MATERIALS | BIOPLASTICS


production, purification and polymerisation. The facility will also use a plant-based feedstock to produce high-quality PLA bioplastics at scale, it says. Marc Verbruggen, CEO of Emirates Biotech,


Above: Emirates Biotech is building a 160,000 tonnes/year PLA plant, for completion in 2028


stage of development, with producers only now starting to scale up commercial production. “Despite these efforts, the outlook for PHA is


less predictable than for PLA, and future growth will depend on overcoming technical and econom- ic barriers,” said the report. Succinic acid, which is also produced by micro- bial fermentation, is seeing “a second wave of industrial interest” following a failed commercialisa- tion push in the early 2010s. Companies like Landian Biotech are reintroducing bio-manufac- tured succinic acid at a larger scale, with ambitions to reach 500,000 tonnes/year. This renewed interest is partly driven by price rises in maleic anhydride – a conventional petrochemical route to succinic acid and its downstream product called 1,4-BDO, which is used to make biopolymers like PBS and PBAT.


Right: Paques Biomaterials has developed a bacterial process to produce bioplastics


PLA in UAE One unlikely location for bioplastics growth is the petrochemicals-rich Middle East – where Emirates Biotech has begun work on what it says will be the world’s largest PLA production facility. The plant, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), will be built in two phases – each with a capacity of 80,000 tonnes/year. Construction will begin this year, and the plant is expected to be operational by early 2028, using lactic acid as its feedstock – re- sulting in a total production capacity of 160,000 tonnes/year. The company has signed a supply contract with Sulzer, to supply process equipment for the facility. Under its Falcon PLA project, the latest contract takes the company’s financial commitment past US$90 million, it said. Emirates Biotech will use


Sulzer’s licensed PLA technology to manage all production steps from a single location, including lactide


14 INJECTION WORLD | July/August 2025


said: “This is a major financial and strategic commitment as we lay the foundation for a state-of- the-art PLA facility.” Emirates Biotech has also signed a partnership with the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) to carry out collaborative research on new applica- tions for polylactic acid (PLA). A series of joint research projects will explore ways to improve PLA’s performance and environmental benefits, said the company. “This collaboration will be instrumental in positioning PLA as a credible and sustainable alternative to fossil-based plastics,” said Aman Kulshrestha, chief technology officer at Emirates Biotech.


Bio-based nylon Toray of Japan is exploring whether it can mass- produce PA66 from agricultural waste. It has signed an agreement with Thai petro- chemicals producer PTT Global to evaluate the feasibility of making “several thousand tonnes” of bio-based muconic and bio-based adipic acid annually by 2030. The companies have already started developing technology to make these PA66 precursors from biomass-derived sugars made at Cellulosic Biomass Technology, a Thai company in which Toray owns a stake. PTT uses its fermentation technology to convert


sugars from the waste into muconic acid. Toray’s hydrogenation process converts muconic acid to adipic acid – which can be used to make PA66.


Dutch PHA Paques Biomaterials has opened a small PHA production facility in Emmen, in the Netherlands, which uses a proprietary bacterial process. The company is following a two-step approach, said executives Joao Sousa and Richard Schrama.


Paques is actively seeking partners who will license the process technology and then intends to buy the output from these partners and purify it at its own plant. It aims to sell 50 licences by 2035. Board materials producer Eska is


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IMAGE: EMIRATES BIOTECH


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