Behind the recent launch of China's largest polylactic acid plant stand the Chinese Academy of Sciences and pharmaceutical and chemical maker Zhejiang Hisun Chemical Co.Ltd.

The academy's subsidiary, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, announced March 18 that a new line with 5,000 metric tons (about 11 million pounds) of annual capacity has come on stream, claming the products are "as good as, and some with even better properties" than the world leader NatureWorks'.

The project took off after seven years of research and preparation, the announcement said.

NatureWorks' plant opened in 2003 with a nominal capacity of 300 million pounds (about 136,000 metric tons). But the company has been running at half that capacity, according to a report from PN's sister publication European Plastics News. NatureWorks, however, said it will reach, and probably exceed, its 300-million-pound capacity.