News Items - International Association of Packaging Research Institutes
| VTT technology sets up production of bio-based PEF Finland’s VTT has published details of a patented technology for transforming pectin-containing agricultural waste into a precursor for the production of polyethylene furanoate (PEF), an alternative to polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The “highly efficient process”, which has already been developed from lab-scale to pilot-scale, takes plant-based waste such as citrus peel and sugar beet pulp as its feedstock. It uses a stable intermediate for the production of furan dicarboxylic acid (FDCA), one of the monomers used to create the PEF polymer. Holger Pöhler of VTT estimated that a move from PET to PEF could reduce carbon footprint by up to 50%, while also improving barrier and shelf-life.    “In the near future, you may buy orange juice in bottles that are made out of orange peels,” he commented in a statement. The research organization is currently developing the pilot-scale technology to a readiness level which will allow “easy transition” to full-scale production. Pöhler put current volumes of PET products globally at around 30 million tons. The paper, published in the scientific journal Green Chemistry in early December, can be accessed here: A unique pathway to platform chemicals: aldaric acids as stable intermediates for the synthesis of furan dicarboxylic acid esters Published: 12/23/20 |