Nature Works LLC

Nature Works LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cargill Corporation, is the primary producer of PLA in the United States. Other companies involved in PLA manufacturing are Toyota (Japan), Hycail (The Netherlands), Galactic (Belgium) and several Chinese manufacturers. The price of PLA has been falling as more production comes online. 

Nature Works LLC has announced a source options program, especially for European customers who may view maize variety as an important market issue. Customers may choose their desired level of... 

Sheet Extrusion Processing Guide, Nature Works LLC, Minnetonka, MN, 2005. 

For the feedstock, there are logistical and sustainability concerns. Each potential biorefinery concept has specific coproduct and waste issues to consider. Transport is a general issue in this discussion. The biomass resource has to be transported to the refinery subsequently the products have to be transported to the downsdeam industry and/or the consumer. Of interest is the approach of the company Nature-Works LLC that currently operates the largest biorefinery in the United States in Blair, Nebraska. The nameplate capacity of the polymer production plant is 140,000 tons of polymer per year. Corn is the basis for the production of the bioplastic polylactic acid (PLA) in a complex multistage process. Sixty percent of its com feedstock is obtained from the local area (producers, located less than 40 kilometers from the plant). Several companies in an emergent network are now active on the Blair biorefinery campus (Wells and Zapata, 2012) reducing transportation from one industrial branch to the next one. 

ROP of lactide, and numerous patents [30 - 33] which describe methods to produce PLA by the ROP of lactide have been filed. Furthermore, Nature Works LLC has developed a solvent-fiiee, low-cost continuous process for the production of PLA fit)m com-derived dextrose. The resulting PLA, commercially branded as Ingeo biopol)maer, is the first synthetic polymer to be produced from annually renewable resources. 

D W FARRINGTON, Consultant, UK, J LUNT, S DAVIES, Nature Works LLC, USA and R S BLACKBURN, University of Leeds, UK... 

Based on this lactide intermediate method. Nature Works LLC has developed a patented, low cost continuous process for the production of lactic acid-based polymers. The process combines the substantial environmental and economic benefits of synthesizing both lactide and PLA in the melt rather than in solution and, for the first time, provides a commercially viable compostable commodity polymer made from annually renewable resources. The process starts with a continuous condensation reaction of aqueous lactic acid to produce low molecular weight PLA pre-polymer (Fig. 6.5). 

The second LCA of packaging materials was provided by IFEU from Germany and was commissioned by LCA Nature Works LLC (2006). The LCA is dated but can show the improvement in reduced environmental impacts of PLA in the third LCA study (LCA Packaging NatureWorks LLC 2006). 

Water eutrophication data and acidification data were modified from the IFEU-Heidelberg data for 1000 clamshells. The data were interpolated to equivalent mass of water bottles in the current study (LCA Nature Works LLC 2009). 

LCA Nature Works LLC (2006) Life Cycle Assessment of Poly Lactide, http //www.ifeu.de/oekobilanzen/pdf/LCA%20zu%20PLA%20erstellt%20fuer% 20NatureWorks%20%280kt%202006%29.pdf (last accessed June 2013). 

Adapted from Technical Bulletin 180904, Fiber and Fabric Properties, Nature Works LLC, Minnetonka, MN, USA [50] ... 

Polylactic (NatureWork PLA 300ID) in pellet form was obtained from Nature-Work LLC, Minnetonka, Minnesota, USA. It has a density of 1.24 g/cm and melt flow index around 15 g/10 min (190 °C/2.16 kg). A MCC and CNWs was produced from OPEFB as the reinforcement filler. The production of MCC and CNWs was described in details elsewhere (Haafiz et al., 2013b,c, 2014). All chemicals were used as received and were secured from Merck, Malaysia. 

Poly(lactic acid), produced by Nature Works LLC, is another example for a hybrid process, in which the monomer, lactic acid is produced by fermentation of com using lactobacilli. The subsequent polymerization is accomplished either by anionic ring-opening polymerization of the lactide dimer, or more recently by an azeotropic dehydration condensation, a chemical process. Cargill Dow now has shown that the polylactic acid produced by it s subsidiary NatureWorks LLC, is fully competitive with its synthetic counterparts, and fibers can also be melt-spun from this polymer. These Ingeo fibers are world s first man made fiber made from 100% atmually renewable resources. [12]. 

PLA pellets were supplied by Nature Works LLC. Acrylic acid [99.5% weight ratio (w/w)] was obtained from Acros Organics. Acrylamide (99% w/w) was obtained from Aldrich Chemicals. Benzophenone and HPLC water were obtained from Fisher Scientific. All chemicals were used as received. 

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