Archer Daniels, Metabolix to open natural plastics plant in Iowa

Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) and Metabolix will open a commercial plant for PHA natural plastics in Clinton, Iowa in mid-2008.
The plant, under construction now, will have an initial capacity of 50,000 tons per year of ADM and Metabolix’s PHA plastics, which are eco-friendly and based on sustainable, renewable resources. The new plant will utilize corn grind starch from an adjacent ADM wet corn mill as raw material for its PHA production, G. Allen Andreas, ADM’s chairman, chief executive and president, said.
PHA plastics can be converted into molded or thermoformed goods, extruded coatings and film, blown film, fibres and other products.
ADM, based in North America in Decatur, Ill., and Cambridge, Mass-based Metabolix formed a strategic alliance in 2004 to commercialize Metabolix’s PHA technology.