the manufacture of an object for receiving a food.

a transparent appearance, which makes it possible to modulate the color of the composition according to the invention, by possible addition of dyes, mechanical properties (flexibility and strength) perfectly adapted for shaping the composition according to the invention.

Of course, the composition according to the invention may comprise a mixture of biodegradable thermoplastic polymers as described above.

Preferably, the residue resulting from the infusion and / or the decoction of a plant material is chosen from the group consisting of coffee grounds and tea apothem. The coffee grounds are particularly used.

Indeed, coffee grounds include many and various compounds, such as:

hydrophobic compounds, including lipids, triglycerides, fatty acids, but also insoluble compounds, such as glucoses such as cellulose, as well as

sugars,

lignin,

phenols, and

aromas.

It should be noted that during the preparation of the coffee, because of the infusion and / or the decoction at the origin of the coffee grounds, the compounds of which the coffee grounds are made are of a different nature, both a physical rather than a chemical point of view, compounds present in coffee beans, and in particular in the endocarp and pericarp that can be recovered as waste when the coffee beans are ground.

However, the inventors of the present invention have surprisingly discovered an entirely advantageous interaction between the compounds present in the coffee grounds with biodegradable thermoplastic polymers, making it possible to obtain a thermoplastic material that is not only biodegradable, but also exhibits excellent mechanical properties, namely perfectly suitable for easy manufacture of objects, in particular objects of everyday life, such as dishes, containers, or objects of decoration.

The biodegradable thermoplastic material obtained from the composition according to the invention also has the advantage of having a manufacturing cost that is higher than that of other thermoplastic materials. biodegradable known, because it is obtained from a waste such as coffee grounds, but especially from a smaller amount of biodegradable thermoplastic polymers which are often expensive raw materials.

Advantageously, the composition according to the invention further comprises at least one filler. The concentration of the charge by weight can be between 10% and 80%.

It may be a naturally occurring filler selected from the group consisting of cellulose or its derivatives, native starch or its derivatives, wood, cotton, lignin.

Advantageously, the composition according to the invention further comprises at least one additive, in particular an additive of natural origin, at a concentration by weight of between 0.1 and 2%.

It may be a dye of natural origin, or in other words which does not present a risk for the environment, or even plasticizers, preferably plasticizers of natural origin. Among the plasticizers that the composition according to the invention may comprise, there may be mentioned vegetable oils, fatty acids, fatty acid esters, glycerol, glycerin.

Another subject of the invention is a biodegradable thermoplastic material that can be obtained by compounding a composition as described above. The biodegradable thermoplastic material according to the invention can then be injection molded or extruded in the form of sheets or profiles.

In the present context, the present invention provides a method of melt blending thermoplastics, optionally in the presence of additives.

Another object of the invention is a process for obtaining a manufactured product characterized in that it comprises the following steps:

a) The composition as described above is produced by a melt blending of the at least one biodegradable thermoplastic polymer with the at least one residue resulting from the infusion and / or the decoction of a plant material, possibly in the presence charge and / or additive. b) Shaping said composition obtained at the end of step a) so as to obtain the desired shape of said manufactured product.

Advantageously, the residue resulting from the infusion and / or the decoction of a plant material has been recovered from:

vending machines for beverages, especially hot drinks,

coffee pods, for example of the espresso type.

Most advantageously, said residue has been dried before being mixed with the biodegradable thermoplastic polymer.

In one embodiment of the invention, step a) of the production process is carried out as follows:

the at least one biodegradable thermoplastic polymer is mixed with the at least one residue resulting from the infusion and / or the decoction of a plant material, optionally in the presence of fillers and / or additives, by corotative extrusion at a temperature such that the mixture is melted, preferably at a temperature between 130 ° C and 170 ° C,

extruding a wire (a rod) which is cooled by air or by water and which is cut in the form of granules, for example to a dimension of between 2 and 4 mm,

the granules thus obtained are dried with hot air.

On the basis of these granules obtained at the end of step a), it is then possible to shape various products, such as sheets, films, packaging. In this regard, thin packs can be made because of the excellent rheological properties of the granules obtained at the end of step a) of said production process.

More specifically, step b) of the production process according to the invention, namely the shaping of the composition, can be carried out by various techniques, and in particular by:

injection molding;

injection / compression;

extrusion / blowing;

- extrusion / rolling;

extrusion / injection. Step b) of the production process according to the invention may also consist of an extrusion in the form of sheets or profiles.

The product thus obtained at the end of step b) of the production process according to the invention exhibits, quite advantageously, mechanical properties similar (or even better) to those obtained with non-recyclable polymer materials. such as polystyrene or polyethylene, and while having the advantage of being completely biodegradable, and therefore not to cause environmental nuisance.

The manufactured product can be a sheet, a package, a container, a dishware such as a plate, a cup, a glass, a cup, a fork, a knife, a fork, a spoon, a bowl, a dish . It can also be any object of decoration or any object of the everyday life that can be manufactured from a thermoplastic material by means of one of the techniques of formatting detailed above.

The invention also relates to the use of a residue resulting from the infusion and / or decoction of a plant material in the manufacture of a biodegradable thermoplastic material. Advantageously, the residue resulting from the infusion and / or the decoction of a plant material is chosen from the group consisting of coffee grounds and tea apothem.

Experimental tests using different compositions according to the invention have been carried out.

The compositions according to the invention were prepared from the following constituents:

two types of cellulose acetate:

o 1 ^st cellulose acetate (hereinafter abbreviated as "acetate

1 ") comprised a weight percent plasticizer of less than 10%;

o 2 ^nd cell ulose acetate (hereinafter abbreviated as "acetate 2") included a percentage by weight of plasticizer equal to 30%;

dried coffee grounds, so that the residual moisture content by weight is between 2 and 10%.

In addition, during the compounding of the compositions according to the invention, slip agents or dispersing agents have been added.

The slip agents and dispersing agents used were those conventionally used in the technical field of compounding and were therefore perfectly within the reach of the skilled person in this technical field. Indeed, the skilled person knows the dispersing agents and slip agents that should be added to the compositions from which a compounding process is carried out, and this to obtain a suitable transformation of the material of the mixture.

Table 1 below details the percentages by weight of the various constituents of tests 1 to 17 for obtaining by compounding a biodegradable thermoplastic material.

The percentage by weight indicated in parentheses in the column of coffee grounds indicates the residual moisture content by weight of the coffee grounds used for each of these tests 1 to 17.

Table 1 summarizing the percentages by weight of the constituents of the biodegradable thermoplastic material obtained by compounding The compounding of tests 1 to 17 was carried out with a flow rate of 10 kg / h and a speed of 200 rpm.

The biodegradable thermoplastic material obtained after the compou nage of each of these tests 1 to 17 exhibited physical properties quite acceptable to be shaped, for example by an injection process or an extrusion process .

The biodegradable thermoplastic material of tests 1 to 17 thus obtained from a composition according to the invention is perfectly suitable for manufacturing manufactured products such as packaging or tableware.

Claims

1. Composition comprising by weight:

between 20 and 90% by weight of at least one biodegradable thermoplastic polymer,

between 80 and 10% by weight of at least one residue resulting from the infusion and / or the decoction of a plant material.

2. Composition according to claim 1 characterized in that the residue resulting from the infusion and / or decoction of a plant material is selected from the group consisting of coffee grounds and tea apothem.

3. Composition according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that the biodegradable thermoplastic polymer is selected from the group consisting of polyesteram ide, polycaprolactone (PCL), polylactic acid (PLA), aliphatic copolyesters and / or aromatics, polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), polyhydroxyvalerate (PHV), polybutylene succinate (PBS), polybutylene succinate / adipate (PBSA), polyestercarbonate (PEC), poly-ethylene succinate (PES) ), polybutylene adipate / terephathalate (PBAT), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), cellullose acetate (CA).

4. Composition according to claim 3, characterized in that the biodegradable thermoplastic polymer is cellulose acetate.

5. Composition according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the said composition further comprises at least one filler.

6. Composition according to claim 5, characterized in that the filler is selected from the group consisting of cellulose, cellulose derivatives, native starch, derivatives of native starch, wood, cotton, lignin.

7. Composition according to any one of claims 1 to 6 characterized in that said composition further comprises at least one additive.

8. Composition according to claim 7 characterized in that said additive is selected from the group consisting of dyes, plasticizers.

9. Biodegradable thermoplastic material obtainable by compounding a composition according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

10. Process for obtaining a manufactured product, characterized in that it comprises the following steps:

a) The composition according to any one of Claims 1 to 8 is produced by a melt blending of the at least one biodegradable thermoplastic polymer with the at least one residue resulting from the infusion and / or the decoction of a plant material. , optionally in the presence of filler and / or additive. b) Shaping said composition obtained at the end of step a) so as to obtain the desired shape of said manufactured product.

11. The manufacturing method according to claim 10 characterized in that the shaping of the composition is carried out by injection molding, injection / compression, extrusion / blowing, extrusion / rolling, or extrusion / injection.

12. The manufacturing method according to any one of claims 10 to 11 characterized in that the manufactured product is a sheet, a package, a container, a dishware such as a plate, a cup, a glass, a cup , a knife, a fork, a spoon, a bowl, a dish, or an object of decoration.

13. Use of a residue resulting from the infusion and / or decoction of a plant material in the manufacture of a biodegradable thermoplastic material.

14. Use according to claim 13 characterized in that residue resulting from the infusion and / or decoction of a plant material is selected from the group consisting of coffee grounds and tea apothem.