Looking at the development of PLA industry from the global 'ban on plastics'

Industry development background

Disposable non-degradable plastic products bring convenience to human life, but also cause serious waste of resources and environmental pollution. In order to prevent pollution, protect and improve the environment, the world includes South Africa, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, the United Kingdom, Bangladesh, and Hong Kong. , South Korea, Switzerland, France, India and many other countries have introduced "plastic restriction" and "plastic ban" policies to reduce or eliminate the use of such products. In this context, biodegradable materials have emerged as substitutes for traditional plastics. Raw.


PLA has the greatest development prospects

Polylactic acid (PLA) is a high molecular polymer obtained by ring-opening polymerization of lactic acid as the main raw material. The raw material is derived from renewable plant resources. There is no pollution in the production process, and the product is biodegradable, which truly realizes the carbon cycle in nature. It is an ideal green polymer material. In addition, PLA has good biocompatibility, transparency and mechanical properties comparable to petroleum-based polymers, and has good processing and moldability, excellent antibacterial properties, and good air permeability. In China, the development of polylactic acid has been included in the "Eleventh Five-Year", "Twelfth Five-Year", "Thirteenth Five-Year" and "National Medium and Long-term Science and Technology Development Plan" key scientific research projects; in addition, the global prohibition of petroleum-based packaging materials And restricted use, making renewable products become the most popular products in the world. The implementation of the national large-scale strategic plan has brought a golden market opportunity and huge consumption potential to the PLA industry. Based on the above reasons, PLA materials have become the most promising new materials.


Application areas of polylactic acid

Food packaging and agriculture: packaging bags, packaging films, medical films, foam plastics, rigid packaging, agricultural mulching films;

Biomedical field: drug controlled release system, orthopedic fixation, tissue adsorption materials, surgical sutures, oral fixation materials, ophthalmic materials, 3D printing;

Polylactic acid modified composite materials: computer parts, portable notebook shells, mobile phone parts, DVD player housings, optical discs and home appliance parts, auto parts, etc.


Lactic acid production capacity and related companies

In 2020, the global lactic acid production capacity is about 750,000 tons. The companies with a capacity of more than 100,000 tons are Corbion-Purac, Cargil and Jindan Technology (incomplete statistics). With a domestic production capacity of approximately 280,000 tons, Jindan Technology is a leading domestic manufacturer of lactic acid and its derivatives, with an annual production capacity of 128,000 tons of L-lactic acid. In the past two years, domestic lactic acid production capacity has not increased significantly.


2019-2020 current situation and development trend of polylactic acid industry

According to statistics, the global production capacity of biodegradable plastics reached 1,171,100 tons in 2019, of which starch mixture production capacity was the largest, accounting for 38%; PBAT and PBS petroleum-based biodegradable plastics totaled 32%; PLA and PHA bio-based plastics The total production capacity of degradable plastics reached 27%. In terms of import and export, according to statistics, China imported 24,317 tons of polylactic acid in 2019, a year-on-year increase of 54%, and exports were 3141 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 32.8%. In terms of import and export volume, according to statistics, China’s imports of polylactic acid in 2019 were US$58.46 million, a year-on-year increase of 58%, and exports were US$9.2 million, a year-on-year decrease of 21.1%.

At present, the global annual production capacity of PLA is about 330,000 tons, and the output is about 200,000 tons. The production companies mainly include NatureWorks, Cobien-Pluck, Zhejiang Hisun, etc., of which NatureWorks and Cobien-Pluck account for approximately 70% capacity. With the progress of lactic acid polycondensation and catalytic technology in recent years, the production cost of polylactic acid has gradually decreased, and the time for its promotion and application in downstream industries has become increasingly mature. In recent years, the market and production scale of the polylactic acid industry have been very large. Great growth.

Relatively speaking, my country is one of the fastest growing markets for polylactic acid demand. With the development of the market, my country's demand for PLA will continue to grow, but the current industrial scale is small. It is expected that from 2021, China's PLA production capacity will grow rapidly, and by 2025, my country's PLA production capacity will exceed 600,000 tons per year.


Analysis of China's polylactic acid demand from 2017 to 2025

 In 2019, China's polylactic acid market demand is about 140,000 tons, and it is expected to grow at a rate of 20%-35% in the future. At present, the main consumption area of PLA is packaging materials, accounting for about 65% of total consumption; followed by biological The medical field accounts for about 26% of total consumption. At present, the demand for packaging is expanding, and the demand for PLA is also expanding. According to this trend, it is predicted that China's future polylactic acid supply and demand can reach an internal balance, and the problem of raw material import will be solved by then.


Problems and future prospects of China's polylactic acid industry

In the development of the polylactic acid industry, the urgent problems to be solved are the cost and measurement standards of lactic acid. At present, polylactic acid companies have achieved certain development, but they have not carried out large-scale production. The production cost is much higher than that of petroleum-based polymer. Cost reduction is the most prominent problem facing the development of the industry. Second, further refine product standards. The formulation of different measurement standards for polylactic acid in different application fields, so that the application of polylactic acid can be followed, will be beneficial to the development of the industry. Finally, we believe that with the continuous progress of polylactic acid technology in China, the application of polylactic acid will become wider and wider, and the industrialization of polylactic acid will become more and more significant. In the next 20 years, we expect that biodegradable plastics can completely clean up plastic pollution. The future troubles, the blue water and blue sky in China.