THAILAND - With the country’s abundant agricultural sector and large lactic acid (LA) manufacturing base, the Thai government is taking steps towards making Thailand a regional bioplastic hub.

Although Thailand is currently the Asia Pacfic’s  third largest bioplastic producer, ranked behind Japan and China (first and second respectively), the Thai Bioplastic Industry Association is confident that a combination of the country’s natural resources, infrastructure and government support will push the country’s bioplastic industry forward to become a regional hub for bioplastics manufacturing and export.

''Thailand has plenty of raw material supplies, especially cassava,'' said Somsak Borrisuttanakul, association president. ''With an annual production of 20 million tonnes, Thailand is the world’s top exporter of cassava.''

Thailand has a large manufacturing base for lactic acid, derived from cassava and sugarcane starch which it broken down with enzymes into glucose and fermented to make the product, Lactic acid. This is then polymerized and converted into polylactic acid (PLA) resin.

Purac’s Thai plant

In April 2008, Netherlands-headquartered Purac opened a LA plant – the largest worldwide for the company – in the Rayong province, located 190km away from the capital city of Bangkok.

Purac's LA plant in Rayong, Thailand

The plant was designed at the Purac central R&D department in the Netherlands, the process design was transferred to Thailand and executed using 3D modelling techniques.

With equipment sourced both locally in Thailand and imported from Europe and China, the plant is run by a team of Purac project managers and engineers.

The plant currently produces approximately 50,000 tonnes of LA annually and the company intends to double production capacity in the near future.

President of the Thai Bioplastics Indusrty Association, Mr Borrisuttanakul, said that the transfer of knowledge and technology from experienced bioplastic companies can only benefit Thailand’s bioplastic industry and help it further develop.

In addition to opening the Thai manufacturing facility, Purac has also been working with potential strategic partners to develop small-scale production plants for polylactic acid (PLA) in Thiland.

Currently Thai compounders must import the source material, according to Borrisuttanakul, and that local production of PLA is one of the next steps Thailand has to take to become a regional bioplastics hub.

''The only missing piece in the jigsaw for Thailand's bioplastics industry is local manufacturing of PLA, which requires a substantial investment of billions of baht for an economy-of-scale production of at least 30,000 tonnes a year,'' he said.

Government action

The Thai government launched the implementation of a 15-year three-phase strategy in 2006 to encourage the bioplastics sector to “become a regional leader in the bioplastic industry by 2021”.

The first phase is feasibility, during which imports of bioplastic material are entitled to favourable tariff relief. The second is the development of a local bioplastic industry using imports. Eventually, bioplastics imports should be replaced with locally produced materials from Thailand’s abundant crops of cassava and sugar. This is the third phase of the strategy, aimed at building a competitive global market for Thai bioplastics.

The government has also launched a US$53.12 million (1.8 billion baht) five-year action plan to increase cassava yield from three to 10 kilograms per rai (1,600 square metres). Besides taking care of consumer consumption of the plant, this will also prepare for sufficient supply for bioplastic manufacturing, in anticipation of a boom in the sector.

At the moment, Thai bioplastics have already started to be exported to markets such as the US, European Union, and Japan.

Borrisuttanaku said though, that the Thai government should also assist in stimulating demand locally by raising awareness of bioplastics' ability to compete on price with conventional plastic.

According to him, biodegradable plastics now account for only 30% of annual packaging consumption of 500,000 tonnes. Although it is two to four times more expensive than conventional plastics, bioplastics, Borrisuttanaku pointed out, become competitive when waste management costs are taken into account.