Avantium introduces Releaf
28/10/2024
Polyethylene furanoate (PEF) is derived from biomass using Avantium’s YXY Technology that “catalytically converts plant-based sugars” into FDCA (furandicarboxylic acid), which is a key building block for the PEF polymer.
The opening ceremony for the company’s new 5,000-tonne production facility for FDCA, located in Delfzijl, the Netherlands, was inaugurated last week in the presence of Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands.
The new plant will first convert plant-based starch or 1st generation glucose. Avantium also intends to produce glucose from wood residues, or 2nd generation glucose, using its DAWN biorefinery technology. In the future, it said that this technology can also be used to derive glucose from cotton textile waste, while separating out polyester, or PET, from mixed waste. The DAWN biorefinery process, which has been applied on an industrial scale since the 1930s, has been modernised by Avantium to achieve reduced water and energy consumption, it said, and thus lower both the environmental footprint and the cost of the products.
Image courtesy of Avantium
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