NatureWorks
Canvas Category OEM : Plastics and Rubber
What began in 1989 as a Cargill research project looking for innovative uses of carbohydrates from plants as feedstock for more sustainable plastics, quickly matured into the innovative materials for which we are known today. NatureWorks is now a world-leading biopolymers supplier and innovator with its Ingeo portfolio of naturally advanced materials made from renewable, abundant feedstocks with performance and economics that compete with oil-based intermediates, plastics, and fibers. These materials also provide brand owners new cradle-to-cradle options after the use of their products.
Assembly Line
ABB to automate bioplastics plant for sustainable materials
ABB is partnering with NatureWorks to automate their new, greenfield plant in Thailand, converting sugar cane to the polylactic acid (PLA) biopolymer Ingeo. The new plant in Thailand, will ferment and distill plant-based sugars (in a process similar to making beer or wine) converting the sugars first to lactic acid, then lactide and then polymerize them into Ingeo. In the new site, these three separate production processes will be fully integrated, resulting in significant improvements in energy and production efficiency, ABB notes. In addition, the integration of the fermentation phase will secure the supply of lactic acid.