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Avantium N.V., a distributor in renewable and circular polymer materials, has signed a collaboration with EPC Engineering & Technologies GmbH, an international technology provider as well as an engineering and plant construction company. This partnership aims to advance the continuous PEF polyester production technology, targeting plant capacities of 100 kilotons per year and beyond. The collaboration will combine the expertise of both companies to commercialize continuous polymerization of PEF (“PEF cPol Technology”). Avantium and EPC will integrate their respective technologies and processes, together with the solid state polymerization (SSP) of POLYMETRIX AG. The PEF cPol Technology will be included in Avantium’s YXY Technology license package. EPC will provide engineering, plant construction services and key equipment, including the SSP equipment from POLYMETRIX, to Avantium’s future licensees.
Avantium has developed its proprietary YXY Technology to produce FDCA (furandicarboxylic acid), a component for the fully plant-based and circular polymer PEF (polyethylene furanoate). PEF is branded by Avantium as releaf. Avantium is currently in the process of starting up the world’s first commercial FDCA plant in Delfzijl, the Netherlands. This FDCA Flagship Plant will play a crucial role in Avantium's commercialization and licensing strategy. The commercial FDCA plant allows Avantium to sell FDCA and releaf directly to offtake partners, while also offering technology licenses at full scale to industrial partners worldwide. Under such a technology license, industrial partners can produce FDCA and PEF in large-scale production facilities using Avantium’s proprietary YXY Technology.
Avantium and EPC Engineering & Technologies previously worked together in 2017, when EPC developed a conceptual design for a 25 kilotons per year PEF continuous polymerization plant using melt state polymerization. This conceptual design served as the starting point for the Joint Development Agreement to further scale the polymerization technology to 100 kilotons per year and beyond.
POLYMETRIX will contribute with its continuous solid state polymerization know-how. With this collaboration, Avantium is able to extend its YXY Technology license package to the full continuous PEF production process including performance guarantees at industrial scale, whether greenfield, brownfield or retrofit plant.
“EPC continuously strives to find technical solutions to overcome global environmental challenges," Managing Director at EPC Engineering & Technologies Karol Kerrane said. "Through this international collaboration with Avantium, we are fully confident to jointly achieve great success by offering world’s best practice for continuous PEF production.”
"This collaboration with EPC and POLYMETRIX marks a step forward in our mission to add our renewable and circular polymer PEF in the polyester industry," Bart Langius, Director Licensing at Avantium said. "By combining our expertise with EPC and POLYMETRIX, we are confident that we can offer our potential licensing partners a comprehensive license package that integrates Avantium's YXY Technology with continuous PEF polymerization technology, providing a high performance alternative to fossil-based plastics.”
