Total Corbion PLA Starts Up Pilot Plant In Thailand

Total Corbion PLA, the polylactic acid (PLA) and lactide monomers joint venture of French oil & gas giant Total and Dutch lactic acid firm Corbion, has successfully started up its 1-ktpa PLA pilot plant in Rayong, Thailand. The pilot plant started up in December 2017 and over the past two months has produced a broad range of Luminy branded PLA resins. In addition, the pilot plant is being used to train operators and to get a head start on the required product certifications and regulatory needs. In future, Total Corbion PLA will also be able to use the pilot plant for product development.

With the start-up of the pilot plant, Total Corbion PLA is gearing up to become a world-scale producer of PLA: on the same site, Total Corbion PLA’s lactide plant is being expanded to 100-ktpa and a 75-ktpa PLA polymerisation plant is under construction. The PLA polymerisation plant is scheduled to deliver its first commercial quantities of PLA during the second half of 2018.