BioRefineries Blog

Type of post: NEWS. Late last year, Total Corbion PLA (50/50 joint venture between Total and Corbion) put into operation its new 75 ktons/year PLA (Poly Lactic Acid) polymerization plant in Rayong (Thailand). Now, the company has just officially celebrated the start-up of this facility (the world’s second largest PLA plant). Press release: “ Total Corbion PLA celebrates the opening of its 75,000 tons per year bioplastics plant ”, 9/9/2019. Related posts: - “ Total Corbion PLA starts up its PLA pilot plant in Thailand ”, 16/3/2018. - “ Total Corbion PLA puts its polylactic acid polymerization plant at full-scale into operation in Thailand ”, 6/12/2018. Figure 1. Official inauguration of Total Corbion PLA’s 75,000 tons per year PLA bioplastics plant (taken from the press release) The Grand Opening ceremony, which took place yesterday, was chaired by the Secretary General of the Thailand Board of Investment. The official ribbon cutting was performed by him togeth...

Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF. LG Chem and ADM (held a signing ceremony launching two joint ventures for production of lactic acid and polylactic acid to meet growing demand for a wide variety of plant-based products, including bioplastics. Pending final investment decisions, the joint ventures have chosen Decatur (Illinois, USA) as the location of their intended production facilities. Press release: " LG Chem and ADM Launch Joint Ventures, Announce Intended Location for U.S. Production of Lactic Acid and Polylactic Acid Production ", 15/08/2022. Figure 1. ADM's North American headquarters in D ecatur The first joint venture, GreenWise Lactic, would produce up to 150,000 tons of high-purity corn-based lactic acid annually. ADM would be the majority owner of GreenWise, and would contribute fermentation capacity from its Decatur bioproducts facility to the venture. The second joint venture, LG Chem Illinois Biochem, would be majority-owned by LG Chem. It would build upon LG C...

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 re...

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS. NatureWorks has announced the completion of key milestones in their global manufacturing expansion plan for a new fully integrated Ingeo PLA production facility that is anticipated to open in Thailand by 2024, subject to shareholder approval. Press release: “ NatureWorks Announces Key Milestones for Global Manufacturing Expansion with New 75kTa Facility for Producing Ingeo Biopolymer in Thailand ”, 02/06/2021. Figure 1. NatureWorks PLA plant in Blair. In 2002, NatureWorks became the first company to produce PLA biopolymers at commercial scale. In 2013, expanded its facility to an annual total capacity of 150 ktons. NatureWorks also completed a portfolio of enhancements to the Blair site enabling the plant to establish a new record production level in 2019. When fully operational the new plant will have an annual capacity of 75 ktons of Ingeo biopolymer and will produce the full portfolio of Ingeo grades. The new manufacturing complex will...

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF.  thyssenkrupp ’s plant engineering business has recently won another order to build a bioplastics plant based on the patented PLAneo® technology in China.  Press release: “ thyssenkrupp to build second bioplastics plant in China ”, 17/9/2020.  Related post: “ thyssenkrupp commissions a PLA plant for COFCO in China ”, 29/10/2018.  Figure 1. Poly(lactic acid) is a biodegradable plastic which, thanks to its physical and mechanical properties, can replace many conventional materials such as PET, polypropylene and polystyrene. The feedstock for the PLAneo® process is lactic acid, which is obtained from renewable raw materials such as sugar, starch or cellulose. Figure taken from the press release.   It will be built in South China and will produce 30,000 tons of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) annually. It will produce PLA for the manufacture of eco-friendly packaging, fibers, textiles and engineering plastics, and is ...

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS. Clariant’s Additives business and Floreon-Transforming Packaging Limited (Floreon) have announced a collaboration to further extend the performance properties and market potential of Floreon biopolymers, whilst preserving their environmental benefits. Press release: “ Clariant and Floreon announce collaboration to expand high-performance biopolymer applications to additional markets ”, 18/3/2020. Figure 1. Clariant and Floreon join forces to expand high-performance biopolymer applications (extracted from the press release, courtesy of Floreon) Floreon develops and markets proprietary compounds based on PLA and containing 70-90% renewable, plant-based raw materials. They are typically mechanically tougher than traditional PLA and can deliver significant energy savings in processing. Floreon compounds are recyclable and can also be industrially composted. Clariant’s portfolio of sustainable additives includes a wide range o...

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 facilit...

Type of post: PROJECT PROFILE. Last year, the Blog published a post about the flagship projects of the BBI JU (“ BBI JU flagship projects - The new generation of European advanced biorefineries ”, 17/7/2017). They are initiatives that support the launch of an innovation that has been demonstrated but not yet deployed on the market and include the establishment of a first-of-a-kind, large-scale facility. To the date of writing that post, 5 flagship grant agreements between the BBI JU and project consortia have been signed and it was supposed that a sixth flagship was going to be stablished under 2016 call. At the beginning of this year, the details of that agreement were disclosed, a new advanced biorefinery at commercial scale will be built in Ireland. This post shows a profile of the project. The problem addressed The European dairy industry, as by-products of whey protein manufacture, produces substances known as whey permeate (WP) and delactosed whey permeate (DLP). ...

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF.  Total Corbion PLA , a 50/50 joint venture between Total and Corbion, has announced its intention to build a second PLA plant with a capacity ramping up to 100 ktons/year, less than two years after starting up the commercial scale production at its first plant in Thailand.  Press release: “ Total Corbion PLA announces the first world-scale PLA plant in Europe ”, 24/09/2020.  Related posts: “ Total Corbion PLA puts its polylactic acid polymerization plant at full-scale into operation in Thailand ”, 6/12/2018.   Figure 1. PLA and the circular economy (taken from the brochure “ PLA bioplastics for a brighter future ”)   The new plant is planned to be located on a Total site in Grandpuits (France) and to be operational in 2024. The total investment in this project is expected to be approximately 200 M€ and Corbion will continue to be the supplier of lactic acid. The project implementation would make Total Corbi...

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF. Total Corbion PLA has kicked off the front-end engineering design (FEED) stage for its new 100 ktons/year Poly(Lactic Acid) (PLA) plant in Grandpuits (France). Press release: “ Total Corbion PLA enters engineering stage for new 100 kTpa PLA plant in Grandpuits, France ”, 23/04/2021. Related post: “ Total Corbion PLA intends to build the first commercial scale PLA plant in Europe ”, 26/09/2020. The plant, due to be operational in 2024, will be the first of its kind in Europe. Total Corbion PLA awarded the FEED contract to NextChem (subsidiary of Maire Tecnimont S.p.A.). Maire Tecnimont's heritage in polymerization of traditional plastics combined with NextChem's portfolio of innovative solutions for green chemistry ensures the necessary know-how to manage this industrial initiative.

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF. ADM and LG Chem have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore US-based production of lactic acid to meet growing demand for a wide variety of plant-based products, including bioplastics. Press release: “ ADM, LG Chem Expand Relationship with MoU For US Production of Lactic Acid and Polylactic Acid for Bioplastics, Other Plant-Based Solutions ”, 14/09/2021. Figure 1. The MoU was signed by ADM Chairman and CEO Juan Luciano and LG Chem Vice Chairman and CEO Hak Cheol Shin at ADM’s global headquarters in Chicago Under the terms of the agreement, the two companies plan to take steps toward launching a joint venture in early 2022 that would build, own and operate a US-based facility to produce high-purity corn-based lactic acid on a commercial scale. Moreover, the companies will collaborate on a second joint venture that would use lactic acid produced by the first joint venture to produce and commercialize polylactic acid. The ...

Versión en Español Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF. Group Op de Beeck Materials & Treatment (Group Op de Beeck) and TripleW Ltd. (TripleW) will collaborate on the conversion of organic waste into biobased plastics. News (TripleW website): “ Group Op de Beeck & TripleW Collaboration ”, 20/4/2020. Figure 1. Group Op de Beeck processing site in the port of Antwerp where the trials will be performed (taken from the website of the company) TripleW (formerly known as 3PLW) has developed a technology that treats food waste as renewable feedstock for the production of pure "polymer grade" lactic acid (building block of PLA bioplastic). Group Op de Beeck is a Belgian company focused on processing organic wastes and by-products to produce new high-quality raw materials. Group Op de Beeck is an ideal, complementary partner for TripleW’s process scale-up. Over the next 18 months, TripleW will perform various large-scale trials on the processing site of Group...

I would like to retake the topic of algal CO 2 conversion technologies with which I start the year (see post about the Canada’s first algal biorefinery project ). And what better way to do it than introducing a leading company on the production of clean chemicals from cyanobacteria. Most of the algae companies are primarily focused on biofuels whereas Photanol , main actor of this profile, is specialized in biobased chemicals. Let us know more about its technology, facilities and future plans. Technology and activities Photanol is a renewable chemicals company that utilises proprietary cyanobacteria to process carbon dioxide and sunlight into valuable chemical products. Its technology and patents are based on the genetic modification of cyanobacteria to produce a broad range of biochemicals. These bacteria are natural photosynthesizers, drawing energy from sunlight and carbon from CO 2 . Photanol core activities include the development of strains (construction of bi...

Type of post: NEWS IN BRIEF. Following the construction of its first PLA plant in China in 2021, Futerro is planning to set up a new fully integrated biorefinery in the industrial and port area of Port-Jérôme, in the Caux Seine agglomeration (commune of Saint-Jean-de-Folleville), located on the Seine axis between Rouen and Le Havre. Press release: " Futerro aims to set-up a new fully integrated PLA biorefinery in Normandy, France ", 08/12/2022. Futerro has started negotiations with Caux-Seine Agglo and its economic development agency Caux-Seine Développement in order to build a new generation of vertically integrated biorefinery, with an annual production capacity of 75,000 tons. The project should potentially create 250 direct jobs and 900 jobs in adjacent sectors.  Futerro has already put an option on a plot of land of approximately 26.5 hectares located in the commune of Saint-Jean-de-Folleville, on the Port-Jérôme industrial estate, and has begun the ecological and enviro...

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 ...