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Life Cycle of Synthetic Leather and Raw Materials
Life Cycle of Synthetic Leather and Raw Materials
In the production of synthetic leather, the raw materials acquired from the earth are
heavily processed to make polyvinyl chloride or polyurethane and excess chemicals
during processing are recycled. While currently manufacturers are feeding excess
chemicals back into the life cycle to produce more synthetic leather, it doesnt seem
efficient. Product durability seems to be a good solution for waste management by
inhibiting the speed of the product life cycle with better raw materials (Blackburn,
2009). However, lowering the product consumption is the best solution. Instead of
creating more product life cycles with recycled material, it would be ideal to have a
lower demand for the product and thus a lower amount of extracted resources, used
energy, and harmful emissions. If people didnt have a constant demand for newer,
more stylish synthetic leather products there would be less resources we must tap
into in order to make polyvinyl chloride or polyurethane for synthetic leather.
PVC polymerisation is the process that gives the coating its transparent and glossy
qualities. Polymerisation requires light, a liquid monomer, and heat or small
amounts of initiators (Baitz, 2004). There are a couple types of polymerisation, but I
am going to assume that the most common type, suspension polymerisation,
applies to the production of synthetic leather. During suspension polymerisation an
impellor agitator is used to distribute a monomer throughout water (Baitz, 2004).
This results in large particles that can absorb an ample amount of plasticiser (Baitz,
2004). Plasticisers are typically made from carboxlyic acid and an alcohol (Baitz,
2004). They separate polymer chains, increasing their movement and the elasticity
of the product (Baitz, 2004). Plasticisers used in flexible PVC for synthetic leather
make up 40% of the product and can reach up to 60% in other soft products
(Baitz, 2004). After the addition of the plasticiser, the polymer is separated from
the water using centripetal force generated by a centrifuge (Baitz, 2004). The
centrifuge spins the polymer until the denser material falls towards the middle and
the lighter material, or in this case the water moves to the outside. The water is
also evaporated with hot air. The VCM is rationed out to a reactor with a
suspension stabiliser, a pH buffer, an anti foam agent, and an initiator like organic
peroxides (Baitz, 2004). The stabiliser is a significant additive because it protects
the final product from damaging heat or UV light. It also protects from thermal
degradation and hydrogen chloride evolution during processing (Baitz, 2004). When
the VCM reaction is 80% to 90% complete, an inhibitor is added to stop the
polymerisation (Baitz, 2004). The suspension is then filtered of the unconverted
VCM with water that is later sent to a treatment plant to be stripped (Baitz, 2004).
The suspension is processed into dry PVC powder using the same centrifuge and
evaporation techniques as earlier (Baitz, 2004). At some point in production,
pigments are added to color the final product. One of the most widely used
pigments is titanium dioxide because it serves as a base for many colors (Baitz,
2004). Chloride and sulphate processes are used to obtain titanium dioxide from
limonite (Baitz, 2004). Titanium dioxide has toxicity potential, requires high energy
consumption, and yields chemical waste (Baitz, 2004). Pigments may also have a
connection to lead in products because lead makes bright colors last longer (Young,
2012).
After polymerisation takes place, some form of heat is required to bind the
PVC particles together and incorporate the additives (Baitz, 2004). The material is
then cooled, and left to recrystallize to form a structure process called gelation or
fusion (Baitz, 2004).
Toluene is converted into the isocyanate TDI and is processed much like MDI.
Toluene is nitrated into dinitrotoluene which produces an isomer mix (Lee, 2002).
The isomers are hydrogenated to crude toluene diamine (TDA) (Lee, 2002). TDA is
purified by distillation to remove mixed isomers that are disproportional, meaning
they have the wrong level of hydrolysable chlorine and acids that would influence
rates of chemical reactions (Lee, 2002). Purified TDA is phosgenated similarly to the
process in MDI, and excess phosgene is recycled. The isocyanate mixture is distilled
to generate a liquid TDI product and a residue (Lee, 2002).
Polyester polyol raw materials include dibasic acids like adipic acid and AGS
mixed acids, glycols like ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, 1,4-butane diol, and 1,6hexane diol, and branching agents like glycerol and pentaerythritol (Lee, 2002).
The closer together the ratio of glycols to adipic acid in a polyol results in an
extended polymerisation that is desireable for flexible foams (Lee, 2002). I am
assuming flexible or elastomer foams are used in synthetic leather due to its more
flexible qualities as a plastic. Triols such as glycerol or trimethylolpropane increase
functionality of a polyester polyol, which leads to branching of the polyester
backbone (Lee, 2002). In the production of polyester polyols, the raw materials are
first heated under pressure. Water is distilled off, which wastes some acid groups
and slows the rate of polymerisation (Lee, 2002). Azeotropic distillation can be
applied to decrease this loss by using a vacumm and or adding nitrogen to improve
the polymerisation reaction (Lee, 2002). Pigment additives can be organic or
inorganic. Inorganic pigments include titanium dioxide, chromium oxide, carbon
black, and iron oxide (Lee, 2002). Fillers are added to they polyol blend to reduce
cost, increase stiffness, and increase temperature stability. Glass fibre is most
commonly used, although carbon fibre is becoming more popular as its price is
dropping (Lee, 2002). Stabilisers are added to prevent microbial attack by
enzymatic hydrolysis (Lee, 2002). They are usually composed of metal organics
relating to antimony, copper, or arsenic (Lee, 2002). A blend of stabilisers are used
for UV resistance. Benzophenone, benzotriazoles, and amines all work as UV
absorbers (Lee, 2002). Fire retardants like solid melamine, graphite or aluminium
trihydrate and other low viscosity liquid compounds are added to polyols (Lee,
2002). It is typical for fire retardants to contain bromine, chlorine, or phosphorous
(Lee, 2002).
The nitration of benzene to make MDI is a high yield reaction that leaves 10% of the
materials weight to be recycled (Lee, 2002). The nitric sulphuric acids mixed with
benzene yield water, a process called hydrogenation. The mixture is left to
naturally separate and 20% of the benzene will remain unreacted (Lee, 2002). Once
the water is distilled it is stripped of the remaining benzene for recycling (Lee,
2002). The nitration process works the same for TDI so the isomer mix and
sulphuric acid can be recycled using the same techniques. Also, sulphuric acid can
be recycled and excess reaction heat can be recovered as steam (Lee, 2002). In
production of both isocyanates, excess phosgene the most important chemical for
conversion, is recycled. Renewable materials like sucrose and starch have been
To conclude the extensive list of raw materials used and the complex
processing, the U.S patent for synthetic leather production gives us an idea of how
the raw materials in polyvinyl chloride and polyurethane will serve the final product.
The processed raw materials form a polymeric sheet that is fused with a fabric base
and all the layers are foamed (Fine, 1982). The initial polymeric layer is attached to
an embossed release paper that is heated to a tacky state (Fine, 1982). The fabric
base is then added along with another polymeric layer, and soon after that a foam
layer (Fine, 1982). The foam layer should have a thin urethane coat that is
mechanically embossed to simulate a leather like surface (Fine, 1982).
Bibliography
Baitz, Martin, Dr., Johannes KreiBig, and Eloise Byrne. "Life Cycle Assessment of PVC
and of Principal Competing Materials." European Commission, July 2004. Web. 20
Feb. 2013. <http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/chemicals/files/sustdev/pvcfinal_report_lca_en.pdf>.