COFCO ties up with Sinopec to develop corn-based chemicals

COFCO, China’s leading food items producer, has tied up with Sinopec Group, the country’s largest oil refiner, to produce polylactic acid from corn in China’s northeastern Jilin province. The project, which will start construction in 2010, will have an annual capacity of 10,000 tons at the beginning, gradually increasing to 1 million tons per year. COFCO is now in talks with Purac, a Holland-based acid producer who owns the technology of the corn-based polylactic acid production, to purchase relevant patents. (November 18, 2009)