Total Corbion PLA puts its polylactic acid polymerization plant at full-scale into operation in Thailand
Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF.
Nine months ago, the Blog reported that Total Corbion PLA, the 50/50 joint
venture between Total and Corbion, had successfully started-up a 1 kton/year
poly(lactic acid) (PLA) pilot plant and produced the first samples of Luminy®
resins. That pilot facility has paved the way for the new 75 ktons/year PLA
polymerization plant that the company has just put into operation in Rayong (Thailand).
Press release: “Total
Corbion PLA starts-up its 75,000 tons per year bioplastics plant”,
3/12/2018.
Related post: “Total
Corbion PLA starts up its PLA pilot plant in Thailand”, 16/3/2018.
Figure 1. Total Corbion PLA's new 75,000 tons/year
PLA plant in Rayong (extracted from the press release)
The new commercial-scale facility will produce
a broad range of Luminy® PLA resins from sugarcane sourced locally in Thailand:
from standard PLA to innovative high heat PLA and PDLA with unique properties. The
company will leverage on the integration with its lactide plant, the monomer
required for the production of PLA, that has simultaneously been expanded to
100,000 tons per year of production capacity. The pilot plant, which has been
operational since the end of 2017 on the same site, will be used for product
development.
The start-up of the plant, the second-largest one
in the world, marks a major milestone for both the joint venture and the
bioplastics market. According to the press release, the global production of
PLA will increase by almost 50% (to 240,000 tons per year) with this new facility.
It is a fast-growing market with an estimated annual growth rate of 10% to 15%.
This bioplastic provides a valuable contribution towards the circular economy. At
the end of their useful life, PLA products can be mechanically or chemically
recycled or, in some cases, composted and returned to the soil as fertilizer.