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Review
. 2022 Feb 26;14(5):943.
doi: 10.3390/polym14050943.

The Road to Bring FDCA and PEF to the Market

Ed de Jong  1 , Hendrikus Roy A Visser  1 , Ana Sousa Dias  1 , Clare Harvey  1 , Gert-Jan M Gruter  1   2
Affiliations
Review

The Road to Bring FDCA and PEF to the Market

Ed de Jong et al. Polymers (Basel). .

Abstract

Biobased polymers and materials are desperately needed to replace fossil-based materials in the world's transition to a more sustainable lifestyle. In this article, Avantium describes the path from invention towards commercialization of their YXY® plants-to-plastics Technology, which catalytically converts plant-based sugars into FDCA-the chemical building block for PEF (polyethylene furanoate). PEF is a plant-based, highly recyclable plastic, with superior performance properties compared to today's widely used petroleum-based packaging materials. The myriad of topics that must be addressed in the process of bringing a new monomer and polymer to market are discussed, including process development and application development, regulatory requirements, IP protection, commercial partnerships, by-product valorisation, life cycle assessment (LCA), recyclability and circular economy fit, and end-of-life. Advice is provided for others considering embarking on a similar journey, as well as an outlook on the next, exciting steps towards large-scale production of FDCA and PEF at Avantium's Flagship Plant and beyond.

Keywords: FDCA; PEF; barrier properties; biobased; fibre; film; multilayer bottles; polyester; recyclability.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 4
Figure 4
Conversion steps to transform fructose into FDCA and subsequently PEF.
Figure 13
Figure 13
Rendered image of the Flagship Plant design of Greenfield plot at Chemie Park Delfzijl, the Netherlands.
Figure 1
Figure 1
Overview of the YXY® Technology value chain from feedstock towards FDCA and PEF together with the Dawn TechnologyTM for industrial sugars, the Ray® TechnologyTM for plantMEGTM.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Distillation tower at Ray Technology pilot plant.
Figure 3
Figure 3
One of the first “golden” PEF bottles made (left) and typical examples of current fully transparent small size PEF bottles (right).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Chemical products derived from levulinic acid and its esters (adapted from [97]).
Figure 6
Figure 6
YXY® Technology pilot plant in Geleen, The Netherlands consisting of an SDH unit for MMF, an oxidation unit for cFDCA and a purification unit to produce pFDCA.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Annual emissions from the plastic lifecycle [106].
Figure 8
Figure 8
A possible scenario for the world plastic production in 2050 solely based on renewable carbon [107].
Figure 9
Figure 9
Complete overview of the circular life cycle of FDCA, PEF.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Left: Biodegradation profiles of weathered and unweathered PEF as well as weathered and unweathered PET and cellulose as a reference material. Biodegradation (%) = amount of polymer converted to CO2 (up to 450 days with air/oxygen @ 58 °C in soil. All curves are the averages of three samples. Right: 100′s of flowerpots containing PET films for 10-year field trials experiments in Amsterdam.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Key features of PEF compared to fossil-based alternatives such as PET.
Figure 12
Figure 12
Comparative analysis of the main Life Cycle Assessment Indicators for a 250 mL PEF and PET bottle.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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