Avantium N.V. (Amsterdam. The Netherlands) announced that its subsidiary Avantium Renewable Polymers (Avantium RNP) has signed two additional conditional offtake agreements for the supply of polyethylene furanoate (PEF) resin to manufacture bottles and films, bringing the total now to four such contracts. The partners involved include specialty chemical company Toyobo (Japan), specialty polyester film producer Terphane (USA), the beverage bottling company Refresco (Netherlands), and a major global food & beverage brand owner.
Avantium RNP aims to commercialize its proprietary plants-to-plastics YXY Technology, which is used to produce FDCA (furandicarboxylic acid) – the main building block of the high-performance, plant-based and fully recyclable polymer PEF. Avantium has demonstrated the technology in its pilot plant in Geleen and the company plans to open, dependent on a positive Final Investment Decision (FID), the world’s first commercial FDCA plant in 2023.
Avantium has been in active discussions with various commercial parties on agreeing capacity allocations from the planned flagship plant. The offtake commitments signed so far represent 30% of the plant’s annual FDCA production capacity. Those commitments are subject to a positive FID, financial closing, other customary approvals and party specific conditions. The partners will purchase Avantium’s FDCA or PEF at agreed price levels for a period of at least five years, depending on both the product application and the specific terms and conditions included in each agreement.
In addition to signing two more offtake agreements, further commercial progress has also been made recently. Avantium and the Carlsberg Group have signed a collaboration agreement to jointly develop several PEF applications, including the Green Fibre Bottle, with the aim to validate the circularity of the applications, which should lead to additional demand for FDCA from Avantium’s flagship plant. As a further sign of their commitment, Carlsberg has recently joined the PEFerence consortium i.
CEO Tom van Aken comments: “These further developments in commercial commitments bring us closer to making a positive FID for our FDCA flagship plant. We very much value our partners’ dedication to helping to build a completely new PEF value chain. We look forward to welcoming more like-minded collaborators on this exciting journey where we have a shared ambition to transition to next generation materials for a truly circular and sustainable future.”
Avantium will provide a further update on the progress towards the FID in due course.