TOKYO — October 29, 2024 — Teijin Frontier Co., Ltd., today announced the global availability of its BIOFRONT® polylactic acid (PLA) resin, which biodegrades faster in oceans, rivers and soil compared to conventional PLA products. Incorporation of a novel biodegradation accelerator in the polymer can enhance its decomposition rate without significantly compromising strength, crystallinity or moldability. This resin, named to signify cutting-edge biotechnology, is now fully commercialized in Japan and internationally.
BIOFRONT® resin aligns with Teijin Frontier’s THINK ECOⓇ environmental strategy and joins the company’s wide range of sustainable materials and products. Teijin Frontier plans to continue developing biodegradable materials to help reduce the environmental impact of plastics.
Features and benefits of BIOFRONT® resin
The resin’s biodegradation accelerator promotes hydrolysis and speeds up material consumption and decomposition by bacteria and fungi compared to PLA polymers without additives. BIOFRONT® resin exhibits rapid biodegradation performance even in marine, riverine and soil environments, where there are fewer bacteria and fungi than in high-temperature, high-humidity composting systems. Further, the decomposition period can be controlled by adjusting the loading and incorporation parameters of the accelerator. Accordingly, the decomposition period can be adjusted to the required lifetime.
Another advantage of BIOFRONT® resin is its ability to be processed like conventional PLA polymer resins used in films and injection-molded and extruded products. It can also be used for fibers in textiles and non-woven fabrics.
From the standpoint of sustainability, BIOFRONT® PLA resin is expected to help reduce microplastics, thanks to its accelerated biodegradation rate, and to reduce CO2 emissions during the product lifecycle since it is made from plant-derived raw materials.
Posted: November 8, 2024
Source: The Teijin Group