New material under the plastic restriction order - polylactic acid (PLA)

In recent years, governments around the world have actively enacted laws to limit plastics and ban plastics to promote the reform of single-use plastics.In the past five years, more than 60 countries have implemented bans or taxes on single-use plastics. In China, in order to solve the contradiction between green water and green mountains and white pollution, the country has continuously improved relevant laws and regulations, and issued a series of practicalFeasible laws to limit the use of plastic products, the "Opinions on Further Strengthening the Control of Plastic Pollution" promulgated in 2020 is known as the most stringent "plastic ban" in history.This regulation explicitly prohibits and restricts the production, sales and use of some plastic products, and actively promotes alternative products.

In January 2008, my country promulgated the "Notice on Restricting the Production and Sales of Plastic Shopping Bags" for the first time, carrying out nationwide plastic restriction and gradually realizing the plan of "zeroing out" disposable non-degradable plastics.With the deepening implementation of the policy, biodegradable plastics have become the preferred alternative materials for many manufacturers due to their close performance and environmental protection to ordinary plastics.In the past two years, the types of biodegradable plastics with rapid growth in production capacity are PBAT, PLA and starch-based plastics.Among them, polylactic acid is a widely used material with excellent barrier properties. High-performance polylactic acid is an excellent substitute for PS and PP, and its demand will grow rapidly in the future.

Poly lactic acid (PLA), also known as polylactide, does not exist in nature, and is generally obtained by polymerization of lactic acid as the main raw material.At present, polylactic acid has been recognized as the most promising new ecological material. Its production raw material, lactic acid, is a natural organic acid, which is produced by fermentation of sugar obtained from renewable biomass resources. Its degradation products are carbon dioxide and water, which can be obtained byPlant photosynthesis enables green cycles in nature.Polylactic acid is a thermoplastic material with complete degradability, high biocompatibility and excellent mechanical properties, which can be used as a substitute for petroleum-based plastics and is widely used in industry, agriculture, forestry, water conservancy, construction, textile, food packaging, Daily environmental protection plastic products, stationery, medical and health and other fields.

The first-generation raw material of polylactic acid is corn, which can be traced back to: corn->starch->sugar->lactic acid->polylactic acid.As long as the natural biomass raw materials containing starch, cellulose and hemicellulose can be used to produce lactic acid, and then polymerized to produce polylactic acid.In order to avoid "competing with people for grain and grain for land", non-grain crops (such as cassava) can also be used as raw materials, and even agricultural wastes such as straw and straw can be used as raw materials to produce lactic acid, and then produce polylactic acid.

Polylactic acid (PLA) raw materials are abundant and renewable.The process of producing polylactic acid is pollution-free, and the product can be biodegraded to realize the cycle in nature, so it is an ideal green polymer material.