PEF Bottles

Avantium has focused its efforts on the polyester polyethylene-furanoate (PEF), which is the analogue of polyethylene-terephthalate (PET), in particular in the bottle application for the packaging of soft drinks, water, alcoholic beverages, fruit juices food en non-food products.

A renewable packaging footprint

Avantium has signed development partnerships with The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) and Danone to further develop and commercialize PEF bottles. Both TCCC and Danone have a proven leadership position in the area of sustainability and the use of renewable packaging materials. Both companies have a long history in light-weighting their PET bottles to improve the carbon footprint of their supply chains (in the last eight years the average the weight of a 16-ounce PET bottle has been reduced by 30%). Today, both companies are industry leaders in adopting renewable materials for their beverage bottling. TCCC introduced a partially biobased bottle back in November 2009 under the brand name PlantBottle™ for its Coca-Cola and Dasani brands. Danone introduced a similar bottle for its Volvic water brand in 2010, called Greener Bottle, or Bouteille Végétale.

Avantium’s YXY technology (in blue) enables the production of PEF, a next-generation polyester to replace PET in large markets.

Superior functional properties

Our research has proven that PEF bottles outperform PET bottles in many areas, including barrier properties (the ability of the polymer to withstand gas permeability through the bottle). PEF’s ability to seal out oxygen, for example, results in longer-lasting carbonated drinks. Moreover, PEF makes certain packaging coatings redundant, like the coatings used on bottles to keep beer fresh. In terms of thermal properties, PEF is widely considered more attractive than PET due to its superior ability to withstand heat (expressed in the glass transition temperature or Tg) and be processed at lower temperatures (expressed in the melting temperature or Tm).

 Superior barrier properties:

• PEF oxygen barrier is 6 times better than PET
• PEF carbon dioxide barrier is 3 times better than PET
• PEF water barrier is 2 times better than PET

More attractive thermal properties:

• The Tg of PEF is 86°C compared to the Tg of PET of 74°C
• The Tm of PEF is 235°C compared to the Tm of PET of 265°C