French green chemistry company Carbios (Saint-Beauzire; www.carbios.fr) has successfully applied its biodegradation technology to polylactic acid (PLA). By embedding an enzyme into PLA at the time of its production, the company has been able to achieve biodegradation under uncontrolled conditions and at ambient temperatures, yielding lactic acid. This is a technological breakthrough, it says, adding that by using existing technologies, PLA is only compostable in industrial conditions, including confined environments, at temperatures of more than 50°C and high levels of humidity.

The global market for PLA is currently estimated at 190,000 t/y, Carbios said, adding that its growth potential is significant, considering that it can substitute both PET and EPS. The main application for PLA today is packaging, followed by both textile and biomedical uses. The group said that now the enzyme's function has been validated, it can start production at a commercial scale. The next stage, it added, will be to develop PLA packaging that is completely biodegradable as outlined in and even surpassing EN 13432.

Last year, Carbios successfully biodegraded polycaprolactone (PCL) in less than three months (see Plasteurope.com of 30.07.2014). By adding PLA to its biodegradation portfolio, the company says it has “significantly expanded the breadth of industrial applications that it is able to offer its future partners and clients.”