CHAPTER 13. Industrial Uses of PLA

Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) has been from the beginning one of the most promising biopolymers with high potential in many industrial sectors, such as food packaging, automotive, biomedical and many others. PLA is currently being introduced into the market with high penetration potential and real possibilities to be considered as alternatives to current petroleum-based commodities. Some decades ago PLA was introduced for high-added-value applications but the current scenario is highly promising for daily applications. This chapter will review the most important current applications for PLA and PLA derivatives and nanocomposites while presenting a short summary of the PLA properties and processing detailed in other chapters of this volume. Some photographs with examples and schemes of some of the more relevant applications for PLA are also presented in this chapter.