Will Biodegradable Plastics Conquer the World? Unveiling Capacity Expansion & Market Outlook

Can biodegradable plastics dominate the market

Capacity Additions

Historically, there are very few players in the biodegradable plastics sectors mostly in the USA and Western Europe. With an exceptional acceptance of biodegradable plastics, a number of companies started their pilot plants, and subsequently, till 2017-2018, there were more than 25+ major producers of biodegradable plastics globally. The most important player in the PLA field is NatureWorks followed by Total Corbion. NatureWorks operates a 150-kilo tons of PLA capacity at Nebraska, USA while Total Corbion started commercial production of PLA at its 75 kilo tons facility in Rayong, Thailand.

NatureWorks is the leading producer of PLA globally, in the wake of the increase in demand, third party sources have indicated that the company may carry out an expansion of its plant in the next few years but no capacity expansion news has been announced by the company.

Teijin has a 10-kilo tons facility in Japan while most other Japanese producers of PLA do not have any significant capacity as the production is mostly carried out in their pilot plants. The major Chinese producers of PLA include Zhejiang HiSun Biomaterials Company, Esun(Shenzhen Esun Industrial Co., Ltd), Jilin Cofco Biomaterials. WeforYou (Austria-based)also operates a 75-kilo tons plant in China.

There have been lot of announcements in the PLA biodegradable plastic capacities and most of the companies especially have announced their projects in China. Shanghai Tongjie Liang Biomaterials Co. and Global Bio-Chem Technology Group are some of the major players that have announced capacity additions in the PLA type of biodegradable plastics.

The major European PLA producers are Synbera, Sulzer, and Futerro (Galactic-TotalJV). Syberia technologies operate the biggest commercial facility at the Netherlands producing around 5-kilo tons while both the plants operated by Sulzur and Futerro are of small scale and each of their capacity is estimated to be around 1.5 kilo tons each.

Historically, the Western European region has witnessed some capacity closures of pilot plants and there may be small closure during the forecast period as well. According to our market model on biodegradable plastics, the total PLA capacities additions from 2019 to 2025 is believed to be around 300 kilo tons. Most of the capacities are likely to be added in China.

In terms of Starch blend capacities, most of the capacities are present in China followed by other countries. Novamont has recently increased its starch-based production by 40-kilo tons to reach 150 kilo tons at its Patrick facility in Italy. In terms of PHA, PHBH, new plants are coming up in Russia by Bio-On JV while Kaneka Corporation may increase its PHA production capacity up to 20 kilo tons in Japan, mostly to export to European and Japanese consumers.

In terms of the market share of new capacity additions Asia-Pacific, mostly China is expected to lead during the forecast period. Some new investment in the biodegradable plastics value chain in other countries/regions has also been announced.
 
Note: In China, most of the capacity are announced and mostly are delayed. The producers and capacity data is not available and contradictory and hence not verifiable. We also believe not all capacity announced will be online and on time. Some of them will get delayed and eventually canceled owing to various reasons.

Global Biodegradable Plastics Capacities (Plants & Projects)


 

Company

Country

Polymer Type

2018

2019

2020

NatureWorks

US

PLA

150

150

150

Teijin

Japan

PLA

10

10

10

Total Corbion

Thailand

PLA

-

75

75

Zhejiang HiSun Biomaterials Company Limited

China

PLA

50

50

50

Esun (Shenzhen Esun Industrial Co., Ltd)

China

PLA

10

10

10

Shanghai Tongjie Liang Biomaterials Co.

China

PLA

3

3

3

Nangtong Jiuding Biological

China

PLA

5

5

5

Jilin Cofco Bimaterials

China

PLA

-

10

10

Mushashino

Japan

PLA

1

1

1

Toray

South Korea

PLA

5

5

5

Toyobo

Japan

PLA

5

5

5

Futerro (Galactic / Total)

Belgium

PLA

1.5

1.5

5

Synbra Technology

Netherlands

PLA

5

5

5

Synbra Technology

Switzerland

PLA

1

1

1

Sulzur

Switzerland

PLA

1

1

1

Galactic / BBCA

China

PLA

-

-

100

Wefor You (Austrian)

China

PLA

75

75

75

Total / Galactic

Belgium

PLA

5

5

5

Donguaan Renju

China

PLA

5

5

5

Hycail

Finland

PLA

2

2

2

JMSW

China

PLA

2

2

2

Jiangsu Torise

China

PLA

5

5

5

Jiangsu Jiuding

China

PLA

5

5

5

Wuhan Huali Biomaterial Co., Ltd.

China

PLA

60

60

60

Jiangsi HRS

China

PLA

1

1

1

Newlight Technologies

USA

PHA

45

45

45

Danimer Scientific (previously MHG)

USA

PHA

60

60

60

Bio-On

Italy

PHA

10

10

10

Bio-On S.p.A - The TAIF Group (JV)

Russia

PHA

-

5

10

Bio-On (Italy) and Moore Capital (Brazil)

Brazil

PHA

10

10

10

Bio-On (Italy) and Cristal Union

France

PHA

5

5

5

Tianjin GreenBio Materials

China

PHA

2

2

2

Ecomann Biotechnology

China

PHA

3

3

3

TianAn Biopolymers

China

PHA

2

2

2

Kaneka

Japan

PHA

5

5

20

Novamont

Italy

STARCH Blend

110

110

150

Rodenburg

Netherlands/Brazil

STARCH Blend

60

65

65

BIOTEC GMBH

Germany

PLA,STARCH

25

25

30

CARBIOLICE

France

STARCH Blend

4

4

4

Carbiolice JV

France

STARCH Blend

35

35

35

FKuR group

Germany

STARCH Blend

20

20

20

Indochine Bio Plastiques

Malaysia

STARCH Blend

1.2

1.2

1.2

Pujiang shanghai industry. ltd

China

STARCH Blend

0.1

10

10

Cereplast Italia, SpA,

Italy

PLA,STARCH

50

100

100

Suzhou Hanfeng New Material Co. Ltd.

China

PLA

35

35

35

Plantic Technologies Limited

Australia

STARCH Blend

5

5

10

Harbin Livan Biodegradable Product Co., Ltd.

China/Hungary

STARCH Blend

50

50

50

BIOP Biopolymer Technologies

Germany

PHA

3.5

3.5

3.5

Groupe Limagrain

France

STARCH Blend

10

10

10

Other Chinese Producers

China

PLA

40

80

80

Other Japanese Producers

Japan

PLA

10

10

10

Other Europeans Producers

Europe

PLA

5

5

5

Other USA Producers

USA

PLA

5

5

5

 


For Further Information on Biodegradable Plastics, Please click here


To View Biodegradable Plastics Sample, Please click here

For more details on Biodegradable Plastics Market, please contact us at sales@prismaneconsulting.com

(0) Comments

Leave A Comment

All fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required