MATERIALS | BIOPLASTICS


Growth in biopolymer production


Several recent projects are helping bioplastics production to keep pace with that of traditional plastic materials. A good example of expanding bioplastics production is seen in the new plant from Total Corbion PLA, which has begun making PLA plastic and lactide monomers at a 1,000 tonnes/year plant in Rayong, Thailand. The facility makes a range of the company’s Luminy PLA resins. “Our customers have been looking


forward to testing and validating our resins” said Francois de Bie, senior marketing director at the company. “Luminy PLA is now available for customer sampling.”


On the same site, it is expanding its lactide plant capacity to 100,000 tonnes/year, while a 75,000 tonnes/ year PLA polymerisation plant is under construction. Simon Goldney, plant director,


added: “The PLA polymerisation plant is on track to deliver its first commer- cial quantities of PLA during the second half of 2018.” At the same time, Bio-On of Italy has opened its first plant to make its speciality polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) bioplastic. The company has invested €20m on a 3,700 sq m plant in Castel San Pietro Terme, near Bologna. The plant will use agricultural waste – in-


Soil samples Biodegradable films can be a huge advantage in the agricultural industry. They break down where they are, sidestepping the need for collection. However, some researchers have looked into what chemical species accumulate in the soil during this process.


Sam Deconinck, deputy lab manager at OWS in


Belgium, told delegates at the same event that not all the carbon in a biodegradable polymer is converted into carbon dioxide – and that interme- diate degradation products will enter the soil. “These cannot be quantified,” he said. In legislative terms, a biopolymer is classed as being ‘totally degradable’ if it biodegrades by 90%, he said. Some of the ‘unconverted’ portions include ‘biomass’ – which typically varies between 10 and 40%. “The purpose of lab testing is to show the


Right: Tecnaro has doubled capacity of bioplastics at its facility in Germany


cluding molasses, sugar cane and sugar beet syrups – as feedstocks, and produce up to 1,000 tonnes/year of material. And Tecnaro of Germany has doubled capacity of bioplastics at its Ilsfeld-Auenstein facility, by adding a twin-screw compounding extruder from KraussMaffei Berstorff. The line has an output of up to 800 kg/hr. The company’s ‘liquid wood’ products are derived from lignin, and include Arboform, Arboblend and Arbofill. � www.total-corbion.com � www.bio-on.it � www.tecnaro.de � www.kraussmaffeiberstorff.com


inherent nature of the material to biodegrade under a given set of conditions,” he said. He also pointed out that ‘non-biodegradable’


film leaches into the soil: a conventional LDPE mulch film has a maximum accumulation level of 463kg per hectare after 10 years. Downgauging the film actually increases accumulation, he said. In comparison, a biodegradable film would build up a maximum accumulation level of 463kg per hectare, after two years. BASF, whose biodegradable PLA-based Ecovio is commonly used in agricultural mulch film, has also looked at soil accumulation. The company has used a range of analytical techniques – including Nano- SIMS, to assess the incorporation of polymer carbon into the soil, and Cavity Ring Down Spectroscopy (CRDS) to track 12C and 13C-carbon dioxide. “There is a strong stakeholder demand to know


the fate of materials introduced into the soil,” said Andreas Kuenkel, vice president of biopolymers research at BASF in Germany.


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18 FILM & SHEET EXTRUSION | July/August 2018 www.filmandsheet.com


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