NatureWorks, the world’s leading manufacturer of low-carbon polylactic acid (PLA) biopolymers made from renewable resources, hosted a cornerstone laying ceremony to celebrate construction of their new Ingeo PLA manufacturing complex in Thailand, said the company.
The ceremony which took place on February 1st, 2023 commemorated the progress made to date on the new fully integrated biopolymer facility. The day also featured a ceremonial groundbreaking that mirrored the ceremony held in Blair, Nebraska, USA in 2000 when NatureWorks began construction on the world’s first commercial scale PLA manufacturing facility.
The new manufacturing facility located on the Nakhon Sawan Biocomplex (NBC) in Nakhon Sawan Province, Thailand is designed to be fully integrated including production sites for lactic acid, lactide, and polymer. With completion expected in the second half of 2024, the manufacturing site will have an annual capacity of 75,000 tons and will produce the full portfolio of Ingeo biopolymer grades.
“This ceremony is a meaningful milestone for the entire NatureWorks team,” said Rich Altice, president and CEO of NatureWorks. “For the last three decades, we have not only been building a company and manufacturing facilities, but also a whole new industry and market for low-carbon, renewable biomaterials that are revolutionizing the sustainability and safety of packaging and product materials used in our everyday lives.”
We remind, CJ Biomaterials and NatureWorks have signed an agreement to collaborate on developing products based on their respective renewable plastics, PHACT and Ingeo. CJ Biomaterials is a division of South Korea-based CJ CheilJedang and producer of polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA). They will work with NatureWorks, an advanced materials company that produces polylactic acid (PLA), in an agreement that calls for the two companies to collaborate on the development of sustainable materials solutions based on CJ Biomaterials’ PHACT Biodegradable Polymers and NatureWorks’ Ingeo biopolymers.
mrchub.com