THE MANUFACTURING UPGRADES INCREASE NATUREWORKS’ RESPONSIVENESS TO RAPIDLY EVOLVING MARKET DYNAMICS AND HIGH DEMAND FOR INGEO (PLA) BIOMATERIALS.
NatureWorks, the world’s leading manufacturer of low-carbon PLA biomaterials, today announced a slate of manufacturing technology projects, including lactide monomer purification efficiency, that will increase the availability of the full Ingeo (PLA) biomaterials portfolio by 10 percent. Installation is currently underway at its facility in Blair, Nebraska, the world’s first and largest commercial-scale PLA manufacturing plant. The projects will be completed by the end of 2021.
The expanded
availability will support growth in markets that demand sustainable, low-carbon
materials and require the high-performance attributes that Ingeo is uniquely
suited to deliver. These markets include 3D printing and nonwoven hygiene masks
as well as compostable coffee capsules, teabags, and coated-paper food
serviceware.
“The market continues to rapidly evolve due to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as
the undiminished demand for sustainable, bio-based alternatives to
petrochemical-based plastics,” said Rich Altice, President & CEO. “For
NatureWorks to satisfy this unprecedented demand, this purification technology
is one of many additional capital improvements we are actively working on at
our facility in Blair. At the same time, we continue to pursue a potential
future second manufacturing site outside the U.S. to serve our growing
international markets.”
Ingeo polylactic acid is made in a multi-step process that begins with using
annually renewable plants to turn greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide into
long-chain sugar molecules. Dextrose, derived from the plant sugar
molecules, is fermented into lactic acid that then undergoes a proprietary
two-step process to transform it into lactide, the monomer for Ingeo polylactic
acid polymer.
Commitment to Sustainable Agriculture
The additional annually
renewable feedstock sourced to supply the new manufacturing projects will
become certified by the International Sustainability & Carbon Certification
System (ISCC) to the ISCC PLUS standard of best practices in agricultural
production by 2025.
As part of NatureWorks’ participation in the New Plastics
Economy Global Commitment and commitment to sustainable
agriculture, they announced a new initiative in 2019 to ensure that by 2020 100
percent of the agricultural feedstock used for Ingeo made at their Blair,
Nebraska production site will be certified as environmentally and socially
sustainable by the International Sustainability & Carbon Certification
System (ISCC). By 2025, it also committed that 100 percent of new feedstocks
for additional manufacturing capacity will be certified as sustainably and
responsibly managed via an independent third-party administered program.
NatureWorks was the first biopolymer manufacturer to become certified to the
new ISCC PLUS standard in 2012, and currently has more than 60 percent of its
agricultural feedstock certified.
