Avantium reaches key commercial milestone for its FDCA flagship plant

In the Netherlands, Avantium signed a conditional offtake agreement with Resilux, an international rigid plastic packaging supplier, for the supply of PEF resin from the planned Avantium FDCA flagship plant. This brings the total of such offtake contracts to five.

The planned FDCA flagship plant is set to produce 5 kilotonnes of FDCA (furandicarboxylic acid) per annum, the key building block for the 100% fossil-free, recyclable polymer PEF (polyethylene furanoate). Including an additional commitment from one of the previously announced offtake partners, the five conditional offtake agreements represent a total offtake volume of over 50% of the FDCA production capacity from the flagship plant. This marks an important step towards a positive Final Investment Decision (FID) for the construction of the world’s first commercial FDCA plant, which Avantium would plan to open in 2023.

Avantium previously announced that offtake contracts were signed with specialty chemical company Toyobo (Japan), specialty polyester film producer Terphane (US), the beverage bottling company Refresco (Netherlands), and an undisclosed major global food & beverage brand owner. Avantium is also collaborating with beer brewer Carlsberg in the development of PEF based packaging of beer, such as the Green Fibre Bottle. The offtake commitments are subject to a positive FID, financial closing, other customary approvals, and party-specific conditions.

With the secured offtake commitment from Resilux (Belgium), PEF will be broadly introduced to the international market for high-value applications varying from monolayer bottles, multilayer bottles and polyester film products for food & beverage packaging and electronics. In multilayer bottles, PEF can be used as a barrier material in multilayer PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles, leading to improved sustainability and recyclability compared to multilayer bottles with other barrier materials such as nylon.