Avantium signed an agreement with Mitsui & Co to commercialize 100% biobased chemicals furan dicarboxylic acid (FDCA) and polyethylene Furanoate (PEF) in Asia.
As part of this agreement, Mitsui can purchase a sizable volume of FDCA from the first commercial FDCA plant to be constructed by Avantium.
The two companies have entered into a development and roll out agreement for PEF thin films in Asia and PEF bottles in Japan.
Avantium research demonstrates PEF can bring significant benefits as packaging material for oxygen sensitive goods such as food, beer and health care products. The parties will also launch and grow the market for other FDCA-based applications such as co-polyesters.
“This collaboration expands our PEF developments beyond bottles, as supported by The Coca-Cola Company, Danone and ALPLA, into the new application of thin PEF films,” said Tom van Aken, CEO Avantium.
“Particularly Japan is a very attractive market for a high performance material like PEF.”
“The Japanese packaging industry is highly innovative, resulting in a large variety of packaging formats to meet the high quality standards demanded by local consumers.”
“It is our ambition to support Mitsui and their Japanese partners and customers to launch PEF and other FDCA-based applications to the market well in time for the Tokyo Olympics.”
