LG Chem’s factory in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province. (image: LG Chem)
SEOUL, Aug. 16 (Korea Bizwire) — LG Chem Ltd. said Tuesday it will build two production facilities in the U.S. state of Illinois with a U.S. food processing company to produce a biodegradable plastic widely used in food packaging.
Under the two joint ventures with Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM), an agricultural food processor and biosolution company, they will build a facility to annually produce 75,000 tons of polylactic acid (PLA), in Decatur, the South Korean chemical company said in a release.
A separate facility will be built in the same city to produce up to 150,000 tons of high-purity corn-based lactic acid, a feedstock for PLA.
PLA is a bioplastic made from organic sources like corn starch and sugar cane, whose demand is increasing rapidly as an alternative to plastics produced using fossil fuels.
With 75,000 tons of PLA, a manufacturer can make some 2.5 billion 500-milliliter water bottles a year, LG Chem said.
LG Chem and ADM plan to start the construction of the two facilities in 2023 and complete them by 2025 once they gain all required regulatory approval.
(Yonhap)
