Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) plans to construct a pilot plant for producing bio-plastics (polylactic acid) made from annually renewable resources like sugar cane. The new pilot plant, to be built within an existing production facility in Japan, is envisioned to be able to produce 1,000 tons of bio-plastics a year.
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TMC has long been actively involved in various fields of research and development toward promoting “global regeneration” and the creation of a recycling-oriented society. Its efforts have included initiating several practices for reducing environmental impact at every stage of a vehicle’s lifecycle from development to production, use and disposal.
TMC has been promoting research and development of bio-plastic manufacturing technology and has already started using Eco Plastic – automobile-use bio-plastics with improved performance in terms of durability, heat resistance and other aspects – by adopting it in the redesigned Raum passenger vehicle that debuted in Japan last May.
After having determined the viability of its bio-plastic manufacturing technology, TMC now plans to investigate the feasibility of reaching cost and quality targets during mass production at the pilot plant. Using sugar cane as the base material, TMC intends to carry out at the plant the entire process, from fermenting and purifying lactic acid to polymerising polylactic acid.
Since the base material of bio-plastics is a plant like sugar cane, which absorbs CO2 from the air as it grows, bio-plastics contribute to the prevention of global warming, compared to conventional petroleum-based plastics. Furthermore, bio-plastics can be given biodegradable properties that allow them to be broken down into water and carbon dioxide by microorganisms in the ground, helping to solve waste disposal problems. As such, bio-plastics can make a significant contribution to reducing environmental impact.
To enlarge the bio-plastics market and to secure a footing for the construction of a commercial plant in the near future, TMC intends to further improve the performance of bio-plastics for vehicle use (mainly interior parts) and also plans to adapt them to the wide range of plastic products people use daily.
