Determining the Environmental Benefit of Artificial Spider Silk Products

摘要

Spider silk is a highly interesting material with outstanding properties. Since natural spider silk is not available for technical applications in large yields, the production of recombinant spider silk has been established. Here, this production process is ecologically evaluated by comparative life cycle assessment to identify the potential of artificial spider silk products to replace other polymer products. Amongst different technical applications, we focused on replacing polyamide 66 in an airbag. Whether a product is more sustainable when using spider silk rather than an existing polymer can only be answered with thorough examination. The methodical approach outlined here allows direct influence of further process developments towards more sustainable solutions and thereby improving future products.