A bio-based economy exists when predominantly plant-based materials, i.e. biomass rather than fossil-based raw materials like petroleum are used as a feedstock for making chemicals, materials and products we consume.

Plastics derived from man-made polymers that can be made from building blocks that originate from biological (once living) systems. Most of these building blocks (monomers) are derived from sugars. Examples are FDCA and PEF. At Avantium, we prefer to call PEF and FDCA plant-based plastics, in order to prevent confusion with the term bioplastic. Bioplastic is a plastic derived from a biopolymer, such as DNA, insulin, cellulose and starch.

Biomass is organic feedstock especially of plant origin. These feedstocks are renewable and originally found in nature in the form of agricultural and forestry products like corn, wheat, sugar beet, sugar cane, rapeseed and woody plants. The residues of these products also contain starch, carbohydrates, fats and proteins.

A biorefinery is a factory that processes biomass into a range of products and where the goal is to make the most efficient use of the biomass or raw material. Biorefining aims to use every component of the raw material so that nothing goes to waste thereby improving efficiencies and environmental impact. Dawn Technology™ is the brand name of Avantium’s biorefinery technology, which converts non-food plant-based feedstock into industrial sugars and lignin.

CO2 or carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that originates as waste from the burning of fossil fuels, the production of electricity, fertilizers, chemicals, steel and cement. It is the biggest contributor to global warming. The development of electrochemistry has the potential to use CO2 as a feedstock for the sustainable production of chemicals and materials, and is seen as a ’game-changer’ for the chemical industry. The result is that greenhouse gas is sequestered into products that can replace plastics and chemicals that are now produced from fossil feedstock. Avantium’s Volta Technology is the leading electro-catalytic platform developing CO2 utilization solutions for a circular future.

Carbon-neutral activities or products release no net carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Leading companies worldwide are increasingly adopting carbon-neutral, ‘net-zero,’ or carbon-negative commitments for their businesses and supply chains.

Catalysis is the increase in the rate of a chemical reaction due to an added substance known as a catalyst. Catalysts are not consumed by the reaction and remain unchanged after it. They allow reactions to occur via alternative mechanisms, often faster than the non-catalyzed process. In the chemical industry, catalysts play a crucial role

A circular economy is based on the principles of designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use, and regenerating natural systems. Avantium works to advance new technologies for a more sustainable future. PEF plays a significant role in the circular economy.

CMF is an intermediate compound for chemicals such as PET and for numerous commodity and specialty chemicals through its derivatives, including FDCA.

CO2 equivalent, or carbon dioxide equivalent, is a standard unit for measuring carbon footprints. The idea is to express the impact of each different greenhouse gas in terms of the amount of CO2 that would create the same amount of warming.

Dawn Technology™ is the brand name of Avantium’s biorefinery technology, which converts non-food plant-based feedstock into industrial sugars and lignin. These sugars, such as glucose, are an excellent raw material for chemistry and fermentation processes and are used to produce a broad range of products.

FDCA (furandicarboxylic acid) is a furanic monomer that can be polymerized with biobased monoethylene glycol (MEG) to create the next-generation polymer PEF (polyethylene furanoate). PEF is plant-based, recyclable, and boasts a significantly reduced carbon footprint. It also exhibits superior strength, thermal properties, and barrier properties compared to traditional PET (polyethylene terephthalate)

Carbohydrate-rich plants (e.g., sugar beet, sugar cane, corn and wheat) that can also be used as food or feed or for making plant-based chemicals and materials.

Avantium R&D Solutions’ Flowrence Technology® is an advanced high-throughput platform for high-quality testing of catalysts and adsorbents. The Flowrence Technology® can be used for a broad range of industrial applications that operate in gas, vapor or trickle phases. The parallel reactor system combines the reproducibility of larger-scale reactors with the advantages of small-scale reactors such as intrinsic safety, high accuracy, low costs per experiment and, ultimately, faster time-to-market.

Glucose is a sugar consisting of six carbon atoms (C6). It is a core building block for the transition to a bio-based economy. Glucose serves as a feedstock for the production of a broad range of chemicals and materials produced via chemistry or fermentation processes. The resulting products can be existing and new plant-based chemicals, such as FDCA (furandicarboxylic acid) and PEF (polyethylene furanoate, a plant-based recyclable polymer).

Humins are carbon-based macromolecular structures, formed as a side-product during sugar-based biorefinery processes. Due to multiple functional groups including aldehydes, ketones and alcohols, humins are capable of many different types of chemistries and can therefore find applications as diverse as modification agents for softwoods, antioxidant species or polymeric resins for biobased composites.

The compilation and evaluation of the input, output and potential environmental impact of a product system throughout its life cycle. LCAs are fundamental to understanding how Avantium’s technologies compete with fossil-based alternatives. LCAs form the bedrock of how we measure our footprint and describe the sustainability benefits of our innovations. Avantium has conducted multiple LCAs for its lead products PEF. You can find the results here.

Lignin is the mass that remains after the sugars have been removed from the initial raw material through the Dawn Technology™ biorefining process. It is more efficient for energy generation as its energy content is up to 40% higher than the original wood chips used in the process. Energy generation is currently the predominant application for lignin. Additional higher value applications are being developed. Interestingly, the lignin looks a lot like the briquettes we use when we grill outside but now not coal-based.

Mono-ethylene glycol – or MEG – is a vital ingredient for the production of polyester textiles and film, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyethylene furanoate (PEF) resins and engine coolants.

A molecule that can be bonded to other identical molecules to form a larger polymer chain.

Polyethylene Furanoate, a polymer made form mono-ethylene glycol (MEG) and FDCA (furandicarboxylic acid). PEF produced by Avantium’s YXY Technology, known under the brand name Releaf®, is a plant-based and recyclable polymer that can be applied to an enormous range of applications, including packaging of soft drinks, water, alcoholic beverages and fruit juices, and textiles. Releaf’s barrier and thermal properties are superior to conventional PET. In combination with a significantly reduced carbon footprint, the added functionality gives Releaf® all the attributes to become the next-generation polymer.

Polyethylene terephthalate, transparent polyester used for bottles and film. The polyester is made from mono-ethylene glycol and (fossil-based) terephthalic acid.

With our Volta Technology, we can convert CO2 into oxalic acid. In a proprietary second, separate process step, this is then turned into glycolic acid. By combining this glycolic acid with some lactic acid, Avantium can produce polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA), a polymer with valuable characteristics: it has an excellent barrier against oxygen and moisture, has good mechanical properties and is both home compostable and marine degradable. Due to its properties, PLGA is an excellent sustainable alternative for PE (polyethylene). PLGA can be used, for example, as coating material and in moulded plastic materials.

Polyesters are polymers formed from a dicarboxylic acid and a diol. Polyesters are very stable and strong and are used especially in making fibers for clothing or plastics. As a specific material, it most commonly refers to PET or PEF.

A polymer is a chemical compound with molecules bonded together in long repeating chains. The term “polymer” is commonly used today in the plastics and composites industry, and it is often used as a synonym for “plastic” or “resin.”

Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. It is an alternative to waste disposal that can save material and help lower greenhouse gas emissions. Avantium’s PEF is a plant-based, recyclable plastic with superior performance properties compared to today’s widely used petroleum-based packaging materials. Recycling for PEF is very similar to PET recycling and trials have shown that the existing recycling systems are compatible to PEF, so no systems need to be developed. In addition PEF can easily be distinguished and enables sorting from PET and other plastics using optical sorting systems used today. PEF is included in the prestigious Critical Guidance Protocol from the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR), and has received an interim endorsement from the European PET Bottle Platform (EPBP) for recycling of multilayer PET/PEF packaging in the European bottle recycling market. Furthermore, our PET/PEF multilayer bottle has been recognized as fully compatible with the PET recycling stream following an evaluation by RecyClass, the European non-profit initiative dedicated to advancing plastics circularity.

Releaf® is Avantium’s brand name for PEF (polyethylene furanoate). Releaf® is a registered trademark in the European Union. For more information, visit the website: www.releaf.bio

Agricultural or forestry raw materials, which are not used as food or feed, but as raw material for industrial products. The use of renewable resources by industry saves fossil resources and reduces the amount of greenhouse gas emissions.

Scope 1 covers emissions from sources that an organisation owns or controls directly.

Scope 2 covers emissions that a company causes indirectly when the energy it purchases and uses is produced.

Scope 3 encompasses emissions that are not produced by the company itself, and are not the result of activities from assets owned or controlled by it, but by those for which it is indirectly responsible, up and down its value chain.

Non-food feedstock resulting from agricultural and forestry waste or residual streams. Dawn Technology™ is the brand name of Avantium’s biorefinery technology, which converts non-food plant-based feedstock into industrial sugars and lignin.

Avantium’s Volta Technology is the leading electro-catalytic platform developing CO2 utilization solutions for a circular future. Volta Technology uses electrochemistry to convert CO2 to high-value products and chemical building blocks including glycolic acid. By combining glycolic acid with lactic acid, Avantium can produce polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA), a carbon-negative polymer with valuable characteristics: it has an excellent barrier against oxygen and moisture, has good mechanical properties, is recyclable and is both home compostable and marine degradable. This makes PLGA a more sustainable and cost-effective alternative to, for example, non-degradable, fossil-based polymers.

Avantium’s YXY Technology helps to produce a wide range of novel plant-based materials and products by converting plant-based sugars into plant-based chemicals and plastics, such as polyethylene furanoate (PEF).