A study carried out last year by the University of Applied Sciences and Arts at Hanover in Germany for trade association European Bioplastics predicted global bioplastics production capacity will reach 1.7 million tonnes by 2015, more than doubling 2010 capacity levels. This headline figure, however, masks a consid- erable change in the structure of the bioplastics industry, with traditional biodegradable and composta- ble polymers seeing only modest growth while the focus of attention shifts to bio-derived versions of today’s existing petrochemical plastics. “Our market study shows that biobased commo dity
plastics, with a total of around one million tonnes, will make up the majority of production capacity in 2015,” according to Professor Hans-Josef Endres, who headed up the study at the Uni versity of Applied Sciences and Arts of Hanover. It is a remarkable shift. According to the report, in
2009 durable bioplastics accounted for just 7% of the estimated global bioplastics production capacity of 318,000 tonnes. By 2010, durable bioplastics accounted for 40% of a global capacity of 724,000 tonnes, helped in no small part by Brazil-based Braskem’s introduction of its HDPE products based on sugar cane ethanol. By 2015, the trade association expects durable
bioplastics – including bio-based commodities such as PE, PP, PET and PVC as well as high performance PA polymers – to account for close to 60% of its predicted
Biodegradability no longer dominates the bioplastics marketplace.
Chris Smith takes a look at the changing face of the bio-based polymers industry.
global bioplastics production capacity of 1,700,000 tonnes. That translates to a more than 40-fold expan- sion in durable production capacity, from 22,500 tonnes in 2009 to 996,000 tonnes by 2015. The study predicts HDPE will retain its position as the dominant durable bioplastic with an estimated production capacity in 2015 of 450,000 tonnes, followed by bio-based PET at 290,000 tonnes (it does not make a distinction between partly or fully renewable content). PLA will come in at third place with a global production capacity of 220,000 tonnes. The European Bioplastics study predicted PHA taking fourth place in its global bioplastics capacity ranking by 2015 but that must be in question following the decision by agricultural products group Archer Daniels Midland to pull out of its Telles biopolymer joint venture with Metabolix (Compounding World, Jan 2012, page 8).