US PLA specialist NatureWorks (Minnetonka, Minnesota; www.natureworksllc.com) is implementing a series of manufacturing improvements, including the installation of lactide monomer purification technology, at its plant in Blair, Nebraska.

The measures will expand capacity for the company’s “Ingeo” brand of biomaterials by 10%. Work is underway and completion is due by the end of 2021.

The extra output will meet growing demand for sustainable, low-carbon materials in applications such as 3D printing, nonwoven hygiene masks, compostable coffee capsules, teabags and coated-paper food service ware.

“The market continues to rapidly evolve due to the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the undiminished demand for sustainable, bio-based alternatives to petrochemical-based plastics,” said NatureWorks president and CEO Rich Altice. “For NatureWorks to satisfy this unprecedented demand, this purification technology is one of many additional capital improvements we are actively working on at our facility in Blair. At the same time, we continue to pursue a potential future second manufacturing site outside the US to serve our growing international markets.”

NatureWorks added that the required additional renewable feedstock will be certified by the International Sustainability & Carbon Certification System (ISCC, Cologne / Germany; www.iscc-system.org), to the ISCC Plus standard of best practices in agricultural production by 2025.

The company added that it was the first biopolymer manufacturer to be validated under the new ISCC Plus standard in 2012, with more than 60% of its agricultural feedstock currently certified.

Last year, NatureWorks pledged that by 2020, 100% of the agricultural feedstock used to make “Ingeo” PLA at the Blair facility would be certified by ISCC as environmentally and socially sustainable.

It also committed that by 2025, 100% of new feedstocks for additional manufacturing capacity will be certified as sustainably and responsibly managed via an independent third-party administered programme.