About polylactic acid (PLA)

Q1: Can all biodegradable materials be biodegradable? Do petrochemical based plastics take hundreds of years to degrade?
European Bioplastics (EUBP) has designed the following biomaterial coordinate system, which allows us to more directly and accurately understand the related concepts and characteristics of bioplastics.
EUBP considers bioplastics to include the following three categories: biobased plastics, biodegradable plastics, or both, that is, biobased biodegradable plastics.
Bio-based plastics are also non-degradable, such as bio-based PE,PET,PTT, etc. Petrochemical based plastics can also be degraded, such as PBAT,PCL and so on. PLA is a bio-based biodegradable material, and other bio-based biodegradable materials include bio-based PHA, PBS, starch mixture and so on.
Q2: What is PLA?
PLA(also known as polylactic acid, lactic acid polymer) is a general-purpose commercial biodegradable thermoplastic based on lactic acid. Lactic acid monomers can be produced from 100% renewable resources, such as corn and sugar beets.

Q3: Why are people paying so much attention to PLA? Not other bioplastics
Due to the excellent performance combination of PLA, polylactic acid has been able to partially replace traditional petroleum-based thermoplastics.
Compared to other biopolymers, PLA has several advantages:
1. Eco-friendly - derived from renewable resources, biodegradable, recyclable and compostable;
2. Biocompatible - it is harmless;
3. Machinability - Better thermal machinability compared with PHA, PEG and PCL;
4. Polylactic acid breaks down into harmless products during the degradation process, which is biodegradable and biocompatible, reducing the amount of plastic waste.
In addition, PLA has stereoisomers, such as poly (L-lactic acid)(PLLA), poly (D-lactic acid)(PDLA), and poly (DL-lactic acid)(PDLLA), so it has excellent performance design. On the one hand, the performance of PLA with different structures is different. Similar to petrochemical based polymers, PLA produced by different molecular weights, different processes and different manufacturers also has different properties.
Therefore, PLA is considered to be one of the most promising biopolymers at present, and has a large number of applications in packaging, medical, automotive and other fields.
Q4: What are the typical characteristics and properties of PLA?
1.PLA is a bio-based, biodegradable and biocompatible polymer that has proven to be a promising alternative to petroleum-based polymers.
2. Some properties of PLA are comparable to those of widely used polymers such as PET and PVC. The high performance grade is an irreplaceable substitute for PS(polystyrene), PP(polypropylene) and ABS(acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) in some demanding applications.
3. The commercial viability of PLA is limited by the high production cost compared to its petroleum-based counterpart.
4. By optimizing the production process of LA and PLA, and with the increase of PLA demand, PLA price can be reduced to a certain extent. In the future, costs are expected to fall further.
5. Most commercially available PLA products are semi-crystalline polymers with a high melting point of about 180 ° C and a glass transition temperature in the range of 55-60 ° C.

Q5: What are the advantages and disadvantages of PLA compared with petrochemical based plastics?
Compared with petrochemical based plastics, their advantages include:
PLA is a high-strength, high-modulus thermoplastic with good appearance;
High stiffness and strength, comparable to polystyrene (PS) at room temperature;
· It requires less energy to produce than other plastics;
In addition, further developments in composites, nanocomposites and biocomposites are expanding the properties and potential applications of PLA.
However, PLA also has some disadvantages:
· Low glass transition temperature (Tg~55℃);
· Poor ductility, low impact strength and brittleness compared to other thermoplastics (such as ABS), which limits its use;
· Low crystallization rate;
· PLA is more susceptible to chemical and biohydrolysis than PET(aromatic polyester);
· Poor thermal stability, poor gas resistance;
· Low flexibility and long molding cycle; · Relatively hydrophobic;
· Slow degradation rate.

Q6: How to analyze the development prospects of PLA products or projects?

The classic SWOT (S: Strengths, W: weaknesses, O: opportunities, T: disadvantages) method can be used to analyze the development prospects of a product or project.