Historical Background of Bio Plastic

Kyoto Protocol, the international agreement on prevention and regulation of global warming is an agreement made in 1997 to execute United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that was adopted in Rio de Janeiro United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in June, 1992 and it is also called “Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.”정식명칭은 Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The official name is “Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.” It was adopted at the Third Conference of the Parties of the Climate Change Convention in Kyoto, Japan, in December 1997 and it was officially taken into effect on 16th of February, 2005. 38 countries including Australia, Canada, the USA, Japan and the European Union countries have to reduce 5.2% of their greenhouse gas emissions on average in the period between 2008 and 2012. South Korea has ratified the protocol in November, 2002 but was categorized as developing country so it does not have the lawful obligation to reduce the emissions, but as an OECD country, it is also under pressure to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions along with Mexico.
Between 2013 and 2017, developing countries will come under pressure to reduce carbon emissions, and it is expected that South Korea will be asked to join the convention of expansion of countries which start from May.
According to International Energy Agency (IEA) statistics in 2002, the annual carbon dioxide emission of South Korea ranked 9th in the world with 434 million tons of emissions, and that figure takes up about 1.8 % of the world’s total emissions. To make matters worse, the emission has increased about 85.4% since 1990, it is highly likely that the country will be categorized as the country to sign the protocol. The USA take up 28% of the total carbon dioxide emissions, but in order to protect its industries it has removed its name in March 2001.
Gases that are listed to be aggravating global warming are: Carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrogen dioxide (N2O), discord carbon (PFC), hydrofluorocarbons (HFC), sulfur nexafluoride (SF6)

Features of Bio-based Chemicals Industry

The recent trends in changes of bio-based chemicals industry using bio materials in the world are:

The bio materials are eco-friendly materials that are driving force behind building a society with sustainable development and low-carbon green growth. It is eco-friendly bio-based chemicals industry that produces Bio Plastic by using biomass such as corn and sugar cane.
Bio Plastic, which is categorized as “White Bio” of bio-based chemicals industry, is biodegradable and reduces CO2 emissions, and it is highly likely that it could become the core industry of low carbon green growth industry since it can reduce the CO2 emission levels to oil-based products from 10 to 100.
Bio-based chemicals industry, which is one of the next future engines, is cited as the industrial item with infinite potential. The bio technology, which is one of the latest technologies, is being applied to many different fields with its speed of development. The bio technology can be categorized into three colors, red, green and white. And the most promising one is White Bio technology. Currently the main force behind Korean bio-based chemicals industry is Red Bio. It has the most demands and it takes up about 90% of the domestic industry.
Red Bio technology was named after the red color of the blood. It refers to biologics area such as making new drugs, diagnosis reagent, stem cells, organ transplant.
Green Bio, as you can probably tell from its name, is a technology that has grafted biotech with agriculture and forestry, marine products and living things. Technologies that produce high value products through genetically modified beans and corns are called Green Bio. White Bio technology refers to technologies that use enzyme or microorganism in the process of industrial production, such as the technology that produce clean energy from living things without releasing harmful chemicals such as petroleum or coal and the technology that produce food, fuels, clothes and plastic using plants and microorganisms instead of synthetic chemical substances.
White Bio technology usually includes bio technology that you can apply into everyday lives. Instead of using chemical substances, but by using alternative fuels such as plants and microorganisms, the technology directly leads to production of household items and development of energy that does not emit environmentally harmful chemicals. Thanks to the advances of White Bio technology, the bio technology has become industrialized, rather than staying inside the lab, and has become one of the core technologies of the next generation bio market. Experts are expecting that looking at the advances of White Bio market, bio products will form a market worth USD 160 billion by 2010, and grow 10~30% each year.

Background of Research and Development of Bio Plastic

The international communities’ interest in environmental regulation, the depletion and the rise of the demand of fossil fuels and climate conventions have weakened the competitive edge of the conventional energy and the parts of conventional chemical industry. And Bio Plastic can be used in various industrial anticorrosive items, synthetic fiber, transport and industrial plastic, safe food additives and medicinal or cosmetic items.
Products that use conventional oil-based materials such as bio fiber, car materials, wallpaper linoleum, construction materials, medicinal and food additives are being replaced with bio-based chemical products at a fast pace.
In recent years, the shortcomings of conventional biodegradable plastics which are:

In order to overcome these shortcomings, new products that have improved the heat resistance, workability, impact resistance are being released. Also, for industrial use of Bio Plastic, products with improved workability, impact resistance and physical property with added degradable plastic are being released. There are many upsides considering the conventional plastic’s physical property, workability and economic feasibility.
According to related businesses, there are many biomass plastic products that are made of corn starch and commodity plastic, such as corn printer and corn cell phones being produced. Bio Plastic which is made by using biomaterials is being cited as the latest environmental friendly materials. Unlike chemical products such as PVC, vinyl, styrofoam which takes centuries to be degraded, biomass plastic only takes one to two years to degrade.
So if problems such as price and strength are solved, bio plastic will become the main materials in the near future. Also, other than edible resources such as starch, it can use inedible organic waste resources.