bioplastics24.com

10 December 2007 - Natureworks, the leading manufacturer of PLA bioplastics, has chosen the beginning of a new tranche of investment at its four-year old fermentation and polymerisation plant at Blair, in the US state of Nebraska, to disclose the true capacity of the unit.

Eamonn Tighe, Natureworks business development manager in Europe, told delegates at last week’s EPN Bioplastics conference that the facility is currently capable of producing PLA at an annual rate of around 70,000 tonnes a year, half the 140,000 “nameplate” capacity it has consistently claimed for the plant since its start-up in 2003.