Total Corbion PLA starts up its PLA pilot plant in Thailand




Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF.

Total Corbion PLA, 50/50 joint venture between Total and Corbion headquartered in the Netherlands, has just issued a press release to update the status of its polylactic acid (PLA) project in Rayong (Thailand). This is a summary of the main points:
- It has successfully started up a 1 kton per year PLA pilot plant in December 2017 and over the past two months has produced a broad range of Luminy® PLA resins. They are now available for customer sampling.
- The pilot plant is being used to train operators and to get a head start on the required product certifications and regulatory needs. In future, Total Corbion PLA will also be able to use the pilot plant for product development.
- The lactide plant is being expanded to 100 ktons per year.
- The 75 ktons per year PLA polymerization plant under construction is on track to deliver its first commercial quantities of PLA during the second half of 2018. Upon completion, the production facility in Thailand will produce a broad portfolio of Luminy® PLA neat resins: from standard PLA to innovative, high heat resistant PLA.

Figure 1. Quality inspection of Luminy® biopolymer pellets produced from Total Corbion PLA’s pilot plant in Rayong

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