PHA Plant Will Produce Renewable, Biodegradable Plastics From Corn

An example of how we can reduce our dependence on oil, by making plastics in cojunction with ethanol production.

Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE:ADM) and Metabolix have selected Clinton, Iowa as the location for the first commercial plant that will produce PHA, a renewable, biodegradable plastic from corn. This plant will have an initial annual capacity of 50,000 tons per year.

The plant will produce PHA natural plastics that have a wide variety of applications in products currently made from petrochemical plastics, including coated paper, film, and molded goods. The PHA natural plastics are produced using a fully biological fermentation process that converts agricultural raw materials, such as corn sugar, into a versatile range of plastics that have excellent durability in use, but are compostable in both hot and cold compost, and are biodegraded even in the marine environment.

PHA natural plastics are a broad and versatile family of polymers that range in properties from rigid to elastic, and they can be converted into molded and thermoformed goods, extruded coatings and film, blown film, fibers, adhesives and many other products. They have excellent shelf life and resistance even to hot liquids, greases and oils, yet they biodegrade in aquatic, marine and soil environments and under anaerobic conditions, such as found in septic systems and municipal waste treatment plants. They can be both hot and cold composted.

The PHA plant will be located adjacent to ADM's wet corn mill in Clinton. The plant will utilize starch from the mill's existing corn grind capacity as raw material for PHA production. Construction, expected to be complete in mid 2008, is subject to applicable governmental approvals.

ADM Names Clinton, Iowa as Location for PHA Plant, ADM press release, March 14, 2006

Technorati tags: biochemicals, plastics, PHA, technology

The Energy Blog: PHA Plant Will Produce Renewable, Biodegradable Plastics From Corn

Comments

[Martha]

Hi Jim, ADM and Metabolix are not the first company to produce bioplastics from corn. Cargill-Dow started in 1997 in Minnesotta the production of PLA (another type of bioplastic), which they are selling through the US, and more recently, in China.

I am an engineer located in WA state, and working on a business project that will use bioplastics in disposable medical products. In my blog www.virtualfactory.blogspot.com I give information on "high tech" bioplastic applications and will be keeping track of my business venture here in the Pacific Northwest.

It is nice to see a blog like yours dedicated to energy and renewables. Congratulations!

[yemi]

i am a final year student of chemical engineering. i project topic is development of biodegradable plastic using starch from corn
please help me.

[yemi]

i am a final year student of chemical engineering. i project topic is development of biodegradable plastic using starch from corn
please help me

[Wendy Kok]

Mark your calendar for BIOPolymers 2007, 15 - 16 May 2007 @Hong Kong
RSVP with [email protected] today

[Natur-Tec]

Biodegradable Plastic, Polymer Resins offered by Natur-Tec can be converted into Biodegradable bags and industrial packaging films of any size and thicknesses.

[Tim Dunn]

A SLEAZY MIX OF POLITICS, MONEY, and MISLEADING PROPAGANDA POLLUTES CALIFORNIA'S ENVIRONMENTAL LABELING LEGISLATION

The state of California has passed a law, assembly bill number 2417, stating that the words biodegradeable, oxo-biodegradable, degradable, and every possible synonym for those words, in effect, belong to the corn-based plastics (PLA) industry. No biodegradable plastic made out of naphtha, an otherwise useless industrial byproduct, may be labeled biodegradable, nor any synonym thereof, may, given current technlogy, be called biodegradable, even if they do, in fact, biodegrade in one day longer than 120 days. This is true even if the biodegradable plastic alternatives are far more likely to biodegrade in a landfill that the corn based plastic alternative. The net effect of this is to increase the demand for corn based plastics. The result of making non-food items out of corn has driven a price spike in the world grain supply that threatens hundreds of millions of impoverished third world citizens with starvation.

A further effect of this is to deny the citizens of California the benefits of new technology that makes inexpensive, recyclable, disposable plastic products-garbage bags, shopping bags, plastic cutlery, straws, styrofoam cups and containers, deli containers, soda bottles, etc. etc. The corn based plastics cannot be recycled under in any existing system in place in California, whereas the naphtha based biodegradable plastic alternatives can. In fact, the recycling lobby is trying to ban corn based plastic bottles, because it gets confused with PET, and wrecks their recycled PET plastic batches.

Who is behind this? I can't prove it, but I strongly believe that Cargill Inc. and Dow Inc. have been working behind the scenes to create this spike in corn prices, with no concern whatsoever for the lives of hundreds of millions of people who struggle to find food every day. Cargill has acquired the 50 percent interest in Cargill Dow LLC previously 100% owned by Dow Chemical Co. and has renamed the company NatureWorks LLC. That's right, that friendly neighbor Dow that brought you napalm and Agent Orange. Cargill is a huge company that has a great interest in making things besides food out of corn-no matter how many millions of children in the third world starve to death as a result.

Campaign contribution laws in this country are so lax that I don't think they even had to break the law to get away with this appalling tactic.

So, Californians, the next time you wonder why biodegradable plastic items are so expensive in your state, and of such poor quality, my belief is that it's because of your legislature, your governor, Cargill Inc. and Dow Chemical Company, Inc.

[Oceansgreen]

Hi,

We ran across your website and i read it more interesting, thank you for the ideas you shared i learn a lot from it. We'll come back often.

Once again, thank you very much!

Regards,

Oceans Green

[ian]

What Does PHA stand for?

[Business Process Consulting]

Congratulations!!!!!!It is nice to see a blog like yours dedicated to energy,,,,.....

[new jersey air duct cleaning]

Sounds amazing to me.This should mean a lot of utility and very easy method too.It will find various applications I am sure.Great discovery this is.

[compactors]

Degradable plastic bags are the weapon of choice for those who care about the environmental problems, such as the "industrial waste catastrophe". These degradable items will not only degrade faster, but also do so wholly and safely