A Decision-Making Framework for Renewable Biopolymer Selection: Integrating Structure, Processing, Properties, Scalability, Techno-Economics, and Life-Cycle Assessment
- 1Department of Industrial Biotechnology
- 2KTH Royal Institute of Technology
- 3GreenMateria NovaTech
Abstract
Renewable biopolymers are often compared by feedstock origin, biodegradability, or isolated material properties. These comparisons do not, by themselves, support an engineering decision because a useful material is not a polymer in isolation: it is a biopolymer processed into a defined architecture for a specified application and manufactured under practical constraints. This study presents a semi-quantitative multi-criteria decision-making framework for selecting renewable biopolymer systems across alginate, cellulose, lignin, chitosan, and starch. The framework evaluates a material–processing route–architecture–application decision unit through five linked dimensions: molecular functionality, processing compatibility, resulting architecture, applicationrelevant performance, and scalability. Scores are accompanied by evidence-confidence flags and are tested under three application-specific weighting scenarios — balanced, performance-led, and manufacturability-led — so that the framework reports conditional candidates and genuine ranking reversals rather than a universal material ranking. Sustainable packaging coatings and films, thermal-insulation panels and porous materials, and adsorption-based water treatment using biopolymer sorbents are used as contrasting demonstration cases. For packaging, barrier performance under relevant humidity, mechanical integrity, food-contact compatibility, converting compatibility, and end-of-life are prioritised. For insulation, thermal conductivity at realistic moisture content, density, dimensional stability, drying intensity, moisture management, and manufacturability are prioritised. For water treatment, adsorption capacity and selectivity, regeneration and reuse, aqueous-state stability, and feedstock cost and availability at scale are prioritised. The method explicitly separates reported evidence from missing evidence, and the worked sensitivity analysis finds genuine ranking reversals for packaging and insulation alongside a stable, target-class-specific robust result for water treatment. Available technoeconomic and life-cycle evidence is incorporated as illustrative, application-specific data points rather than as a substitute for a dedicated assessment. The framework provides a reproducible bridge between qualitative renewable-biopolymer reviews and application-specific materialsystem design.
Related
- Toward a New Paradigm for Renewable Biopolymer Selection: A Structure–Processing–Architecture–Property–Scalability Framework (Alginate, Cellulose, Lignin, Chitosan, and Starch)
- Biopolymer‐Based Food Packaging: Functional Properties, Enhancement Strategies, and Future Perspectives
- Sustainable Polymers as System-Dependent Technologies: A Critical Engineering Assessment of LCA Evidence, Circular Compatibility, and Scalability Constraints
- Influence of Post-Processing by Annealing on Additive Manufacturing Productivity and Mechanical Properties in Three-Point Bending of Additively Manufactured Specimens from PETG and Recycled PETG
- Risk assessment of insulator contamination in thermal power plants by integrating dynamic physical priors and spatiotemporal heterogeneous graphs
BibTeX
@misc{kharazmi2026decisionmaking,
title = {{A Decision-Making Framework for Renewable Biopolymer Selection: Integrating Structure, Processing, Properties, Scalability, Techno-Economics, and Life-Cycle Assessment}},
author = {Parastou Kharazmi},
howpublished = {ChemRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.26434/chemrxiv.15009964/v1},
url = {https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009964/v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - A Decision-Making Framework for Renewable Biopolymer Selection: Integrating Structure, Processing, Properties, Scalability, Techno-Economics, and Life-Cycle Assessment
AU - Parastou Kharazmi
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/06
PB - ChemRxiv
DO - 10.26434/chemrxiv.15009964/v1
UR - https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009964/v1
AB - Renewable biopolymers are often compared by feedstock origin, biodegradability, or isolated material properties. These comparisons do not, by themselves, support an engineering decision because a useful material is not a polymer in isolation: it is a biopolymer processed into a defined architecture for a specified application and manufactured under practical constraints. This study presents a semi-quantitative multi-criteria decision-making framework for selecting renewable biopolymer systems across alginate, cellulose, lignin, chitosan, and starch. The framework evaluates a material–processing route–architecture–application decision unit through five linked dimensions: molecular functionality, processing compatibility, resulting architecture, applicationrelevant performance, and scalability. Scores are accompanied by evidence-confidence flags and are tested under three application-specific weighting scenarios — balanced, performance-led, and manufacturability-led — so that the framework reports conditional candidates and genuine ranking reversals rather than a universal material ranking. Sustainable packaging coatings and films, thermal-insulation panels and porous materials, and adsorption-based water treatment using biopolymer sorbents are used as contrasting demonstration cases. For packaging, barrier performance under relevant humidity, mechanical integrity, food-contact compatibility, converting compatibility, and end-of-life are prioritised. For insulation, thermal conductivity at realistic moisture content, density, dimensional stability, drying intensity, moisture management, and manufacturability are prioritised. For water treatment, adsorption capacity and selectivity, regeneration and reuse, aqueous-state stability, and feedstock cost and availability at scale are prioritised. The method explicitly separates reported evidence from missing evidence, and the worked sensitivity analysis finds genuine ranking reversals for packaging and insulation alongside a stable, target-class-specific robust result for water treatment. Available technoeconomic and life-cycle evidence is incorporated as illustrative, application-specific data points rather than as a substitute for a dedicated assessment. The framework provides a reproducible bridge between qualitative renewable-biopolymer reviews and application-specific materialsystem design.
ER -