Stora Enso, the Helsinki-headquartered renewable products company and Korea’s Kolon Industries have entered into a Joint Development Agreement, the companies announced. Together, the companies will work to advance the industrialisation of bio-based polyesters and their applications, as well as renewable binder resin formulations.
Stora Enso has developed a proprietary process called FuraCore for converting fructose into FDCA (furan-dicarboxylic acid) via the precursor HMF (5-hydroxymethylfurfural). FDCA, an organic chemical compound that occurs in nature, and is the key building block for bio-based plastics such as PEF. The company has established a pilot plant for the process at Langerbrugge near Ghent in Belgium, where the technology is being tested and validated. According to Stora Enso, commercialisation is planned in 2026. The pilot facility currently uses fructose for the process, but, said VP of emerging business Dirk den Ouden, the intention in the future is to run the process on sugars extracted from wood and other non-food-based biomass.
“Nature happens to provide our raw material in a very efficient way via crops. That’s where we’ll start. Implementing FuraCore chemistry at large scale globally, however, requires us to rethink our raw material sourcing. That’s where sugars from trees and agricultural residues come in,” he explained.
PEF offers excellent gas barrier properties for oxygen, carbon dioxide and water vapour – enabling mono-material packaging and an extended shelf life of products. The material is durable and recyclable - separately or together with PET. PEF fibres may also be used to produce renewable textiles.
“Together with Kolon Industries, we will be developing and validating commercially attractive formulations and applications based on FDCA-based polyesters and HMF-based resins,” said Johanna Hagelberg, executive vice president of the Biomaterials division at Stora Enso.
“We share a vision for making future-proof materials that do good for people and the planet.”
The present development agreement between the two companies is focused on Stora Enso’s FuraCore process and its expertise in the packaging industry combined with Kolon Industries’ expertise in polyester and phenolic resin development, as well as manufacturing for a range of applications.
“This partnership is significant … enables the solidification of the foundation for building a new bioplastics ecosystem. We will continue to accelerate the development of sustainable polymer technologies for a greener environment,” says Sung Han, CTO of Kolon Group.
Kolon Industries is a chemical and materials company with over fifty years of experience in polyester polymerisation and its application technology, including fibre, film, and others. One of the company’s core research and development areas is renewable polymers, including new polymers derived from natural raw materials.