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The 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) used as a feedstock in the FURIOUS project is derived from sugars, and Avantium is responsible for this process. Roy Visser explains the company’s role in the project.
“Someone said once that the main enemy of progress is perfection, and that is what it is. You cannot get to the final station by just waiting to step in once it’s perfect, you have to step in and then we’ll make it perfect together”.
Roy Visser – Avantium.
Founded in the early 2000s, with its headquarters and laboratories in Amsterdam (Netherlands), where it employs over 250 people, Avantium focuses on developing innovative technologies in green chemistry, using renewable carbon sources to produce alternatives to plastics and fossil-based products for applications in the energy, chemical and pharmaceutical industries.
They are at the forefront of developing technologies that transform renewable resources into valuable circular chemicals and plastics for consumer products. Among their achievements is the production of Releaf® (PEF), a plant-based, circular polymer that offers an exceptional alternative to fossil-based polymers due to its performance and recyclability.
“Avantium’s main objective is to develop a process for converting sugars into FDCA, a highly versatile chemical,” says Roy Visser of Avantium.
Fifteen years ago, in 2011, they opened one of the three plants they currently operate: the FDCA pilot plant. This is their pioneering chemical compound, derived from sugars, and the key ingredient in the PEF polymer, known under the EU-registered trademark Releaf®. Thanks to this milestone, they produced the first PEF bottle that same year.
Subsequently, in 2015, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) officially adopted a favourable opinion endorsing FDCA as a safe monomer for use in plastic materials intended to come into contact with food.1
Within the FURIOUS project, Avantium is responsible for supplying the raw material (FDCA), which is derived from sugars, to enable the realisation of our applications (10th International Conference: Bio-Based and Biodegradable Polymers); they also play a role in providing support regarding the material – how to process it, treat it, use it and recycle it, amongst other things.
They will also contribute expertise on end-of-life management. In this article, you can find a link to the interview we conducted with Roy Visser from Avantium.
In short, Avantium plays an essential role in the FURIOUS project, as they are involved from the very beginning – supplying the raw material – right through to the end, providing expertise on end-of-life management.
Through its products and technologies, Avantium is thus contributing to the ‘de-fossilisation’ of the chemical industry and driving the transition towards a circular economy.
1 Jong, E.; Visser, H. A.; Sousa Dias, A.; Harvey, C.; Gruter, G-J. M. Polymers 2022, 14, 943-975.