Total Corbion PLA (Gorinchem / The Netherlands; www.total-corbion.com) has started up a pilot plant for “Luminy” PLA resins at its site in Rayong / Thailand. According to the joint venture of Total (Paris / France; www.total.com) and Corbion (Amsterdam / The Netherlands; www.corbion.com), the line has a capacity of 1,000 t/y and test volumes are now available for customer sampling.

The jv is training employees to operate the 75,000 t/y commercial polymerisation facility at the same site. Simon Goldney, plant director, says, “The PLA polymerisation plant is on track to deliver its first commercial quantities during the second half of 2018.” Total Corbion's PLA is produced from sustainably grown sugarcane – see Plasteurope.com of 25.08.2017.