Corbion begins construction of PLA bioplastics plant

Corbion held the ground breaking ceremony on November 9 to mark the official start of construction  of its new PLA bioplastics polymerization plant at the existing Corbion site in Rayong, Thailand. Upon completion in 2018, the plant  will be able to produce the complete Luminy® portfolio of PLA neat resins -  from standard PLA to innovative, high heat resistant PLA.
 
 Honorable Minister of Industry, Doctor Atchaka Sibunruang was the  Chair Lady in the ritual and spiritual ceremony of the ground breaking. The ceremony was also led  by the Governor of Rayong and the Deputy Secretary General of the Thai Board of Investment (BOI). The Netherlands was officially represented by the Deputy Ambassador, Mr Guillaume Teerling.
 
The Minister of Industry and Corbion have a long standing relationship as  Dr Atchaka Sibunruang was already involved in the building of the lactic acid plant back in 2004 in her role as Senior Executive Investment Advisor at the Office of the BOI. She reinforced the significance of this development for Thailand in the field of sustainable solutions.
 

Dr Atchaka Sibunruang, Minister of Industry and Corbion’s CEO Tjerk de Ruiter place the memory stone.
 
Corbion CEO Tjerk de Ruiter highlighted the importance of this milestone as he stressed that Corbion believes in building a great future for the people of today and generations to come. The construction of the PLA bioplastics  plant in Thailand will encouraged the use of biobased and biodegradable plastics to help to minimize the adverse impact on human health and the environment.

The new 75 kTpa PLA plant will be constructed using Corbion's and Sulzer's proprietory  polymerization technology, and key equipment will be supplied by Sulzer Chemtech Ltd (Switzerland).  In addition to the construction of this new PLA polymerization plant, Corbion will expand its existing lactide plant in Thailand by 25 kTpa. With this expansion, Corbion will be able to serve its current and future lactide customers. The lactide expansion will also enable the production of a wider range of lactides than is currently possible.  The targeted start-up date for the PLA polymerization plant and the lactide expansion is in the second half of 2018.