You are here
Home > News > Chemicals giant to produce biodegradable material from potato flour

Chemicals giant to produce biodegradable material from potato flour

On Tuesday, Polish chemicals giant Grupa Azoty launched the plant for the production of thermoplastic starch from potato flour in Tarnów, southern Poland, becoming the first company in Central-Eastern Europe to offer fully biodegradable materials.

Starch obtained from such a method is mainly used in disposable products and is intended to protect the environment.

The commissioned installation is of a pilot nature, but the company has the ability to transfer the installation and scale it to larger volumes of thermoplastic starch production.

Tomasz Hinc, the CEO of Grupa Azoty, stressed that the production of thermoplastic starch developed at the Grupa Azoty Research and Development Centre is a response to the European Parliament Directive of June 2019, which aims to reduce the environmental impact of plastic products.

He recalled that single-use plastic packaging is to be excluded from the market.

“This means that the demand for environmentally friendly materials, such as thermoplastic starch-based material, will increase rapidly,” the CEO of Grupa Azoty said.

Thermoplastic starch (biodegradable polymer) is a granulate made of starch obtained from potatoes. It can be used for the production of items like “a safe spoon”, seedling pots, and bottles that decompose in the ground after six months and provide plants energy to grow like on starch.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Top