Taking the next step in the bioplastics value chain, Corbion Purac (Gorinchem / The Netherlands; www.purac.com) has announced an update to its 2015-2018 strategic direction in the form of plans for a 75,000 t/y PLA plant in Thailand. The company said it intends to invest EUR 60m in the facility, which it will only start building if it can “secure at least one-third of plant capacity in committed PLA volumes from customers,” CEO Tjerk de Ruiter said.

The facility would be a forward integration for the company, which already operates a 175,000 t/y lactic acid plant in Muang Rayong, Plasteurope.com’s Polyglobe capacity database (www.polyglobe.net) shows (for more details, see also Plasteurope.com of 23.12.2009). Aside from these plans, Corbion Purac also said it is exploring strategic alliances as part of its PLA growth strategy. The Dutch group added that even if a large amount of lactic acid could in future go towards the proposed PLA plant, it will still sell lactides to both existing and new customers.

Although de Ruiter said that the PLA market is expected to grow at a slower pace than originally estimated – predictions peg it at 600,000 t/y by 2025 – it is still in need of additional suppliers. To date, NatureWorks (Minnetonka, Minnesota / USA; www.natureworksllc.com) is the world’s leading producer of the biopolymers, with overall nameplate capacity for about 180,000 t/y. A number of other companies also operate pilot-scale plants. Although Corbion Purac in 2011 announced plans to build a PLA plant together with Indorama (Bangkok / Thailand; www.indoramaventures.com) – see Plasteurope.com of 28.02.2011 – so far these intentions have not yielded anything concrete.