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Published on August 21, 2007

He intended to be a lecturer in Industrial Engineering but three years ago an interest in agricultural waste recycling caused the new doctoral degree graduate from Sirindhorn International Institute of Technology to become involved in bioplastics development in Thailand.

At the age of 30, Atthawit Techawiboonwong is now a project manager at the National Innovation Agency (NIA), a government body overseeing innovative projects. His major task is to encourage innovative development by matching technology with business: making businesses grow by using research and innovation as a backup.

Despite having no background in innovation, the new graduate arrived with a curiosity about turning agricultural waste into new materials. His idea attracted NIA director Supachai Lorlowhakarn who was at that time planning to do something about bio materials development, so the door opened to the 27-year-old doctoral engineer to get involved in bioplastics.

Working at NIA, Atthawit spent a lot of time searching for new knowledge about bio-based materials. He created connections with research sources and industry so that he could link technology to serve real business interests.

"It was really hard time for me but it was worth doing," recalled Atthawit. "

From knowing nothing about bio-based materials, the hard work made me understand well the advantages and opportunities to move towards bio-based materials and I realised that bioplastics is a direction where the country should go."

Three years of his hard efforts have now come to a halfway mark, of which he's proud. Not only has he made industry in Thailand aware about bioplastics as a new kind of material, which can also save the environment, he also encouraged the government to broaden awareness about bioplastics development in Thailand.

Bioplastics is a trend, Atthawit said, and it's the next wave of technology for many countries around the world especially where environmental preservation is concerned. As Thailand is an agricultural country with a lot of agricultural waste, it has a great opportunity move towards the development of new bio-based plastics.

It's reported that Thailand is the number one exporter in Asia for plastic palettes and plastic products such as plastic bags, film, packaging and electronic parts. With this strong foundation, Atthawit said it's not too hard to turn the country into a production base for bioplastics.

He said that in its current status, Thailand had the capability to go this way as it has both upstream and downstream industries to support bioplastics.

"We now have raw materials of agricultural waste to produce bioplastics, which is the upstream industry, and we also have a strong downstream plastics industry as a key production base. What we lack is just the technology to turn agricultural waste into resins for bio-based plastic production," he said.

Polylactic acid or PLA resin is required as a key material in the manufacture of bioplastic products. PLA normally is derived from biomass such as corn, cassava or sugarcane by using enzymes to break down starch in the plants into glucose and then into lactic acid through a fermentation process. The lactic acid is then polymerised and converted into a plastic called polylactic acid or PLA.

Currently, local developers have found techniques to produce PLA resin from cassava. But the technique is limited for use on just a laboratory scale, not yet for mass production. Atthawit said for a bioplastics industry to emerge in Thailand cooperation with other countries is required.

Atthawit plans to adopt a new model by working with Japan and European countries, which are key players and users in bioplastics, for technology transfer and licensing.

"We hope that this cooperation will help us eventually build up a PLA resin production plant in Thailand," he said.

Having PLA production here will offer new business opportunities for Thailand to be a supplier of PLA in the world market. Currently, the world industry faces a limited supply of PLA resin because there is the only producer, with a capacity of only 80,000 tonnes of PLA a year, while demand in the market is much higher.

It's estimated that the global use of bioplastics will increase from the current 300,000 tonnes a year to reach 800,000 tonnes by 2010, so this will require more PLA supply.

"I would say that the establishment of a PLA plant will push Thailand into the world's bioplastics industry and this is also my ultimate goal: the first PLA plant in Thailand in the next five years," he said.

The investment to set up a PLA plant will be around 30 million euros (Bt1.29 billion) with initial production of 10,000 tonnes a year. To make the investment worthwhile, the production capacity has to eventually reach at least 50,000 tonnes a year.

Atthawit said he's now working on a model to set up the plant. Under the plan, three parties will become involved: an investor, which can be an existing bioplastics manufacturer from another country, a Thai plastics company and a company which has the technology for PLA production.

To push bioplastics forwards, Atthawit still has a lot of things to do. After he made industry in Thailand become aware of bioplastics, his next task is to push bioplastics investment and make the development of the bioplastics industry complete a full cycle.

"It's not an easy task but we have to move on," he said. "Now we have come to a halfway mark and we remain with just the other half to go, so we have to put in more effort and make everything eventually reach the goal as planned," he said.

Efforts from Atthawit and NIA alone are not enough to build an entire industry. The bioplastics project manager admitted that support from government was required as it would make investors confident to jump into this new wave industry.

"Commitment from the government to put a focus on bioplastics development is a must as it will drive the emergence of this industry in the country," he said.

For Atthawit, three years of his efforts aim to see an endorsement of a national bioplastics roadmap from the government.

Earlier this year, NIA completed the development of a bioplastics roadmap and the draft is now waiting for approval from the Cabinet.

Atthawit said he hoped to see the roadmap come to life as soon as possible.

He believes that if the roadmap is approved, it will create more confidence for investors to develop the bioplastics industry and this will show the Thai government's commitment towards bioplastics development to the world industry.

"And that's what I'm waiting for," he concluded.

Pongpen Sutharoj

The Nation