The NATURALNYE MATERIALY ( «Натуральные материалы», Russian: Natural materials) company, based in the special economic zone ‘Dubna’, located in Moscow Oblast, Russia, is bringing to life a project that covers making an industrial complex producing up to 10,000 metric tons of polylactide a year.

Naturalnye Materialy is planning to make packaging, containers (including food ones) and the materials for 3D printing, as well as other products. All of it will be made out of biodegradable polymers based on cornstarch and potato starch. It will be produced under the ‘I’m not Plastic’ brand. These filaments can be used for 3D printing using devices such as Raise3D Pro2. The examples of results can be seen here. 

According to Eric Grinenko, CEO of Naturalnye Materialy, production of such clean materials is mainly one of the ways to solve modern ecological problems. He mentions that people learned how to make polymers out of corn, potatoes, wheat. wood and other natural materials. The plant in Dubna will be the sixth in the world to manufacture such polymers. There’s nothing similar to it in Russia today. The company is planning to invest more than 1 billion rubles (over $13 million) into the project. 

According to the press-center of the Dubna administration, they are currently in talks about the contract with the company regarding the construction of the plant and are preparing financial papers. The equipment will be supplied by an European company, Sulzer, that has an experience working with such machines.

The agreement between Naturalnye Materialy and Sulzer Chemtech (a subdivision of Sulzer AG) was signed in December 2020. The Dubna plant will not cover full-cycle production, according to the Dubna press-center. Lactide will be imported from Asia, but there are prospects of making the plant capable of full-cycle production: from plant-derived material to polymers.