Cargill Dow LLC (Minnetonka, Minnesota / USA; www.cargilldow.com) has started up its first commercial-scale plant for polylactic acid (PLA) at Blair, Nebraska, in the US. The unit, expected to be fully operational by 2003, has initial capacity to produce 136,000 t/y of the biodegradable polymer from wet-milled corn. The company is also studying means of making the polymer, marketed under the name “Nature Works”, from raw biomass such as cornstalks, grasses and agricultural wastes. Some 40% of output will go into manmade fibres, another 40% into packaging materials for short shelf-life items such as milk and edible oils.

Cargill Dow expects the biopolymer to be competitive with petrochemical-based products, which it terms “nonsustainable.” From the corn planter to the retail counter, the company claims its “NatureWorks” PLA has a life cycle that reduces fossil fuel consumption by 50%; in its production, emissions of greenhouse gases are reduced by 15-60%. Over the next several years, some USD 250m is to be invested in commercial development and technology improvement. “What´s really exciting is not just the science and technology, but the scope and magnitude of what we are doing,” said president and CEO Randy Howard. “The size and scope of our manufacturing facility is as large as, if not larger than, traditional thermoplastics facilities. We are not a niche player,” he added.