3 min read
In August 2017, I wrote a blog post on the wood fiber market in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais and concluded that it would face a shortage of...
As COP26 delegates dissected the detail on decarbonising our world, chemical innovators ushered in sustainable solutions of their own. Late 2021 saw a raft of agreements and announcements key to sustainability and circularity.
Hotly anticipated as an alternative to fossil fuel-based polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic, polyethylene furanoate (PEF) took a step towards commercialisation.
North America-based Origin Materials partnered with Korea’s Kolon Industries to develop materials with initial focus on automotive applications. Their new joint venture – announced in November – will use wood feedstocks to produce renewable materials.
The pair will manufacture the primary precursor furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) to develop bio-derived, recyclable PEF products. That collaboration follows Origin Materials’ partnership with automaker Ford, announced in June. Carbon negative door panels and bumpers, tyre filler and paint pigment, and foam products are currently in development.
However, PEF’s inherent biodegradability – and barrier properties beyond those of PET – make it a promising drop-in technology for packaging markets.
Origin Materials’ process uses wood residue from sawmills, or pulp and paper plants. At just a few cents per pound, the California-based company’s supply comes from the lumber and wood chip market.
Wood chips, pine, fines and/or other non-food biomass feedstocks are blended and heated together with an organic solvent. At optimum temperature, the addition of hydrochloric acid breaks the biomass down. That reaction generates the major platform chemicals chloromethylfurfural (CMF) and hydrothermal carbon (HTC). Smaller quantities of furfural and levulinic acid come from the degradation of cellulose in the woody biomass.
“Once the reaction is complete, the solvent containing the CMF is removed for downstream purification and the solid HTC is filtered out using a filter press. The extracted CMF is separated and purified via distillation, with the solvent recovered for reuse,” explains John Birmingham, an Origin Materials lead process engineer of the company’s pilot plant.
The CMF is then reacted with hydrogen gas in the presence of a heterogeneous production catalyst, he adds. “The resulting dimethyl fumarate is reacted with ethylene in a different solvent and catalyst system to produce paraxylene – a key commodity chemical usually derived from petroleum – and a primary PET precursor.”
Origin’s first commercial plant for CMF and HTC production is currently under construction in Sarnia, Ontario. It is due for completion in 2022.
The company says its 5-CMF provides a flexible raw material for other chemistries – including paraxylene and purified terephthalic acid (PTA) – and commodity and specialty chemicals through its derivatives, including FDCA.
Dubbed a 'next generation polyester,' PEF is generally prepared by combining MEG with FDCA which is produced using C6 sugars found in biomass feedstocks. Compared to PET, PEF has a lower melting point, higher glass transition temperature and improved tensile strength. Dutch biochemical company Corbion carried out in 2014 that found PEF’s O2 barrier to be six times greater than for PET. Its CO2 barrier measured three times higher, and its H2O barrier was twice that of PET, according to the investigation.
October saw Finnish forest products maker UPM and the Coca-Cola Company announce a collaboration to bring renewable glycols to market. Bio-monoethylene glycol – known as bMEG – will be produced at a biorefinery UPM is currently building in Leuna, Germany. The technology to produce bMEG takes a sugar source and removes the step of creating ethanol as part of the conversion process to deliver a plant-based product.
Coca-Cola worked with a team from Changchun Meihe Science and Technology to co-develop the catalytic technology that UPM will use. The pair’s newly-patented process for converting saccharides and hyd