Avantium and Carlsberg Ink Offtake Deal for FDCA
Dutch biopolymer producer Avantium has won a new customer along the path to commercializing its renewable polyethylenefuranoate (PEF) as a replacement for fossil-fuel based PET, the material most used for plastic beverage bottles.
The conditional agreement between the Dutch company and Copenhagen-based Danish beer brewer Carlsberg calls for the brewer to take a fixed annual volume of the 100% plant-based, recyclable and high-performance polymer that will be produced in Avantium’s new plant for furandicarboxylic acid (FDA), when it starts up in 2024.
The facility under construction is being billed as the first commercial plant for the production of FDCA, derived from plant sugars.
Last year, Avantium signed offtake agreements with five customers, including French soft drink and fruit juices packager Refresco, Belgian PET bottle and preform manufacturer Resilux, Brazilian polyester film maker Terphane and film and fibers produer Toyobo, with which it collaborated on making PEF film from monoethylene glycol (MEG).
These deals covered more than 50% of the flagship plant’s capacity of around 2,500 t annually. Earlier this year, Avantium clinched an offtake agreement with Swiss masterbach producer Sukano, which is also contributing know-how to develop antiblock masterbatches for PEF film applications.
Carlsberg plans to use the PEF resin in various packaging applications, including its branded Fibre Bottle, which contains an inner layer of PEF that is being made in Avantium’s pilot plant. In 2021, the Dutch and Danish companies signed a joint development agreement for several PEF applications, including the bottle.
The viability of the Fibre Bottle, which is being touted as the first-ever bio-based and fully recyclable beer bottle, is being tested this summer in eight West European markets and introduced to 8,000 consumers and “selected stakeholders” at festivals and other events.
Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist
