PETpla.net Insider 09 / 2019

MATERIALS / RECYCLING PET planet Insider Vol. 19 No. 09/19 www.petpla.net 41 motan-colortronic gmbh - info@motan-colortronic.de www.motan-colortronic.com ETA plus® considerably reduces energy consumption and protects materials. Drying has never been this efficient: ETA plus ® LUXOR A Please visit us: Hall 9, Stand C64 16 - 23 October 2019 About Avantium Avantium is a leading technology development company and a forerunner in renewable chemistry that develops novel technologies based on renew- able carbon sources as an alternative to fossil-based chemicals and plastics. The company currently has three technologies at pilot and demonstration phase. The most advanced is the YXY plant-to-plastics–tech- nology that catalytically converts plant-based sugars into a wide range of chemicals and plastics, such as PEF. Avantium has successfully demonstrated the YXY Technology at its pilot plant in Geleen, the Netherlands. Its Dawn Technology converts non-food biomass into industrial sugars and lignin. In 2018, Avantium opened a DAWN pilot biorefinery in Delfzijl, NL. Mekong, the third technology, catalytically converts industrial sugars to plant-based MEG (mono-ethylene glycol). www.avantium.com PET-PEF-PET multilayer When gas barrier requirements for small CSD bottles are too high for PET to meet alone, currently, a PA barrier layer can be added to achieve the required performance. A potential solution for this is a PET-PEF-PET multilayer structure, creating a product that will be recyclable in current PET waste streams. The amount of PEF will be diluted so much that its concentration will be far below the threshold whereby it may cause detectable differences in the properties of rPET. PEF also has potential in high-barrier flexible packag- ing. Currently, such films consist of many layers, com- posed from different types of polymers. PEF can be bi-axi- ally oriented to form BO-PEF (same as BO-PET). This film has the potential to simplify existing structures, combining different functionalities, such as gloss, strength and bar- rier, in one polymer layer. Although recycling of such films is still in its infancy, one can make the general statement that a simpler structure will result in a simpler, more easily recyclable film. Summary PEF is a very versatile and promising polymer for the future. Avantium and several other companies are working on processes to make it commercially viable. The com- pany states that it is only a matter of time until its entry into the market as the benefits are too many and too obvious for it to fail; it fits perfectly alongside PET as a recyclable raw material in the bio-based economy.