Environmental analysis of nylon 6,6 production from gamma-valerolactone derived from kenaf

Nylon, known for its outstanding physical properties, durability, and affordability, is in high demand across various industries. The majority of nylon is currently produced using petroleum-based raw materials, which causes negative environmental impacts such as greenhouse gas emission and fossil resource depletion. This has motivated research and development of eco-friendly production methods using biomass, we propose the environmental feasibility of kenaf-based nylon production strategy in the Republic of Korea. This study carries out a life cycle assessment (LCA) for analyzing the global warming potential (GWP) and fossil resource scarcity (FRS) of nylon 6,6 production from gamma-valerolactone (GVL) derived from kenaf. The life cycle inventory is analyzed based on the simulation data of the GVL-to-nylon 6,6 process and the two major environmental impacts are quantified when the biorefinery is operated at the Saemangeum agro-bio industrial cluster in Jeollabuk-do in Republic of Korea. The nylon 6,6 production in the Saemangeum can effectively reduce the GWP (61%) and FRS (67%) compared to the conventional nylon 6,6 production. Furthermore, if the GWP of the two materials used in the production of nylon 6,6 (HMDA, NaOH) can be reduced by 50%, the GWP per kilogram of nylon 6,6 produced will be reduced by 43% (1.91 kg CO2 eq.).