Renewable chemistry company Avantium and Helios, a Slovenia-based manufacturer of coating resins, composite resins, and polyester polyols for PU flexible foams, have signed a ‘multi-year’ capacity reservation agreement. Helios Resins intends to purchase FDCA (furandicarboxylic acid) from a future industrial-scale facility, based on a technology licence from Avantium.
Avantium has developed a proprietary YXY technology that uses catalysts to convert plant-based sugar (fructose) into FDCA, the key building block for a wide range of plant-based chemicals and plastics such as polyethylene furanoate (PEF). PEF is a 100% plant-based and recyclable plastic. Applications include polyesters, polyamides and polyurethanes, as well as coating resins, plasticisers, and other chemical products.
Avantium will sell FDCA and PEF directly from its FDCA flagship plant to its customers, in parallel to selling technology licences to industrial partners.
Helios plans to partially or fully replace petro-based terephthalic acid, the key building block for polyester resins, with FDCA.
“This capacity reservation for FDCA developed by Avantium provides assurance that we can use FDCA widely in the future for our resins and coatings,” said Dr. Martin Ocepek, director R&D synthetic resins at Helios Resins.
Last year, Avantium also signed a 5-year FDCA agreement with Henkel. LVMH and Carlsberg have also signed off-take agreements.