Corbion breaks ground on new PLA production site in Thailand

The long-awaited start signal has finally been given for the construction of Corbion’s new 75 kTpa PLA bioplastics polymerization plant.  The ground breaking ceremony took place on November 9th, 2016 at the existing Corbion site in Rayong, Thailand, where the new plant will be built.

The ceremony was attending by an impressive lineup of officials that included the Honorable Minister of Industry, Doctor Atchaka Sibunruang, who acted as Chair Lady in the ritual and spiritual ceremony of the ground breaking. The relationship between the Minister of Industry and Corbion stretches back many years: in her role as Senior Executive Investment Advisor at the Office of the BOI, Dr Atchaka Sibunruang was instrumental in the realization of the lactic acid plant back in 2004. Also present were the Governor of Rayong and the Deputy Secretary General of the Thai Board of Investment (BOI), as was the Deputy Ambassador of the Netherlands, Mr Guillaume Teerling.

CEO Tjerk de Ruiter said he was” confident that our world-class facility will deliver the innovative solutions that our customers are seeking”. As De Ruiter expalained: “At Corbion, we believe in building a great future for the people of today and generations to come … that’s what we do here in Thailand with the construction of this plant, biobased and biodegradable plastics will certainly help to minimize adverse impacts on human health and the environment."

The new 75 kTpa PLA polymerization plant will be constructed using Corbion's and Sulzer's proprietary polymerization technology, and key equipment will be supplied by Sulzer Chemtech Ltd (Switzerland). Upon completion in 2018, it will be able to produce the complete Luminy portfolio of PLA neat resins: from standard PLA to innovative, high heat resistant PLA.

Next to constructing a new PLA polymerization plant, Corbion is also expanding its existing lactide plant in Thailand by 25 kTpa in order to better 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.