The PhD work of Rik De Clercq has reached the world
A new process has been developed that converts the esters of lactic acid in a productive and selective catalytic gas phase reaction into lactide, the cyclic precursor for the production of polylactic acid (PLA).
A new process has been developed that converts the esters of lactic acid in a productive and selective catalytic gas phase reaction into lactide, the cyclic precursor for the production of polylactic acid (PLA).Thanks to such processes, production of the PLA bioplastic will become cheaper, and therefore more competitive with existing plastics. PLA is an easy recyclable bioplastic that is biodegradable under controlled circumstances. The process will be used to upgrade lactic acid streams from sugar waste of cheese manufactering in a recent EU BBI project AGRICHEMWHEY.
The publication can be found here, Some links in the nationalk press can be found here: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
