Polylactic acid

Biodegradable plastics

 Table1 The comparison of three types of biodegradable plastics

Lactic acid can be used to produce polylactic acid (PLA), which is  made by grain fermentation, such as mainly corn. PLA, a kind of biodegradable plastic products, is at low cost and has excellent properties such as higher mechanical strength, good biodegradation, so it is more satisfied and acceptable. It is wise to commercialize PLA, because it has good tensile property and transparency. The plastic PLA  is also supported by the national 12th five-year plan and 863 plan.

The traditional plastic, such as PE, PP, PVC, PS and so on, is difficult to be degraded and even can be formed "white pollution"all the time. The pollution becomes harmful both our eyes and other animals at the polluted environment in the long term. Therefore, over the past decade, domestic and international laws and regulations have been issued to restrict the production, sales, and use of traditional plastics. People must gradually find degradable plastics  as  substitutes for traditional plastics.

 At present, the global demand for biodegradable plastics is mainly concentrated in the use of plastic bags, accounting for more than 50%, with an annual growth rate of about 20%. Table 2 shows that the global demand for biodegradable plastics for disposable shopping bags. It must be vast for biodegradable plasticsits in the future.

Table 2  The global demand for biodegradable plastics for disposable shopping bags.

(Unit, 100 million and 10,000 tons / year)

 Because of its good degradability, nowadays, the biggest application area of biodegradable plastics is  soft and hard packing materials for food . In addition, people are also trying to apply biodegradable materials to high-value and high-performance projects, which have great potential. It is worth mentioning that the improved performance of polylactic acid (PLA) is increasingly used in the cars and electronics. In the future, polylactic acid as a new biodegradable plastic will be more and more widely used in many fileds at home and abroad.

Our company whose experience is rich in engineering design and construction both for bio-fermentation and starch sugar industries has specializes in undertaking lactic acid fermentation, starch sugar and other projects. We are a supplier for advanced process design and core equipment. We have always been undertaking lots of sets of turnkey projects with the high trust of our customers at home and abroad.