Galactic Group company – FUTERRO a world leader in bio-renewable technology.
Based in Belgium (Brussels and Escanaffles) FUTERRO, a subsidiary of GALACTIC Group is specialized in PLA (Poly Lactic Acid), a biopolymer used as an alternative for conventional plastics.
FUTERRO is offering licenses for the production of lactic acid by fermentation (the monomer), the PLA (the Polymer) and LOOPLA which is a new recycling process converting the PLA back into lactic acid (the recycling unit). The PLA has a low carbon foot – print which minimizes the impact of its production on the global warming.
For 25 years, Galactic is regarded as being one of the world’s leaders in biotechnology serving the food, feed, personal & health care, and industrial markets.
Based on our valuable experience in lactic acid fermentation and the development of many other derivatives, we continuously create sustainable, innovative and health-friendly solutions in the field of food safety, nutrition and green chemistry.
With headquarters and an innovation campus in Belgium, production facilities in the United States (Milwaukee), China (Bengbu) and Europe (Escanaffles), and sales offices in Belgium (Brussels), Japan (Tokyo) and Brazil (Curitiba), our dedicated staff of 350 persons are active on five continents.
Building tight links with our distributors and customers helps us to pursue an innovative and solution oriented approach. Galactic is the result of teamwork between financial partners having a strong belief in the project, successful researchers and visionary people striving for excellence.
Our shareholders include Finasucre, one of the world’s largest producers of sugar, and Compagnie du Bois Sauvage, a holding company listed on the NYSE Euronext.
FUTERRO, a subsidiary of the Belgian GALACTIC group, has started operating the first PLA production unit in China in collaboration with its historical partner BBCA Biochemical.
PLA is a bioplastic made of lactic acid, which is itself produced by the fermentation of corn sugar or any other form of carbohydrate from biomass. Located in the city of Bengbu (Anhui), the PLA unit has a capacity of 30,000 tons/year and is supplied by a lactic acid unit with a capacity of 80,000 tons, that also supplies a company belonging to GALACTIC producing food ingredients based on lactic acid for the Asian market.
The 3 factories were built in record time of 24 months by a mixed Belgian-Chinese team.
For FUTERRO and the GALACTIC group, it is the result of 30 years of work dedicated to the development of cutting-edge technology for the production, use and recycling of PLA.
The new lactic acid and PLA units incorporate new patented technologies that allow the production of high-quality products at competitive costs. FUTERRO and BBCA are already planning to bring the lactic acid production to 180,000 tons/year (which will make it one of the largest units in the world) and that of PLA to 100,000 tons/year (which will be Asia’s leading unit in terms of capacity).
“This first plant is an important step in FUTERRO’s evolution. Today, we see that the PLA is beginning to find its place in the world of plastics not only due to its natural origin but also to its intrinsic properties. We believe that after 30 years of development, the PLA will experience a strong acceleration in the upcoming years. If speaking only about China, the number of new applications that have been prepared in advance by the local industry in anticipation of the opening of our factory is impressive: food packaging in injected form, films, foams, insulation products, agricultural films, textile fibers, 3D filaments, cases for electronics, furniture, construction joineries, carpets, bedding, filtrations, bottles and cans, auto parts…” Frédéric van Gansberghe says, CEO of FUTERRO.