thyssenkrupp commissions a PLA plant for COFCO in China
Type of post: NEWS.
Uhde
Inventa-Fischer (UIF), subsidiary of thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions, has developed the PLAneo® process to produce polylactide
(PLA) from lactic acid. The world’s first commercial plant based on this
technology has recently started production in Changchun (China). It is operated
by the Jilin COFCO Biomaterial Corporation (subsidiary of COFCO, China’s largest food and
beverage group). thyssenkrupp has provided services of engineering, supervision
of construction and commissioning, and it has supplied key plant components. The
new plant produces all standard PLA types, among other products for the manufacturing
of eco-friendly packaging, fibers, textiles and engineering plastics.
Press release: “thyssenkrupp
commissions first commercial bioplastics plant for COFCO in China”,
18/8/2018.
Figure 1. New COFCO bioplastics
plant (extracted from the press release)
PLAneo technology converts lactic
acid into PLA in a particularly efficient and resource-friendly way. The conversion
of lactic acid to PLA is close to its theoretical minimum, thanks to the a purification
and polymerisation technology of meso-lactide, which usually has to be separated
and hydrolysed back to lactic acid, reducing overall efficiency and increasing
raw material conversion costs. In UIF’s PLAneo process, meso-lactide is polymerised
and blended with standard crystalline PLA without this adversely affecting the
properties of the final product. All PLA grades available in the market can be
produced, from fast-crystallising types to nearly amorphous ones.
Figure 2. PLAneo process flow
diagram (extracted from PLAneo
brochure)
In addition, UIF is in the position to offer
technology for the production of lactic acid from sugar. The biotechnology
division of thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions has developed the fermentation
process at its own industrial-scale pilot plant. Both technologies, the
fermentation and purification of lactic acids and the PLAneo process, have been
merged into one integrated process in order to further reduce production costs
and ensure that it is as cost-efficient as possible.
Figure 3. Integrated LA-PLA
process (extracted from PLAneo
brochure)