BioAmber Inc. (www.bio-amber.com; Montreal, Canada), an industrial biotechnology company producing sustainable chemicals, has announced that it has signed its first take-or-pay contract for succinic acid. Under the terms of the agreement, BioAmber will be the principal supplier of bio-succinic acid to PTTMCC Biochem for the production of a biodegradable plastic in Thailand. 
PTTMCC Biochem Company Limited (PTTMCC) is a joint venture (JV) established by Mitsubishi Chemical Corp., of Japan, and PTT Public Company Limited, Thailand’s largest oil-and-gas company. The JV will produce and sell polybutylene succinate (PBS), a biodegradable plastic made from succinic acid and 1,4 butanediol (BDO).
PTTMCC is constructing a PBS plant in Rayong, Thailand that will have a production capacity of 20,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr). The PBS plant is expected to be operational in the first half of 2015 and will consume approximately 14,000 m.t./yr of succinic acid per year at full capacity. 
BioAmber plans to supply PTTMCC from its 30,000 m.t./yr plant under construction in Sarnia, Canada. After the commissioning and startup periods for both plants in 2015, BioAmber will exclusively supply a minimum of 80% of PTTMCC’s total bio-succinic acid needs until the end of 2017. The take-or-pay volumes committed by PTTMCC over the three-year term represent approximately half of the total annual quantity of bio-succinic acid that PTTMCC plans to purchase from BioAmber.