Green Chemicals Blog
polyester
lululemon invests in renewable materials
US athletic apparel company lululemon Athletica Inc. has been very busy these past two months partnering all the way up in the company’s raw material supply chain. The company released its first Impact Agenda in October last year with a goal to make 100% of its products from sustainable materials by 2030. By 2025, lululemon … Continue reading
Avantium to build 5 ktpa FDCA, PEF flagship plant
Avantium held its first Technology & Markets Day titled “Path to a fossil-free world” yesterday at the company’s headquarters in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The management team provided an update on the strategy of Avantium and its technologies, including the strategy for Synvina and commercialization of PEF. Avantium announced that it intends to build a cash-flow … Continue reading
BASF to exit from Synvina
Bad news today as BASF notified Avantium of its exit from their Synvina joint venture effective 15 January 2019. Avantium said it continues to disagree with BASF’s interpretation of the joint venture agreement. I am not sure what exactly they are disagreeing about (technology? timing? IPs? financing?) but as one startup CEO told me, having … Continue reading
BASF, Avantium in Synvina dispute
I hate posting this kind of news but I’m still a reporter at heart so I just hope that these two companies will resolve their issues about Synvina, the joint venture formed by BASF and Avantium. The JV aims to set up a 50 ktpa FDCA (furandicarboxylic acid) reference plant at BASF’s site in Antwerp, … Continue reading
ADM, DuPont starts FDME pilot facility
Just in time for my Biomaterials newsletter deadline, Archer Daniels Midland and DuPont Industrial Biosciences announced the opening of the world’s first biobased furan dicarboxylic methyl ester (FDME) pilot production facility in ADM’s Decatur, Illinois site. FDME is a building block molecule derived from fructose that can be used in various chemicals and materials production … Continue reading
Toyobo, Avantium on PEF partnership
I am still trying to catch up on blogging before I get very busy again next week for my September Biomaterials newsletter deadline at Tecnon OrbiChem. I am also almost finished with my glycerine presentation for the incoming ICIS Pan American Oleochemicals conference next month. By the way, if anybody is attending EPCA in Budapest … Continue reading
VIDEO: Polyester Market Overview
So I have been slightly immersing myself in the petrochemicals market here at the American Fuels and Petrochemicals Manufacturers (AFPM)’ International Petrochemicals Conference (IPC), and with the help of my Tecnon OrbiChem colleagues, I’ve been hearing the water bottle market has really been growing faster than GDP growth especially here in North America. This made … Continue reading
BASF, Avantium plan FDCA JV
BASF and Avantium announced today their intention to establish a joint venture for the production and marketing of furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), as well as marketing of polyethylenefuranoate (PEF), which is being touted as an alternative to PET but with better gas barrier properties and higher mechanical strength. For those who are not familiar with PET, … Continue reading
Avantium’s 100% biobased T-shirts from recycled PEF bottles
The first time I covered Avantium’s PEF (polyethylene furanoate) resin, which is being offered as an alternative to PET (polyethylene terephthalate), one of the industry concerns about this new bio-based material is if it can fit into the existing PET bottle infrastructure including its recyclability. This recent news from Avantium is proving that PEF bottles … Continue reading