PLA stands for polylactic acid or polylactide. Polylactic acid or polylactide is the name for thermoplastic polymers of lactic acid. They are often referred to by the abbreviation PLA (from English polylactic acid). They are biodegradable, biocompatible and are produced from renewable plant-based raw materials (corn starch or sugar cane). PLA can be processed by injection moulding, foil blowing, extrusion, vacuum forming, extrusion blow moulding and strech blow moulding. Main applications: packaging, medical, textiles and electronics.
PHAs are a family of natural plastics – not actually plastics, but energy storage of microorganisms. It can be made into both hard and soft plastics, both crystalline and amorphous. All members of the PHA family are biodegradable; Not only in industrial compost plants, but also in the soil and in salt and fresh water – a property they only share with starch plastics.
Bio-PBS (and co-polyester PBSA) is bio-based and compostable and is made from bio-succinic acid, which will increasingly be extracted from renewable sources in the future. At present, Bio-PBS is mainly used in a natural fibre composite for car interiors. Multiple partnerships have been established to create a fully integrated supply chain for bio-PBS. The ultimate goal is to develop a 100% bio-based plastic that can be used in mass production for not only car interior parts (such as door panels, decorative strips, etc.) but also packaging materials for food such as cheese, meat, etc.
Wageningen University & Research conducts research into the characteristics, adapatation and processing possibilities of the various types of bioplastics, to make it suitable for a wide variety of applications.
What’s next
A next step is increasing the cost competitiveness of these bioplastics to be able to compete with conventional fossil plastics. In addition, there are still many options to adapt bioplastics to suit a wide variety of applications.