Biopolymer company NatureWorks has signed a contract to license Plaxica’s Optipure process technology to produce D-lactic acid. NatureWorks said the license provides a low-cost route to make D-lactic acid, which is a building block for a further range of its Ingeo polylactic acid (PLA) grades. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Bill Suehr, chief operating officer at NatureWorks, said access to competitively priced D-lactic acid is fundamental to its strategy to broaden the Ingeo portfolio and it investigated multiple sourcing strategies before choosing Plaxica’s technology.

While small volumes of D-lactic acid have been available from producers in Europe and Asia, Suehr said they have been at a substantial price premium to the L-lactic acid that NatureWorks currently uses.

He explained that ‘D’ and ‘L’ lactic acid monomers are essentially identical, yet are “mirror images” of one another. The two combined, said Suehr, can produce polymers that offer unique features such as higher melt point and melt strength. NatureWorks expects to begin sampling new Ingeo grades to customers in the second half of 2017.

Plaxica’s CEO, Phil Goodier, added that the contract with NatureWorks was an important milestone in its development as a global technology licensing business.