NatureWorks expands Ingeo product portfolio with Sulzer proprietary production equipment

NatureWorks and Sulzer’s division Sulzer Chemtech announced that Sulzer has shipped proprietary production equipment to NatureWorks’ Blair, Neb., facility that will enable NatureWorks to increase production of Ingeo biopolymer and produce new, high-performance resins and lactides.

Nameplate Ingeo production capacity at Blair will rise from 140,000 to 150,000 metric tonnes per annum. Commissioning of the installed new equipment is expected in the first quarter of 2013 with capacity increases and new products becoming available in the second quarter.

NatureWorks and Sulzer have been working on this capital improvement project for more than a year. Each company has contributed to the project with NatureWorks bringing its operational experience and intellectual property in lactides processing, and Sulzer bringing its proprietary equipment and engineering design expertise in this field. NatureWorks owns patents to the new process, to which Sulzer has exclusive sublicensing rights worldwide. Technical details concerning the new production equipment and the amount of this major capital expenditure are not being released due to the proprietary and competitive nature of this Ingeo development project.

With the new technology, NatureWorks will be introducing new high-performance Ingeo resin grades in the injection molding and fibers arenas. New injection molding grades Ingeo 3100HP and 3260HP are designed for use in medium and high flow nucleated formulations to provide an excellent balance of mechanical and thermal properties, while delivering up to 75 percent cycle time savings over formulations based on current Ingeo grades. Heat distortion temperatures (@ 66 psig) are expected to be 15 degrees Centigrade higher than what is achievable today.

Fibers and nonwoven products made from the new Ingeo grades 6260D and 6100D will have reduced shrinkage and better dimensional stability. These improved features are expected to enable Ingeo use across a broader range of fiber and nonwoven applications and provide larger processing windows in fiber spinning and downstream conversion processes. NatureWorks also will assess new market and application opportunities for the technology in other processes, including thermoforming, film extrusion, blow molding and profile extrusion.

NatureWorks will be the world’s first and only company to offer commercial quantities of a high-purity, polymer-grade lactide rich iJunior