PETpla.net Insider 06 / 2012

MATERIAL / RECYCLING 11 PET planet insider Vol. 13 No. 06/12 www.petpla.net be directly integrated on a “drop in” basis into existing chemical and fuel products to deliver environmen- tal and economic benefits. Gevo is committed to a sustainable bio- based economy that meets society’s needs for plentiful food and clean air and water. “The agreement with Coca-Cola covers the development and commercialisation of the tech- nology to produce paraxylene from bio-based isobutanol,” said Patrick Gruber, CEO of Gevo. Avantium Avantium is a technology com- pany specialised in the area of advanced high-throughput R&D, and ‘spun out’ from petroleum company Shell in 2000. It has been working on bio-based mate- rial development since 2005 and around 50% of its business activity is now bio-based. The company develops and com- mercialises YXY - its brand name for the technology to produce chemical building blocks for bio-based materi- als with exceptional product proper- ties at a competitive price which is designed to enable 100% PEF bot- tles. The agreement with Coca-Cola includes the development of PEF (polyethylene-furanoate). Avantium says that various functional prop- erties of PEF make it a suitable alternative to petroleum-based PET for future beverage packaging. YXY technology converts biomass into Furanics building blocks, such as FDCA (2.5-furandicarboxylic acid), the monomer that can be used for the production of PEF, which is claimed to be 100% recyclable. YXY uses carbohydrates as feedstock, which can be obtained from biomass such as sugarcane, agricultural resi- dues, plants and grains. The com- pany says that its chemical-catalytic technology can be implemented in existing chemical production assets with some retrofitting. This is claimed to represent a much lower investment than a new plant. CCT Creative Competence Technology GmbH Idsteiner Strasse 74 D-65527 Niedernhausen, Germany [email protected] www.cct-systems.com CCTsystems ® -40 Cav. Mold ≥ 160 to Clamping force CCTsystems ® -60 Cav. Mold ≥ 240 to Clamping force PET Molds Design and Patents Developments PET Systems All Closure types with CCTsystem®- BPT Best Performance Technology Closure molds Closure Molds Closure Systems Avantium says that it has already made bottles with what it claims are exceptional barrier and thermal properties. It further asserted that its production process fits well with existing supply chains. Commercial production of PEF is anticipated to commence in three to four years. The company opened a pilot PEF plant on December 8 2011. It has a capacity of 40t/a and will produce PEF material for application devel- opment. Avantium does not currently plan to build, own or operate PEF production plants and it is actively discussing partnerships with other leading brand owners to develop PEF bottles, fibres and film. The company intends to license its YXY technology to enable large scale, world-wide production and use of its biobased plastic materials. Accord- ing to Avantium Chief Technology Officer Frank Roerink PEF has oxygen barrier properties six times better than PET, and carbon dioxide and water barrier properties twice as high. PETplanet insider reported that Danone Research and Avantium have entered into a Joint Develop- ment Agreement for the develop- ment of PEF bottles for Danone. The agreement is the second in Avan- tium’s commercialisation strategy for co-development of its YXY tech- nology for PEF bottles, which use bio-sourced material (see PETplanet insider issue 5, page 6) Coca-Cola: extending range and collaboration The Coca-Cola Company already uses recyclable bottles that contain up to 30% bioplastics. Its first-generation PlantBottle packag- ing, used in fully-recyclable PET bottles, is made of two components: 30% plant-based MEG (mono-ethyl- ene glycol), and 70% PTA. www.avantium.com www.yxy.com www.thecoca-colacompany.com