UK-based industrial biochemicals company cellulac (Little Chesterford, Essex; www.cellulac.co.uk) is planning to sustainably produce up to 100,000 t/y lactic acid from second generation feedstocks in converted brewery facilities in Dundalk, Co Louth / Ireland. The company has agreed to lease a 2.75 ha site from the Irish Whiskey Company, which is developing a distillery on the balance of the 5 ha plot that was until recently the home of the second largest brewery in Ireland.

Cellulac plans to retrofit former Great Northern Brewery and incorporate its end-to-end chemical and process engineering platform to produce lactic acid and polylactic acid for use in the manufacture of biodegradable plastics. Following the production of lactic acid at a pilot plant in Potsdam / Germany, the company expects production at the Dundalk facility to rise initially to 20,000 t/y, creating revenues in excess of EUR 40m, for export by the end of 2015. In a second phase, production will increase to 100,000 t/y, doubling the number of employees at the site to 60. Operations at the facility are expected to commence by June 2014.

The company said production will cost 40% less than at conventional plants and that the facility has flexibility to use agricultural and brewery waste as well as dairy by-products.

Company CEO Gerard Brandon said: “Ireland has a worldwide reputation for quality food ingredients derived from the agricultural sector. It is fitting, therefore, that we are at the forefront of the new bio-economy sector. With the support of the European Union we will convert part of what was until recently the second largest brewery in Ireland into what will be the largest producer of lactic acid from agricultural waste and dairy by-products."