This news article was originally written in Spanish. It has been automatically translated for your convenience. Reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate translation, however, no automated translation is perfect nor is it intended to replace a human translator. The original article in Spanish can be viewed at Sembrar maíz para obtener plásticos

NatureWorks PLA is a plastic that is produced from corn, with applications already present in our supermarkets

Planting corn for plastics

Ibon Linazisoro01/11/2005

It is not uncommon for plastics to enter the environmental debate. Having to do with the reduction of the emission of greenhouse gases, it is less common. But that is mess fully in the discussions on the genetically modified maize is something absolutely new. But yes, the truth is that we have reached a point where this is already a fact. NatureWorks PLA is a plastic part of corn as a feedstock, not oil. After seven years working to enable this plastic to reach a commercial scale, there are already real applications in the market and the annual production capacity is 140,000 tons per year.

Bottle of Belu Water (United Kingdom), from PLA.

NatureWorks PLA is the first polymer derived from renewable resources. It can be purchased already on a large scale and its price is competing directly with the PET, and even with the PS in certain applications. Moreover, some 7,300 shops of food from around the world already have on their shelves products packaged in this material. Among them, companies such as Auchan (France) and Delhaize (Belgium).

Kathleen M. Bader, President and CEO, natureworks llc, said in October to the international press, including universal plastics, that "nobody before that we had been successful in the space of biodegradable renewable resources." "And for four fundamental reasons: there had never been parity in performance, and price, had never been the scale of the sufficient supply to compete at the level of the global market and there was no sufficient buyers of plastics that worry for sustainability". The first three obstacles are overcome. The current battle is in the fourth, sustainability.

NatureWorks PLA is obtained from corn. Its sugars, passing through fermentation, produces lactic acid which is used to create a plastic transparent called "polylactide" (PLA), subsequently transformable through various systems to become bottles, films, trays or containers, among others. Each 2.5 kg of corn produces 1 kg of plastic. The remaining material is intended to food for animals and other uses. A kilo of corn occupies a square meter in the plantation.

The company has a single plant, located in Blair (Nebrasca, USA.)(UU.), accommodating up to 140,000 tonnes per year. This new resin production requires a 68 percent less fossil resources than conventional plastics such as PET and is also the first polymer that emits no flattering of the greenhouse gases.

Its price is similar to the PET, but without the disadvantages of the volatility of the prices of oil-dependent polymers. There are different prices. Thus, the large amount of genetically modified maize which is planted in the United States.UU., NatureWorks offers the possibility of buying corn unchanged with various forms, something especially important in Europe where this type of plantations have not been well received by the public.

Applications

Fresh salad of Il Melograno (Italy).

Thanks to its transparency and brightness and ease of processing in the extrusion and the thermoforming, is already used in rigid thermoforming parts. Its rigidity also allows you to use thinner walls, lowering the weight of the pieces with the same made in PET. Auchan, one of the largest distribution in France, already has in its premises for eating fresh packaging based on PLA. And the Italian Il Melograno packaged fresh salads in PLA flexible bags. Curious paradox. Salad packed in a plastic that comes from corn.

The films and labels is also a sector capable of using PLA, as well as bottles. The Belu Water company is already selling a bottle of water made from PLA since July 2005. The bottles are the newest implementation of the PLA that offers its best performance in water, milk and yogurt, vegetable oil and fresh juices. Not in carbon beverages, for which the barrier is not enough. The first bottle in PLA was launched in October of 1004 in the USA by the company Biota.

Disposable cups, bowls, plates and the like, as well as other areas such as telephony or smartcards can achieve benefits by replacing materials like PVC by PLA, thus contributing to the care of the environment.

Natural or synthetic fibers?

After the process for the production of sugar, fermentation, extraction of the monomer and polymer, the resulting product is the NatureWorks PLA and the Ingeo fiber. The fiber was launched in January 2003 and brings together the advantages of natural fibres and the synthetic. It is present in clothing, textiles for the home, bed linen, pillows... El Corte Inglés, in Spain, already being marketed pillows with fibers Ingeo.

Why?

Currently, the truth is that a capacity of 140,000 tonnes per year is lost in the immensity of the sector of polymers, in which the PET or the polyolefins acquire enormous dimensions. Why this new commitment of the industry? What can you do in a market so dependent on the prices of raw material and so opted at times by conventional plastic matter? Well, in NatureWorks opt for differentiation. They think that a material plastic which is based on renewable resources, in particular maize, not padecerá the shortage of oil that will begin to affect us within a period which among experts lies between 10 and 70 years. Responsible for purchases of Auchan (France) thought that a certain type of consumer requires a proactive attitude in favour of the environment to its hypermarkets already. But there are more earthly issues. Salad in PET packaging can weigh 45 grams. The same in PLA, 32. This is important if one takes into account the EU directive according to which a reduction of 27% by weight results in a saving of 27 per cent in eco-tax. A surprising fact: with the passage of the PET to the PLA in various packaging applications, Auchan has allowed the savings of more than a million litres of petrol in a year.

Economic reasons, therefore, as well as differentiators. But these are compounded by the functionality of the PLA, which behaves perfectly in the conventional processes of transformation and that does not require any change in the existing equipment.

Europackaging (United Kingdom) bread bags.

Packaging already present on surfaces of the company Auchan (France).

Reducing the greenhouse effect

NatureWorks PLA is the first and only available on a commercial scale in the industry that does not contribute to increasing the greenhouse effect, causing the warming of the Earth. The company has achieved through the purchase of RECs ("renewable energy certificates") that serve to mitigate the effect of emissions of the energy required by the entire process for the production of these plastics. The REC ensures the production of renewable energy in an amount equal to the amount of non-renewable energy use in the process by NatureWorks LLC. The net result is a reduction from 68 per cent in the use of fossil fuel, compared to conventional plastics.