Journal Article

Assessment of Potential Environmental Impact: Synthetic and Natural Binders

Grubliauskas, Raimondas, Garnevičius, Mantas, Gboe, Nuushuun Archie

2025

Overview

Binders are important construction materials, especially with plant-based granulates and fibers. A binder is chosen for its physical and chemical properties to be compatible with some construction requirements. New market trends show that green binders meet global sustainability targets, which is a step towards greener buildings and a greener environment. This study presents a cradle-to-gate comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) of synthetic binders (Polyvinyl Acetate (PVA) and Carboxymethyl Cellulose (CMC)) and agriculture starch-based binders made from cassava, wheat, and corn. The LCA was conducted using SimaPro software based on ISO 14040/14044 standards using the ReCiPe Midpoint and CML IA Baseline method. The assessment is cradle-to-gate with a binder production function unit of 1 kg. Key environmental sustainability metrics like Global Warming Potential (GWP) and Acidification Potential (AP) are assessed to rank the binder sustainability against each other. The results show that synthetic binder PVA has the highest environmental impact in almost all impact categories, especially GWP (6.55 kg CO eq in ReCiPe and 6.37 kg CO eq in CML) and AP (0.012 kg SO eq in ReCiPe and 0.015 kg SO eq in CML). Among natural binders, Corn Starch shows the lowest environmental impact with GWP values of 0.930 kg CO eq (ReCiPe) and 0.896 kg CO eq (CML) and AP values of 0.010 kg SO eq (ReCiPe) and 0.016 kg SO eq (CML). The agricultural binders (Cassava Starch, Wheat Starch, and Corn Starch) are environmentally friendlier than the synthetic binders (PVA and CMC). Although agricultural binders carry environmental costs associated with farming operations, they have lower environmental impacts than synthetic alternatives, demonstrating their sustainability potential in binder applications.

• Publisher: Sciendo,Riga Technical University
• Subject: Acetic acid / Acidification / Binders / Carbon dioxide / Carboxymethyl cellulose / Carboxymethylcellulose / Cassava / Cellulose / Chemical properties / Climate change / Corn / Environmental impact / Environmental impacts / Global warming / ISO standards / Life cycle analysis / Life cycle assessment / Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) / Polyvinyl alcohol / Starch / starch-based binders / Sulfur dioxide / Sustainability / sustainable binders / synthetic binders / Wheat