In early 2013, Evonik Industries began operating a pilot
plant for ω-amino lauric acid (ALS) in Slovenska Lupca, Slovakia. The effort
represents Evonik’s next step forward in the production of sustainable
high-performance plastics. The biobased ω-amino-lauric acid is an alternative
to petroleum-based laurin lactam (LL). ALS replaces the monomer LL in the
manufacture of sustainable high-performance plastics and yields an identical
compound polyamide 12 (PA 12). The pilot plant is the result of intensive
research and advances the process development effort to an industrial scale.