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1 Natureworks NatureWorks PLA Glenn Johnston Director Regulatory Affairs Northeast Recycling Council March 13th, 2007 1 NatureWorks LLC - Who We Are • Established in 1997 • Global stand-alone organization wholly owned by Cargill • More than 200 employees • Several hundred million dollar investment • 300-million-pound polymer capacity 2 1 WHERE IT COMES FROM sugar fermentation lactic acid monomer production lactide polymer production NatureWorks® PLA polymer NatureWorks PLA conversion Ingeo™ Fibers 3 Types of Biopolymers Plant Based: Manufacturers: Polylactic acid (PLA) NatureWorks LLC (NatureWorks PLA) Toyota (Bio-Green Division) Tate & Lyle (Hycail) Hisun (China) Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) Metabolix/ADM (Nature’s Plastic) Plant-based starch Novamont (MaterBi) Plantic Technologies (Plantic) Plant fiber Earthcycle (molded palm fiber) Oil Based: Polyesters BASF (Ecoflex) Eastman (Eastar Bio) -now Novamont Ire Chemical Blends: Starch blends Novamont (MaterBi) Danimer Stanelco (Starpol) Source: IBAW 4 2 NatureWorks PLA Packaging Applications Serviceware Bottles Rigid Containers Flexible & Films 5 NatureWorks PLA in Ingeo Fibers Applications Nonwovens Home & Office Textile Apparel 6 3 NatureWorks PLA Outlook • Single use - bottle applications – Flat/still water – Fresh dairy – Fresh juice – Edible oils • Currently technology does not allow for bottling carbonated beverages (CSD). 7 End of Life Options 8 4 Mechanical Recycling Grind Testing scheme – APR 3/8 Screen 1st Air Separation Waste Wash (15 minutes @ 185 F) 1% NaOH / 0.3% X-100 Waste Oven Test (450 F for 30 minutes) 2nd Air Separation Waste Dry (4 hours @ 300F) Mix with PET or HDPE flake or pellet and pelletize Fiber Solid State Test Strips Bottle 9 Mechanical Recycling - HDPE & PLA • At 2 percent PLA – No effect on color – No effect on Melt Index • Screen pack life not affected • No foaming, black specs or sticking • Visual Difference • Sink/Float 3 – ρPLA = 1.24 g/cm 3 – ρHDPE = 0.96 g/cm • NIR Sorting Equipment – 97.5% effective (conservative) • Color Sorting Equipment – PLA = clear, HDPE = opaque 10 5 Mechanical Recycling - PET & PLA • At 1% (10,000 ppm) PLA in PET – No effect on solid stating to an IV of 0.82 ± 0.02 –TM and TG are not significantly affected – Screen pack life and processing unaffected • Below 0.1% (1,000 ppm) PLA in PET – No negative effect on color or haze 11 Mechanical Recycling - PET & PLA Haze Value RPET Strip 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 Hunter Color Meter Color Hunter 15 10 5 0 Control 500 ppm 1,000 ppm 1,000 ppm 2,500 ppm 5,000 10,000 ppm 10,000 PPM's 12 6 IR Sorting • PLA will be treated as other PET bale contaminants, removed in an existing stream (HDPE, PP, PVC, PS, etc.). • NIR Sorting Equipment – Already in place for sorting PP, PVC, HDPE – Trial at commercial recycler • 5,000+ lbs./hr • In-feed stream 45% PET, 35% HDPE, 10% PP, 10% PLA • 97.5% PLA removed from stream 13 Chemical Recycling • Taking the plastic down to its base monomer chemical constituents to reuse. • Is this a new concept in plastic recycling…..no. • PET can be hydrolyzed. • PET is a copolymer containing two monomers (Terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol) and thus separation creates challenges which represent yield and economic challenges. • PLA is made up of repeating units of lactic acid and thus through simple available technology can be converted to Lactic acid via heat and water. • Post consumer PLA can then be returned to lactic acid, feed back into our polymer reactor to make virgin PLA, without the use of solvents and thus maintain the carbon. CH3 OCH3 OOH HO O n O O CH3 Polylactic acid (PLA) 14 7 Chemical Recycling sugar fermentation lactic acid monomer production lactide polymer production polymer NatureWorks PLA PLA conversion 15 Chemical Recycling • To date NatureWorks LLC has post industrial chemical recycled over 4 million pounds. • These systems are in their infancy but create benefits over traditional physical recycling, it does not down cycle! 16 8 Comparison of Fossil Resources Used (FRU) and Green House Gasses (GHG) Produced During Production Bottles + Caps. All data are given per 1,000 bottles Cradle to PLAPellets FRU: 1,263 MJ GHG: 41.5 kg From Pellet to Bottles: Total Cradle to Bottles Corn Production: Corn to pellets: Pellet Pellet packaging: transport FRU: 293 MJ FRU: 63 MJ FRU-fuel: 1200 MJ + caps: (500mls): GHG-fuel: 6.5 kg FRU-feedstock: 0 MJ FRU: 31 MJ GHG: 20 kg FRU: 19 MJ FRU GHG-corn: -53.6 kg GHG: 88.9 kg GHG: -0.7kg 1,607 MJ*/1000 bottles 82 Lbs of Corn (net) GHG: 1.5 Kg GHG = 62 kg CO2 eq./1,000 Corn Bottle bottles Processing NatureWorks Manufacturer LA/PLA Facility Cradle to PET+HDPE Pellets FRU: 2,134 MJ GHG: 86 Kg Oil to pellets: Oil Production: Pellet Pellet From Pellet to bottles: FRU-fuel: 952 MJ packaging: transport Total Cradle to Bottles FRU: 70 MJ FRU: 340 MJ (500mls): FRU-feedstock: 1112 MJ FRU: 0 MJ +caps: GHG: 0.5 kg GHG: 23 kg GHG: 85.5 kg FRU: 19 MJ 55 Lbs of oil** GHG: 0 Kg FRU GHG: 1.5 Kg 2,493 MJ*/1000 bottles Bottle Manufacturer = GHG 110.5 kg of CO2 eq./1,000 Refinery Polymer bottles Plant ** the oil used to build the polymer chain = feedstock ProductionProduction of of NatureWorks NatureWorks PLA PLA bottles bottlesuseuse 36% 36% less less fossil fossil resources resources and and generatesgenerates 44 44%%lessless greenhouse greenhouse gases gases compared compared to to PET PETperper 1,000 1,000 bottles bottles 17 *MJ=Mega Joules and includes all fossil energy sources used as raw materials and the energy to drive manufacturing processes Clear Benefits Consumers Understand • Energy savings equivalent to: – Nearly 26 litres of petrol (7 gallons of gas) and – Enough energy to power a 100-Watt light bulb for four months per 1,000 bottles • CO2 savings equivalent to: – Eliminating CO2 emissions from an auto over a 3-week period, per 1,000 bottles 18 9 A Shared Commitment NatureWorks LLC is committed to producing a plastic from an annually renewable resource which meets the needs of today without compromising the earth’s ability to meet the needs of tomorrow. How is this done: Dialogue and Engagement….Responsibly 19 Stakeholder Dialogues - Recycling • June 2004 APR Technical Forum • May 2005 Stakeholder meeting, San Francisco, CA – City of SF, Alameda Cty, Beyond Compliance, EcoCycle, Earthbound Farms, Coke, CAW, USCC, Starbucks, IDEO, As You Sow, Allen Company • June 2005 APR Technical Forum • August 2005 NRC Discussion Panel • September 2005 PETCore Technical Committee Meeting • February 2006 – Plastics Recycling Conference • May 2006 Stakeholder meeting and plant tour, Omaha, NE – ILSR, Method, As You Sow, Friends of the Earth, Healthy Building Network, IATP, ICCR, Coke, Earthbound Farms, Kaiser Permanente, Safeway, 7th Gen, Clean Production Action, City of SF, USCC • October 2006 NRC Discussion Panel • November to now - Engagement with the Coalition on Recycling 20 10 Biggest Hurdle to a New Polymer in Recycling • Critical mass – Important when trying to understand the economic sustainability of recycling a new polymer – Key when bottles made from a new polymer indistinguishable from other plastics – Involvement of retailers, brand owners and other stakeholders is critical – There must be enough critical mass to be “real” • Real economics • Real recovery • Real end markets 21 Learning Is Important • Initial small-scale launches have given us key learnings on what we need to know and what we need to improve upon – Supply chain – Logistics/transportation – Confirmed fitness for use – Labeling – Consumer demand and concerns – Better understanding of life-cycle impacts • Possible Next Step: Revise the VISION and detail the ROADMAP to sustainable bioplastics – then test it through targeted pilot programs with multi-stakeholder involvement 22 11 The Complexity of the Issue 23 Our Commitment to the Global Recycling Community • Help with development of a viable economic model that fits within current end-of-life infra-structures • A road map to creating critical mass that fits within a shared end-of-life vision – how to get to “PLA into PLA” • A responsible voice in the end game of “zero waste” cradle-to-cradle innovation • Support in the development of improved recovery 24 12 Course Forward With stakeholders, begin to frame answers to key questions: 1. In terms of cradle-to-cradle, what is best end use for PLA? 2. While PLA is commercially compostable, what do we do when the composting infrastructure is limited? 3. While there is understandable concern for PLA bottle applications, what do we do with non-bottle PLA packages that end up in recycling waste stream? 4. With PLA, how can we leverage the developed recycling recovery system to increase plastics recovery rates that hover around 23%? 5. How do we – brand owners, processors, producers, NGOs, government -- work together to develop the proper economic, regulatory and technical infrastructure needed to foster recovery of PLA? 25 Course Forward “Do not let the perfect be the enemy of the good” These questions are too complex for us to solve alone, but working together, we can develop the solutions to a successful transition to sustainable bioplastics. 26 13 In Conclusion • Petroleum will not last forever. The sooner we begin to shift to renewables, the easier the transition will be • PLA is a TRANSFORMATIVE technology. Transitional challenges are intrinsic, but … • If we had already made the transition, how many of today’s (and tomorrow’s) problems could we avoid? • We need to work together on a VISION and ROADMAP that meets multiple needs • Plastic recycling must be expanded – under 30% is not enough. • MULTIPLE stakeholders are needed – NatureWorks can’t do it alone, but we are ready to do our part. 27 Thank You 28 14.
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