Futerro to build PLA biorefinery in Normandy
Belgian bioplastics manufacturer Futerro has announced plans to establish Europe’s first vertically integrated biorefinery in Normandy, France for the production and recycling of polylactic acid, or PLA. The company already operates a PLA plant in China, which went into operation in October 2020. That first plant has a capacity of 30,000 tons/year and is supplied by a lactic acid unit with an annual capacity of 80,000 tons. The other 50,000 tons are supplied to a sister company producing food ingredients based on lactic acid for the Asian market.
CJ Biomaterials Has Big Plans for Tunable PHA Biopolymers
CJ Bio, now known as CJ Biomaterials, acquired polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) pioneer Metabolix in 2016. Earlier this year, the company’s amorphous PHA (aPHA), went into production with the startup of a new production facility in Indonesia. Designated as PHACT A100P, aPHA is the bioplastic supplier’s initial launch from a technology platform for “tunable” designer biopolymers that can also enhance other bioplastics. Why aPHA? According to CJ Biomaterials, it’s a softer, more rubber-like version of PHA that offers fundamentally different performance characteristics than crystalline or semi-crystalline forms of PHA. Made from plant sugars like sugarcane, tapioca, corn, and cellulosic biomass, aPHA is certified biodegradable under industrial compost, soil (ambient), and marine environments.
TotalEnergies Corbion: New white paper: Stay in the cycle
TotalEnergies Corbion launches a white paper about the recyclability of PLA bioplastic. Titled Stay in the cycle, rethinking recycling with PLA bioplastics, it summarizes the current PLA’s recycling market, regulations, and technologies. The white paper provides a comprehensive outlook and vision on how recycling of PLA is viable, economically feasible and can be commonly used as an end-of-life solution for PLA bioplastics. The white paper shows that the ability for PLA to be depolymerized via hydrolysis to recreate the exact same PLA resin, allows it to be a circular material. The new recycled PLA maintains the same quality and food contact approval. Luminy® rPLA grades contain 20% or 30% recycled content from a mix of post-consumer and post-industrial recycled PLA, which is third-party certified by SCS Global Services.