PLA producer NatureWorks (Minnetonka, Minnesota / USA; www.natureworksllc.com) plans to expand its production of “Ingeo” biopolymers in Blair, Nebraska / USA from 140,000 to 150,000 t/y. The company said it will install new equipment, supplied by Switzerland’s Sulzer Chemtech (Winterthur; www.sulzer.com), enabling both a capacity expansion and the production of new, high-performance resins and lactides. Commissioning of the new equipment is expected in the first quarter of 2013, with capacity increases and new products becoming available in the second quarter. The investment cost was not disclosed.

NatureWorks and Sulzer have been working on the project to broaden and expand NatureWorks’ Ingeo PLA product portfolio for more than a year. The project involved optimising one of Sulzer’s lactide purification technologies, explained Peter Moritz, head of Sulzer’s process technology business. NatureWorks owns patents to the new process, and Sulzer has exclusive sub-licensing rights to the patents worldwide.

New polylactic acid products will include moulding grades Ingeo 3100HP and 3260HP, which are designed for use in medium and high flow nucleated formulations. NatureWorks said the grades deliver up to 75% cycle time savings over formulations based on current Ingeo grades, while heat distortion temperatures are expected to be 15°C higher than current achievable levels. The company is also introducing Ingeo grades 6260D and 6100D for fibre applications. Fibers and non-woven products made from these grades will have reduced shrinkage and better dimensional stability, it said.

NatureWorks claims that it will become the world’s first company to offer commercial quantities of a high-purity, polymer-grade lactide rich in the stereoisomer meso-lactide. Branded Ingeo M700 lactide, the material will be used as an intermediate for copolymers, amorphous resins, grafted substrates, resin additives/modifiers, adhesives, coatings, elastomers, surfactants, thermosets and solvents.

According to a survey conducted by Germany’s nova-Institut (Hürth; www.nova-institute.eu), global PLA capacity could exceed 800,000 t/y by 2020 – see Plasteurope.com of 10.08.2012.