Cargill-Dow Polymers built a production capacity of 140,000 tons/year in Blair, Nebraska, USA, and put into production a biological polylactic acid plant. This device uses corn and other grains as raw materials to obtain lactic acid through fermentation, and then uses lactic acid as raw materials to polymerize and produce biodegradable PLA plastic. It is said that this is currently the world's largest production scale biodegradable plastic device. Coupled with the company's technology transfer in Asia, Europe and South America to build three sets of world-scale equipment, it is expected that the production capacity will reach 1 million tons/year in 10 years.
European biodegradable plastic manufacturers have made breakthroughs in the development and production of temperature-resistant PLA, which can withstand temperatures up to 200°C without deformation. Even if the material containing fat and liquid food is heated by microwave, it will not be deformed or damaged by stress cracking. The cup made of this material is filled with olive oil and can withstand microwave heating at 205°C for 30 minutes. This kind of HycailPLA material has good heat resistance and does not affect other properties, such as transparency, processability and strength, thus gradually pushing PLA into the field of high-performance thermoplastics. The Hycail PLA material production facility in Noordhorn, the Netherlands, has produced hundreds of tons a year, and is preparing to build a large-scale facility with a production capacity of at least 25,000 tons/year.
The PLA polymer produced by NatureWorks with grains as raw materials can save costs in some current applications of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The Brussels-based company's PLA's production costs have dropped by 68%, and it can compete with PET and will also be able to compete with polystyrene (PS) in the next few years. Belgian retailer Delhaize has started using NatureWorks' PLA for fresh vegetable storage boxes, and is evaluating the safety of using this material for food, fruit and vegetable packaging. Through the improvement of technology, the production cost of polylactic acid can be further reduced. The use of biocatalysts, enzyme engineering technology and the improvement of production technology will rapidly reduce the production cost of bioprocessing, so that the produced polylactic acid can be combined with petrochemical production polymers, especially with Polyester competes.
Toray Industries of Japan has used PLA supplied by Cargill to produce Ecodear fiber and resin products. The company will industrially produce polylactic acid films and sheets through its South Korean subsidiary, Toray Sehan. The use of biodegradable PLA containers to replace traditional containers in Korean food exports is increasing. Toray is also using its nano-alloy technology to develop PLA-based functional films and sheets, which can copolymerize multiple polymers. These films have heat and impact resistance equivalent to petroleum-based plastic films, and have good flexibility and high transparency.
BASF has developed a new biodegradable plastic material that combines the company's biodegradable and petrochemical-based Ecoflex polyester and grain-based bioplastic polylactic acid. The EcovioLBX8145 grade product launched for the first time contains 45% PLA, which is chemically cross-linked and graft-modified with Ecoflex polyester. The product will be used for the first time in shopping bags and handbag flexible film products.
China's PLA research and development has also made great progress. Tsinghua University, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Tianjin University and Tongji University have carried out a lot of research and development work in the fields of PLA and PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoate). Production is in a leading position. The domestic production capacity of 100,000 tons/year PLA and 100 tons/year PHA has been formed, which has made technical reserves for accelerating the development and production of PLA and PHA. At present, more and more large-scale biological fermentation and plastic resin processing enterprises in China have participated in the development and production of PLA and PHA. In 2019, 25 manufacturers of PLA production, expansion and construction include North China Pharmaceutical Factory and Anhui Fengyuan Group, which provide a strong foundation for the industrial development of PLA and PHA. PLA resin has been applied in more than 100 enterprises in my country
