Bio-based polyamides: Environmental impact and applicability in soccer shoe outsoles

Abstract

This thesis proposes a methodology to assess commercial and lab-scale materials for any specific application on the aggregate of technical performance, environmental impact and economic impact where fragmented, uncertain and incomplete data is available. The methodology combines a material decision-making framework for technical performance and economic impact with early-stage chemical assessment methods for environmental impact using publically available data. The methodology is applied to a comparative case study where injection-molded bio- and petro-based polyamides are tested for application in soccer shoe outsoles. The results show that partially bio-based PA6.10 performs better than bio-based PA11 and petro-based PA12 using the proposed methodology. In addition, the case study shows that bio-based polyamides are better for the environment and do not necessarily have higher cost or compromise technical performance. Additionally, the sensitivity analysis performed on the case study results shows that the outcome does not change when changing the weighting factors, which have the largest effect on the end results. This shows that the proposed methodology provides a correct indication that PA6.10 is the best material for use in soccer shoe outsoles.