Furanics: 2,5-Furan-dicarboxylic-acid

The movement towards a green economy is gaining huge momentum worldwide. Sparked off by concerns about climate change and peak oil, what started as environmental awareness is now snowballing into a mainstream desire among citizens and companies to be part of a sustainable world that will transition from a fossil-based economy to a green economy. Relying on strong science and proprietary technology, Avantium plans to become a leading provider of building blocks for the emerging market of green materials and renewable energy.

 

Avantium has created an enabling technology, called YXY, for the economic production of a new category of green products called Furanics. Furanics are green building blocks for a range of materials, chemicals and fuels. The building block as such has been studied for decades by industrial companies such as DuPont (USA), Celanese (USA) and DSM (NL), agricultural companies such as Quaker Oats (USA) and SüdZucker (DE), and research institutes around the world. In the scientific literature, Furanics are referred to as ‘sleeping giants’ because of their enormous potential for the production of green plastics and chemicals; Furanics were also listed in the top 12 high-potential green building blocks published by the US Department of Energy. Until today, Furanics had not been commercialized because Furanics production was not yet cost-effective.

 

Furanics: 2,5-Furan-dicarboxylic-acid

 

Avantium is set to change this by the development of a breakthrough technology that allows for the cost-effective production of Furanics. Avantium’s proprietary process will unlock a whole new field of green materials and fuels. Beverage bottles, computer casings, car bumpers, airplane coatings and truck fuels: in future, all these things can be made on the basis of Avantium’s green building blocks. Avantium plans to commercialize its YXY technology into these multi-billion-dollar markets in collaboration with industrial companies, using a licensing business model to monetize its unique position.

 

Schematic overview of YXY production process:

 

The picture above shows the value chains for materials and fuels. Avantium will focus its efforts on developing an economic process for converting carbohydrates into building blocks for materials and fuels for commercialized use. Avantium will collaborate with chemical, polymer and fuel companies on developing products that excel in terms of price and performance.

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YXY is advancing step by step. Read about our news, events, developments and progress here.