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Current situation and future development of PLA industry

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Biodegradable materials

Polylactic acid (PLA)

Plastics are widely used because of their light weight, excellent performance and high durability, which greatly facilitates people's lives. China's plastic industry is developing rapidly, however, in the rapid development of plastic products at the same time, how to rational disposal of its waste has also met challenges, especially a large number of disposable plastic products in use and waste, due to improper handling of environmental problems have become a global concern.

With the increasing awareness of environmental protection and the government's support for renewable resources, biodegradable plastics have attracted more and more attention as an environmentally friendly material. Today we focus on understanding polylactic acid (PLA)!

Polylactic acid (PLA) is a new type of biodegradable material made from starch derived from renewable plant resources such as corn. Starch raw materials through saccharification to obtain glucose, and then from glucose and a certain strain fermentation to produce high purity lactic acid, and then through chemical synthesis method to synthesize a certain molecular weight of polylactic acid. It has good biodegradability, can be completely degraded by microorganisms in nature after use, and eventually generate carbon dioxide and water, which does not pollute the environment, which is very beneficial to the protection of the environment, and is recognized as an environmentally friendly material.

Why the EU bans

Using polylactic acid (PLA)

Why is polylactic acid (PLA) biodegradable, and the EU still bans its use?

Compared with PET, PP or PE, which is not degradable for hundreds of years, polylactic acid is indeed degradable, but its degradation conditions are very harsh, must be more rapidly degraded under compost conditions, and even under compost conditions, the degradation cycle can still be as long as 3-6 months. If it is landfilled into the soil, it may take several years to fully degrade.

In particular, at present, the composting plants that can provide composting conditions around the world have far less processing capacity and high processing costs. This results in a large number of degradable plastics that are not actually processed by composting, but are still being used by landfill, incineration and other means.

The geography of Europe is characterized by many islands, long coastlines, and many opportunities for plastic waste to enter the ocean. Due to the low temperature in the sea water, the concentration of microorganisms is much lower than that on land, the degradation of plastics is also significantly slowed down, even the recognized degradable plastics (polylactic acid or PBAT, etc.), almost no degradation occurs in the sea water.

It is therefore entirely understandable that the EU has banned the use of biodegradable plastics. They are probably based on a lack of recognition of the degradation efficiency of current degradable plastics. At present, all degradable plastics rely on the hydrolysis of ester groups to achieve degradation, and hydrolysis has higher requirements for environmental conditions.

At present, the EU will give priority to materials that can be recycled, and will only consider degradable materials if there are no other options and it is difficult to dispose of them.

Common applications of polylactic acid (PLA)

Food packaging

The non-toxic and harmless characteristics of polylactic acid to the human body have unique advantages in the field of disposable utensils, food packaging materials and other disposable supplies.

Agricultural field

Polylactic acid film has better biodegradation performance, can be quickly decomposed in the natural environment, used to make agricultural film, seed coating and so on. For example, the use of PLA fiber to make agricultural sunshade nets has both a sunshade effect and can be naturally degraded after crop harvest.

Biomedical field

The biomedical field is the earliest application field of polylactic acid. Polylactic acid is highly safe for the human body and can be absorbed by tissues. Combined with its excellent physical and mechanical properties, it can also be used in the field of biomedicine, such as disposable infusion tools, non-disassembly surgical sutures, drug relief packaging agents, artificial fracture internal fixation materials, tissue repair materials, artificial skin, etc.

Textile field

PLA has the characteristics of environmental protection, skin-friendly, breathable, antibacterial, anti-mite, non-flammable, non-return to moisture, etc., and can be used to make clothes, home textiles and other products.

Energy field

For the production of biofuels, fuel cells and other energy equipment. Such as biodiesel, bioethanol and other biofuels, fuel cell electrolyte membranes and so on.

From the perspective of industrial policy, China's biodegradable plastics industry has developed steadily. At present, the domestic PLA, PBAT has been large-scale production and application, and there are a large number of production lines under construction or planned construction, PHA, PCL, PPC and other biodegradable plastics production capacity, application and application fields are also expanding.

It is believed that with the gradual introduction, implementation and improvement of more policies at home and abroad, people's production and life style about saving resources and protecting the environment is formed, domestic biodegradable plastics technology innovation, detection and evaluation and standard system is becoming more and more perfect, biodegradable plastics industry will be rapid development, and the application field will be more extensive. Globally, the demand for biodegradable plastics is expected to maintain high growth in the next few years.

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