To reduce reliance on petroleum-based plastics, thyssenkrupp has developed a process for manufacturing polylactide (PLA), a biopolyester increasingly used in packaging and other applications.

The world’s first commercial plant based on the patented PLAneo technology recently started production in Changchun, China. It is operated by the Jilin COFCO Biomaterial Corporation, a subsidiary of COFCO, China’s largest food and beverage group. The new plant produces all standard PLA types, among other things for the production of eco-friendly packaging, fibers, textiles and engineering plastics.
Sami Pelkonen, CEO of the Electrolysis & Polymers Technologies business unit of thyssenkrupp Industrial Solution, expects the bioplastics market to continue to grow in the coming years, ‘not least due to the increasing environmental awareness of industry,
governments and consumers’, he said. “With our PLAneo technology we want to do our abit to make the plastics sector more sustainable and resource-friendly. With it we enable our customers to produce high-quality bioplastics with a wide range of properties – at a price that is competitive with conventional plastics.”
Polyactide (PLA) is a 100% bio-based and compostable plastic which thanks to its physical and mechanical properties can replace conventional oil-based polymers in many areas. The starting material for PLA production is lactic acid, which is recovered from renewable resources such as sugar, starch or cellulose.
PLAneo technology converts lactic acid into PLA in a particularly efficient and resource-friendly way. Another advantage is its transferability to large-scale plants with capacities of up to 100,000 tons per year. In developing the technology, thyssenkrupp’s subsidiary Uhde Inventa-Fischer profited from decades of expertise gained from the construction of more than 400 polymerization plants and extensive experience in the scale-up of new
technologies. For the new plant in Changchun, thyssenkrupp provided the engineering, key plant components and supervision of construction and commissioning.

Images: New PLA plant in Changchun, China; PLA products
Image credit: thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions)


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