- Efforts to achieve NEC's environmental business vision
- A world first: New technology to eliminate the need for standby power in ICT equipment
- Plastic Made from Straw and Nut Shells
- Obayashi Corporation
- A bioplastic with a biomass ratio of more than 75%
- Optimizing Power and Space with ECO CENTER
- Observing Greenhouse Gases Around the Earth from Space
- Monitoring the forests from space
- High-Performance Workplaces
- e-Learning
Welcome to the most environmentally friendly flame retardant plastic in the world.
Index
The first practical, flame-retardant bioplastic with a high biomass ratio
A bioplastic that has a high biomass ratio while achieving a high level of flame retardancy and a computer that uses this bioplasticInstead of petroleum, bioplastic is made primarily from renewable biomass (plant-derived) materials such as the cereals used for animal feed. For this reason, bioplastic is gaining considerable attention as a way to prevent global warming and conserve declining petroleum resources.
In autumn of 2009, NEC successfully developed and implemented a flame-retardant bioplastic that can be used in electronic devices due to its high flame retardancy and processability. The new bioplastic includes more than 75% biomass components (biopolymer: polylactic acid) (*1), and can be produced using manufacturing and molding processes that halve the CO2 emissions of conventional processes used to make petroleum-based flame-retardant plastics (PC/ABS plastics). NEC's new bioplastic is therefore one of the most environmentally friendly flame retardant plastics used for casing of electronic devices in the world (*2).
Followings are introduction of this new and innovative material that people in the plastic and chemical industries throughout the world thought was impossible to make; about the significance of this development; and about the unique technologies used to make the bioplastic flame retardant. We also discuss possible applications for the material both now and in the future.
(*1) NEC bioplastic standard: a plastic that uses more than 75% biomass (plant based material) within its organic material (resin and organic additive agents).
(*2) As of November 4, 2009; based on research conducted by NEC.
Wanting to make a real bioplastic
Bioplastics have many advantages: they are carbon neutral; they help prevent the depletion of petroleum resources; and they are biodegradable. Until recently, bioplastics were mainly used to make things like textiles and eating utensils. Recent technological breakthroughs, however, have made it possible to make bioplastics that are more resistant to heat, stronger, and have a high level of flame retardancy, making them less likely to catch fire caused by electronic devices. This has meant that bioplastics are now able to be used in a wider range of applications, such as the casings of electronic devices. However, these new flame-retardant bioplastics are actually made using at least 70% petroleum feedstock resins, reducing their plant-derived resin component to less than 30%.
Masatoshi Iji, a Doctor of Engineering and Research Fellow at the NEC Nano Electronics Research Laboratories comments, "We wondered, in fact, whether these kinds of plastics could really be called bioplastics." Influenced by NEC's environmental vision-that it should be an environmentally friendly material that would help prevent the depletion of petroleum resources and reduce CO2 emissions over its entire lifecycle, from the gathering of raw materials to disposal, Dr. Iji says, "We decided that we needed to look at bioplastic development from a different angle to other companies. We needed to develop a bioplastic that had the required features of a bioplastic-flame retardancy and process ability but that also had a high biomass ratio. Considering the seriousness of the world's environmental problems, developing this new material became our mission as engineers." The research laboratories where Dr. Iji worked had already had a string of successes in developing biomass-derived, plant-based materials, including the successful development in 2003 of a strong, highly heat-resistant bioplastic (polylactic acid composite) made by adding kenaf fiber. It was against this background that Dr. Iji and his team decided in 2005 to launch a project to develop a flame-retardant bioplastic with a significantly highly environmental friendliness.
By using an original additive compounding technology, NEC was able to achieve a biomass ratio of over 75%-much higher than the 30% or less realized by conventional flame-retardant bioplastics.
