Synvina, a joint venture between BASF and Avantium, is a specialist in furandi¬carboxylic acid (FDCA) production that is made from renewable resources. FDCA is a main building block of polymer polyethyl¬enefuranoate (PEF) used in food packaging, films and plastic bottles.
Recently, European PET Bottle Platform (EPBP) has given interim approval for the recyclability of PEF, produced by Synvina. With this approval, PEF bottles can be disposed through existing recovery systems that recover and recycle PET plastic bottles. Synvina is also working with recyclers and brand owners to develop a separate recycling stream for PEF bottles only.
EPBP’s interim approval allows a PEF market penetration of up to 2% - corresponding to the amount of PEF that Synvina can produce from its intended 50,000 tons reference plant for FDCA. A final statement is expected to be made prior to the market introduction of the novel material based on PEF quality, packaging designs and regional launch markets.
Recyclability is a key aspect of packaging industry to meet the standards of the circular economy and PEF bottles have the advantage as it can be recycled and used as raw material for bottles, packaging and textiles. Given this capability PEF has an edge over bio-based plastics or barrier materials. It also has a higher mechanical strength, allowing for thinner PEF packaging.
PEF is used as a barrier layer in cups, trays, flexible packaging, bottles for CSDs, non-CSDs, water, dairy, still and sports drinks and alcoholic beverages.
The PEF recycling in the US and Japan is expected to be reviewed in the near future. Meanwhile a €25 million grant has been approved by the European Joint Undertaking on Bio-Based Industries (BBI) to ‘PEFerence’, a consortium of 11 companies, that supports the establishment of a value chain for bio-based raw materials as well as chemicals and materials based on PEF. Synvina’s 50,000 ton FDCA reference plant is one of its projects.
Learn more about ‘
PEF polymerization and PEF market development for packaging industry’ from Takeshi Irie, Senior Business Manager,
Japan Synvina presenting at CMT’s
3rd North Asia PET Markets, Applications & Recycling on 7-8 June, 2018 in Yokohama, Japan.
Contact Ms. Huiyan at
huiyan@cmtsp.com.sg or call +65 6346 9113 for more information.
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