The official kick-off was held for the €25million five-year PEFerence project in Geleen, the Netherlands, that seeks to establish a value chain for FDCA and polyethylene furanoate (PEF), including the intended construction of a 50,000 tons reference plant in Antwerp.
The consortium consists of 11 companies from 8 countries including Synvina, Avantium, BASF, Tereos Participants (France), Alpla Werke Alwin Lehner (Austria), OMV Machinery (Italy), Croda Nederland (The Netherlands), Nestec (Switzerland), Lego System (Denmark), nova-Institut für politische und ökologische Innovation (Germany), and Spinverse Innovation Management (Finland).
The “PEFerence” project - funded by the Bio-Based Industries (BBI) Joint Undertaking under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program - will be coordinated by Synvina.
As background, FDCA is the essential chemical building block for the production of PEF. Compared to conventional plastics, PEF is characterized by improved barrier properties for gases like carbon dioxide and oxygen. This can lead to longer shelf life of packaged products.
Due to its higher mechanical strength, thinner PEF packaging can be produced, thus a lower amount of packaging material is necessary. Therefore, PEF is particularly suitable for the production of certain food and beverage packaging, for example films and plastic bottles. After use, PEF can be recycled.
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27 October 2017
