Purac boosts lactic acid production in Thailand for PLA usage

Lactic acid and lactic acid derivatives supplier Purac has started construction of a lactide plant in Rayong, Thailand to produce lactic acid for PLA bioplastics. Purac, which is a subsidiary CSM (Diemen, the Netherlands), will invest €45 million in the facility, which will be ready for start up in the second half of 2011. Purac says its proprietary technology allows the production of bioplastics with heat resistance up to 180°C (266°F). These “next-generation” PLAs are seeking applications in areas such as packaging, foam, and fiber. By combining a poly-L-lactide (PLLA) with a poly-D-lactide (PDLA), crystallinity of the biopolymer can be increased, which boosts temperature performance, with PDLA acting as a nucleating agent to increase the crystallization rate.

Located at the existing Purac site in Thailand, the plant’s annual capacity will be 75,000 tons, with the ability to produce both L- and D-lactides, generated from lactic acid sourced at the existing Purac plants. The company has six production sites globally. Work on the existing Thailand facility began in 2005 and was completed in October 2007, with the site starting trial runs after initial construction began 20 months prior. Initial distribution of product to customers was expected to have begun in early 2008.

In October, BASF (Ludwigshafen, Germany) and Purac announced a joint-production project for biobased succinic acid. Purac and BASF Future Business have been developing industrial fermentation and down-stream processing systems for biobased succinic acid, with plans to start commercial production in the second quarter of 2010. — [email protected]