On December 13, 2023, Dutch green chemicals company Avantium announced that it will focus entirely on the production and sales of FCDA and PEF technology. It will cease investment in Ray’s technology that produces plantMEG (plant-based ethylene glycol) and plantMPG (plant-based propylene glycol) until it finds a suitable strategic equity partner.
FDCA (furandicarboxylic acid) is a raw material extracted from industrial sugar and used in the bio-based plastic PEF (polyethylene furandicarboxylate), a promising alternative to PET that has attracted global brands Owner’s concern. To date, 15 offtake agreements have been signed, including with brewer Carlsberg.
But the current construction of FDCA’s flagship factory in Delfzijl, the Netherlands, is much more expensive than expected. Avantium blamed inflation, high interest rates and supply chain disruptions. All in all, a further €255 million will be needed over the next few years, an increase of around €63 million compared to the initial forecast of €192 million, for the transition to the commissioning of nuclear power plants.
The plant will be built with an annual production capacity of 50,000 tons of FDCA. Commissioning will begin in the first quarter of 2024 and production will begin in the second half of 2024. Chief executive Tom van Aken expects to bring in annual revenue of 100 million euros starting in 2026, which also includes revenue from the sale of technology licenses.
Discontinuing Ray Technology will eliminate 25 of the 170 positions at Avantium’s Amsterdam headquarters. Avantium plans to raise additional funds through additional loans and plans to issue 50 million euros in equity.
To this end, Avantium will hold a special shareholders’ meeting on January 24, 2024.
In addition, Avantium continues to advance its Volta technology, which uses electrochemistry to convert carbon dioxide into high-value chemical building blocks and sustainable plastic materials, including the very promising polymer material polylactic-co-glycolic acid PLGA. In July 2023, Volta Technology successfully cooperated with SCGC (Thailand Siam Chemical Group) and Norsk
Hydro signed an agreement and intends to use their (financial)
Continue to develop Volta technology with support. In 2024, the company intends to continue developing the technology and scale up to a 10 tonnes per annum pilot plant over the next two years, provided it can secure a strategic or financial partnership to fund the next phase of development.
Avantium’s 15 Commercial Offtake Agreements
1. Bottles and packaging (food and cosmetics)
2. Fibers for interior fabrics, fashion and industrial applications
3. Adhesive.
Offtake partners include Carlsberg (beer packaging), LVMH (cosmetics packaging), AmBev (bottling), Kvadrat (interior textiles), PANGAIA (clothing) and Refresco
(bottled).
Avantium also has a partnership with Albert, the largest supermarket chain in the Netherlands.
Heiin partnership enables them to use Avantium’s 100% plant-based PEF to package Albert Heiin’s private label products. Albert Heiin is the first supermarket chain in the world to plan to introduce PEF packaging.
Once the FDCA flagship factory is operational, Refresco (a global independent beverage solutions provider) intends to produce Albert Heijn’s new juice bottles from PEF. This will be Albert
The first PEF application launched by Heijn store. With people like Albert
With partners like Heijn and the 15 committed acquirers mentioned earlier, Avantium will be able to further expand and expand its PEF value chain to meet the growing global consumer demand for circular and renewable material solutions.
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