To reduce its reliance on petroleum-based plastics, Thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions has developed a manufacturing process for the production of bioplastic polylactic acid (PLA). The patent, PLAAno®, has begun in Changchun, China. Jilin COFCO Biomaterials Co., Ltd. is engaged in commercial scale production.
The bioplastics plant of Jilin COFCO Biomaterials Co., Ltd. uses the PLAAno® technology from ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions.
Jilin COFCO Biomaterials Co., Ltd. is a subsidiary of COFCO Group, the largest food and beverage group in China. The company's factory not only produces various standard PLA grades, but also produces various environmentally friendly packaging, fiber, prevention and engineering plastics.
Sami Pelkonen, CEO of the Electrolytic and Polymer Technology Division of ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions, said, 'With the growing environmental awareness of the industry, government and individual consumers, the bioplastics market will continue to grow in the next few years. With PLAneo® technology, we want to make the plastics industry more environmentally friendly and resource friendly. This technology allows our customers to produce bioplastics of high quality and comparable in price to traditional plastics.'
PLA is a 100% bio-based, compostable plastic. Its physical and mechanical properties can replace traditional petroleum-based polymers and can be used in many fields. The initial material for producing PLA is lactic acid extracted from sugar, starch or cellulose.
PLAneo® technology converts lactic acid into PLA in an efficient and resource-friendly way. The other advantage is its reproducibility – it can be produced in large plants with a capacity of 100,000 tons per year.
In the development of this technology, ThyssenKrupp's subsidiary Uhde Inventa-Fischer has decades of experience in building more than 400 polymer plants.