Interview with PTTGC CEO Veerasak Kositpaisal on their renewable chemicals strategies

1. FEATURES CEO INTERVIEW
bioplastic industry, according to PTTGC.
Thailand is already one of the top three
plastic exporters in Asia and one of the largest
resin producers in the world, according to
Thailand’s National Innovation Agency (NIA),
which is part of the Ministry of Science and
Technology. In 2008, NIA was provided fund-
ing of Thai baht (Bt) 1.8bn ($58.5m, €42.6m)
to pursue bioplastics innovation projects and
research and development under the govern-
ment’s National Roadmap for the Develop-
ment of the Bioplastics Industry.
Thailand offers various incentives to create
an investment-friendly atmosphere for the bi-
oplastics industry. One tax incentive features
corporate-income-tax exemption for up to
eight years and an additional 50% reduction
of corporate income tax for five years.
Both PTTGC and NatureWorks are in dis-
cussions with the Thai government concern-
PTTGC partners with Myriant on bio-succinic platform ing incentive packages as well as government
promotion for the use of bioplastics.
Green chems
“The government of Thailand has been
very supportive in value-added initiatives and
tax incentives for the new PLA production
site here in Thailand,” Kositpaisal says. “Tax
incentive is one thing but the supporting poli-
for Thailand
The nation’s strategic goals are driving flagship chemical
cies in bioplastic promotion – that will also
come into the future.”
RENEWABLE CHEMICALS GOALS
PTTGC, the chemical flagship of Thailand’s
industrial conglomerate PTT Group, has been
company, PTT Global Chemical, to invest in renewables entrusted with leading the development of a
broader biobased chemicals business not just
bioplastics, Kositpaisal said.
DORIS DE GUZMAN NEW YORK Since 2006, the Thai government has pursued Kositpaisal says that PTTGC’s investment
the development of a bioplastic industry be- in Myriant is a strategic entry point not only
T
hrough a series of recent investments, cause of its great potential for consumption of for the Thai company to accelerate the com-
Thailand’s largest petrochemical agriculture raw materials, particularly cassava mercialization of biobased products in
company, PTT Global Chemical and sugarcane. Thailand has annual produc- Southeast Asia but also to strengthen its
(PTTGC), has established itself as a tion of more than 30m short tons of cassava competitive advantage in biobased chemi-
global player in bioplastics and renewable and 80m tons of sugarcane. cals manufacture.
chemicals while spearheading the country’s “When we look at the bioplastic volume re- Myriant is building its first commercial bio-
ambitious program to become a regional green quired, the production capacity of the agricul- succinic acid facility in Louisiana, US, funded
technology hub. with partial support from the US Department
PTTGC announced in October its 50% ac- “Thailand has been very of Energy (DOE) and the Louisiana state gov-
quisition of US polylactic acid (PLA) plastic ernment. The plant has a capacity of 30m lbs/
producer NatureWorks for $150m (€110m)
supportive in value-added year (14,000 tonnes/year) and is scheduled to
from US agribusiness firm Cargill. Nature- initiatives and tax incentives” start at the end of 2012.
Works plans to build a 300m lb/year PLA VEERASAK KOSITPAISAL With Myriant, PTTGC says it is looking to
plant in Thailand that is expected to start op- CEO, PTT Global Chemical be able to manufacture a variety of drop-in
erating in late 2015. In January, PTTGC in- biobased chemicals such as succinic acid and
vested $60m in US-based biosuccinic acid derivatives such as butanediol, lactic acid and
producer Myriant Technologies. tural products needed and the feedstock costs, derivatives, acrylic acid and fumaric acid.
A key business plan of PTTGC is to become sugar and cassava are the leading feedstock “We believe in the competitiveness of Myri-
a major player in bio-based chemicals, says candidates given their domestic abundancy,” ant’s technology,” Kositpaisal says. “Right
CEO Veerasak Kositpaisal. Kositpaisal says. “Today, we export these now, we are sending our people to work at the
“Our core business is petrochemicals, but commodity products and we plan to use about Myriant site, including sales, marketing and
we also want to grow within the green chemi- 10–20% of the export volume to convert them researchers, to reflect our plan and our com-
cals space, as it promises to have a very good into PLA plastic. We have done the evaluation mitment in Myriant.”
future, especially in Thailand, where we have and found that the project looks good.” For the latest sustainability initiatives read
abundant supply of agricultural feedstock at Plentiful biomass resources translate to sta- Doris de Guzman’s Green Chemicals blog
very competitive prices,” he says. bility and competitive raw materials for the icis.com/blogs/green-chemicals
34 | ICIS Chemical Business | November 21-December 4, 2011 www.icis.com