BASF, Avantium Partner to Scale-Up PEF Barrier Resins Production
This joint venture will accelerate development and licensing of Avantium production processes of precursor FDCA and PEF resin.
The goal to produce a 100% biobased alternative to PET-- polyethylenefuranoate (PEF)--has been in the works by of The Netherlands since late 2010, when it started its pilot project for the production of furanics—a class of chemical building blocks used to produce innovative “green” fuels, chemicals, and renewable materials. Avantium has been operating a pilot plant for precursor furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), while PEF has been produced in PET reactors at toll manufacturers.
Now, Avantium and Florham Park, N.J., have announced the formation of a joint venture for the production and marketing of the “green” FDCA building block, as well as marketing of PEF. The new venture will use Avantium’s YXY process for the production of FDCA. The partners intent to further develop the process and to construct a reference plant for the production of FDCA with annual capacity of about 110-million lb/yr at BASF’s Verbund site in Antwerp, Belgium. The ultimate aim is to build up world-leading positions in FDCA and PEF, and subsequently license the technology for industrial-scale application.
Because of its excellent barrier properties, high mechanical strength, and recyclability, PEF is viewed as highly suitable for the production of certain food and beverage packaging, including films and bottles. PEF reportedly has oxygen barrier that is 10 times that of PET, along with double the water vapor and four times the CO2 barrier. It glass-transition temperature of 190.4 F is 53.6 F higher than PET, with a tensile modulus that is 1.6 times greater.
Search for nearly 100,000 grades of polymers on the Universal Selector by clicking here
Related Content
-
Polymer Science for Those Who Work With Plastics: Why Entanglements — Not Just Molecular Weight — Drive Plastic Performance
Ever try running your fingers through tangled hair? Yeah … that’s not fun, but that’s what happens at the molecular level when polymer chains reach the right length. They wrap around each other, intertwine and … get stuck — and those tangles are the real reason plastics perform the way they do.
-
Let's Take a Journey into the World of Molding Thermosets – Part 1
There are many fundamental differences between thermosets and thermoplastics, from the way raw materials are furnished to the molder and the process in which parts are molded.
-
Prices for PE, PS, PVC, PET Trending Flat; PP to Drop
Despite price increase nominations going into second quarter, it appeared there was potential for generally flat pricing with the exception of a major downward correction for PP.
