FDCA Innovation
Avantium’s PEF properties
As global pressures mount from consumers, governments, and industries to reduce carbon footprints and adopt circular economy practices, Avantium emerged as a leader with unique technological solutions poised to address the urgent need for plastic waste reduction and climate change mitigation. Headquartered in Amsterdam, Avantium spearheads renewable and sustainable chemistry through products like PEF, a plant-based and recyclable plastic material revolutionising packaging, textiles, and film sectors. The main building block for PEF is furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA). Given the huge potential of FDCA, industrial production of this building block has been pursued and researched for over 100 years, without success. As such, FDCA has been called ‘the sleeping giant’. Avantium believes that its technology can finally unlock the full potential of FDCA. The FDCA monomer offers exciting opportunities to create a wide range of polymers (Avantium, n.d). PEF is a 100% plant-based, recyclable polymer with a wide range of applications such as packaging, textiles, film, and many more. PEF has a powerful combination of environmental features and superior functionality. It shows improved barrier properties leading to a longer shelf life of packaged products. It also offers higher mechanical strength, which means that thinner PEF packaging can be produced, and fewer resources are required. In combination with the plant-based feedstock, these added functionalities give PEF all the attributes required to become the next-generation polyester (Avantium, n.d.). In this partnership, Avantium provides FDCA that Selenis polymerizes into PEF. Selenis and Avantium continue pursuing avenues to ramp up the alliance.
“In today’s rapidly evolving market innovation plays a critical role in Selenis’ value proposition and our ability to meet customer’s needs. We must be proactive in the development of new solutions so that we can address emerging challenges and capitalise on market opportunities. Fossil fuel dependency is one of today’s challenges, and as Selenis vouches to increase the share of bio-based products in our portfolio, UPM and Avantium are, without a doubt, perennial partners.”
Renato D’Angelo Bandres Product Development Manager
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STRATEGY
CIRCULARITY
INNOVATION
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