Japan’s Mitsubishi Chemical (MCC, Tokyo; www.m-kagaku.co.jp) has entered an agreement with automotive supplier Faurecia (Nanterre / France; www.faurecia.com) to jointly research and develop bioplastics to be used in automotive interior parts. Through the agreement, MCC will work on the development of a biomass polybutylene succinate (PBS) that is suitable for automotive interior parts, to be available by 2014.

The company has also formed a 50:50 joint venture with PTT (PTT; Bangkok / Thailand; www.pttplc.com) – PTT MCC Biochem, based in Bangkok – to build a 20,000 t/y PBS production facility, using biomass succinic acid as raw material, in Thailand, with production expected to begin by 2015. BioAmber (Montreal / Canada; www.bio-amber.com), which pioneered the production of biomass succinic acid, has been selected as feedstock supplier, with the aim of further improving production process efficiency.

Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings (MCHC, Tokyo / Japan), in which MCC is one of four operating companies, has set a target to switch around 20% of current petrochemical consumption to biomass alternatives by 2025. The company said the agreement with Faurecia is a major step towards full-scale practical applications of bioplastics in the automotive industry.