New eco-friendly materials? Polylactic acid Biotechnology!

PLA is one of the mainstream degradable plastic products. Polylactic acid is a polymer polymerized from lactic acid as the main raw material. Currently, it is the most mature, the largest and the most widely used biodegradable plastic in the world. 

There are two methods for PLA production, namely lactide ring-open polymerization and direct polycondensation, of which lactide ring-open polymerization is widely used. In lactide ring-opening polymerization, the synthesis and purification of the intermediate lactide is the core technology and difficulty in the process. The reaction conditions are harsh, the process is complex, the technical requirements are high, and the production cost is high.