Roquette Group (Lestrem / France; www.roquette.com) has started up its first industrial-scale plant for its “Gaialene” plant-based plastic – see Plasteurope.com of 11.10.2010 – at its Lestrem site. The new production unit has capacity to produce 25,000 t/y of the polymer family based to 50% on starch. Output of the plant will be sold in the European market, where Roquette identifies “a big demand for eco-designed products with a low carbon footprint.”

The company said the conventional technologies are being employed to process locally grown cereals into polymers subsequently converted into films, injection-moulded parts and small bottles. It added that one of the benefits of the site in northern France is its proximity to Europe’s largest biorefinery.