Shanghai by Haiwei Xiang, break through the gypsum free process to produce polylactic acid!

Recently, Shanghai Jinghai Weixiang Biomaterials Co., Ltd. has made a major breakthrough in the production process of polylactic acid, and its plaster-free production technology has attracted the attention of the industry. The production process of lactic acid fermentation mainly includes traditional calcium salt method. Traditional calcium salt lactic acid fermentation technology in the production process of polylactic acid, every 1 ton of polylactic acid production, about 1.5 tons of gypsum by-product, while the need to invest more than 1.5 tons of calcium salt and sulfuric acid, but also produce a large number of difficult to treat separation wastewater. Taking 100,000 tons of polylactic acid integrated production line as an example, it is necessary to attach 150,000 tons of gypsum production line, which makes the cost of raw materials greatly increased and the difficulty of environmental protection treatment dramatically increased. Moreover, the purity and quality of lactic acid under this technology are difficult to break through the bottleneck, which seriously restricts the further development of polylactic acid industry. In comparison, Jinghai Weixiang's plaster-free process has shown significant advantages. Through in-depth exploration of synthetic biotechnology, Haiwexiang Company has successfully cultivated a new generation of gypsy-free lactic acid fermentation industrial strains, and broken through the technical bottleneck of "rPLA chemical cycle recovery" to achieve "polylactic acid non-degradation" recycling and reuse, and achieved nearly "zero carbon emission" effect. The process can reduce the consumption of grain raw materials by 80% and reduce the cost by more than 50%, which is basically equivalent to the cost of petroleum-based plastics, and greatly improves the cost performance of the product. At present, this technology is working with overseas giant customers to promote the application scenario, its "polylactic acid whole industry chain" production technology is leading the international similar technology, with the core technology to break through the foreign "neck" means, "non-grain biomass utilization, a new generation of strains, gypse-free lactic acid technology, rPLA chemical cycle recovery" and other full set of production processes. Fill the gap in domestic production and promote the large-scale industrial application of bio-based materials, and realize the full industry chain coverage of "biomass - lactic acid - lactide -PLA- products -rPLA recovery (to lactide)". Around the world, other companies are also exploring related fields. For example, India's Praj Industries company, lactic acid fermentation using a gypsum free process, the use of proprietary low pH yeast and bacteria platform, high yield, can produce food grade, industrial grade, polymerization grade lactic acid, its lactide using a new continuous process, purity and yield performance is good. Established in 1983, Praj is a prominent player in India's industrial biotechnology sector. In June 2020, PRAj signed a memorandum of understanding with US synthetic biology company Lygos to develop advanced lactic acid yeast technology, and its PLA pilot plant is nearing completion and was originally scheduled to be operational by April 2024. In order to reduce the pollution caused by acid regulation during lactic acid fermentation and reduce the corresponding energy consumption, Plac has developed a corresponding gypsum-free fermentation process. Cargill says it uses very little sulfuric acid in its current process.