Diemen, the Netherlands – 8 September 2008 – CSM nv subsidiary PURAC and Sulzer Chemtech have jointly
developed a new cost effective polymerization process to produce high quality Poly-Lactic Acid (PLA). The
new process relies upon proprietary and jointly developed polymerization and devolatilization technology to
efficiently produce a range of PLA products from the specialty Lactides supplied by PURAC. PURAC and
Sulzer Chemtec signed a joint cooperation agreement for the development and sharing of this technology.
Poly-Lactic Acid is a bioplastic made from biorenewable raw materials like carbo-hydrates. PURAC offers
the lactide monomers as polymerization feedstock and in cooperation with Sulzer the polymerization
technology to make PLA.
This offering will significantly reduce the process and product development time thereby enabling faster and
more reliable market entry for PLA producers. The new process requires substantially less investment and
has unmatched potential for economic scale-up to high volumes.
The first plant to use this new technology will be built by Synbra in the Netherlands for the production of
BIOFOAM®, a foamed product made from this PLA, complementary to their wide range of polystyrene foam products offered today. The new plant with a capacity of 5,000 ton/year is targeted to be operational by
the end of 2009. Synbra intends to assume a leading position in Europe as supplier of biologically degradable
polymers from renewable sources and plans to expand the PLA capacity to 50,000 ton/year.
By the end of 2008, a demonstration and product development plant will be available exclusively to partners
of PURAC, to facilitate both product and process development to meet various application and customer
demands. The demonstration plant will be located at Sulzer Chemtec in Winterthur, Switzerland.
About PURAC
PURAC has over 70 years of experience, owns many patents and is the global market leader in lactic acid.
PURAC owns state-of-the-art lactic acid plants located in areas with favorable carbohydrate feedstock. The
latest addition has been a 100,000 ton plant in Thailand that became operational November 2007. PURAC
produces biomedical PLA, a quality that is used in the medical industry.
PURAC (a CSM company) has net sales of over € 300 million and a workforce of around 1,000 employees.
PURAC operates in Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia. For more information:
www.purac.com
About Sulzer
Sulzer Chemtech is a market and technology leader in the area of Static Mixing and Reaction Technology
with some 100,000 references over a wide range of applications such as polymer production, polymer
finishing, plastics processing and broader chemical process industries. With global footprint related to sales,
engineering, fabrication and customer services Sulzer Chemtech serves the segments in the oil and gas,
hydrocarbon processing, petrochemicals and polymer production industries.
Sulzer Chemtech is a division of Sulzer Corporation with annual sales of CHF 760 million and over 2,400
people worldwide. For more information: www.sulzerchemtech.com
About Synbra
Synbra has a leading position in Europe regarding Expandable Polystyrene EPS for Sustainable Insulation
Systems and Industrial Products & Solutions for a wide diversity of markets. Synbra Technology bv in Etten-
Leur, the Netherlands, is the in-house polymerisation and R&D facility ‘Technology & Innovation’ and the
centre of excellence in materials and product development. Recent examples of the Synbra group’s
innovations are Xire,® incombustible polystyrene and BioFoam®. For more information: www.xire.com,
www.biofoam.nl,www.synbra.com
Synbra achieves a turnover of € 330 million with about 1,600 employees in the Netherlands, Germany,
France, Denmark, the United Kingdom and Portugal. |
