First Commercial Plant For Biodegradable Plastic

Filed in archive Energy, Environment and Ecology , Food and Agriculture , Microbiology on February 15, 2006

After more than two years of research, the first 100% biodegradable plastic is ready for commercial-scale production.

As opposed to petroleum-derived plastics, biodegradable plastics are made up of polymers called polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), which are produced in genetically engineered microbial and plant biofactories.

Research groups throughout the world have demonstrated the ability of microbes to use an enormous number of different building blocks to produce novel PHA structures. By using different building blocks (i.e., monomers), the properties of PHAs can be varied from hard and stiff materials to very elastic ones. The structural diversity within the PHA family allows the engineering of PHA compositions - sustainably produced - that will be cost-effective, versatile alternatives to over half the synthetic polymers in use today.

Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), an agricultural processing company, will build the first commercial plant to produce these high-performance, natural, and therefore eco-friendly plastics manufactured from sustainable, renewable resources, based on a technology developed by Metabolix. The plant has a projected annual capacity of 50,000 tons. According to G. Allen Andreas, ADM Chairman, Chief Executive and President,

"As the world's demand for petroleum continues to increase, ADM believes that this facility is a positive step towards producing renewable plastics that offer the global marketplace an alternative to traditional petroleum-derived plastics."

Read more from MSNNBC and from ADM's press release.

Photo: biodegradable coffee cups, courtesy of Metabolix