Reducing the weight of packaging has also become an important part of the sustainable design toolbox, although this may often prove to be counterproductive as reduced wall thickness without any extra barrier results in a reduced shelf life, and may lead to higher rates of food and drink spoilage and waste. In smaller volume bottles, the surface-to-volume ratio is higher than in larger containers, so gases are exchanged with the exterior at a higher rate. Despite the relatively good natural barrier of PET to O2 and CO2 ingress, limitations are quickly reached when it comes to particularly sensitive food and drink products, where the required product shelf life cannot be guaranteed by monomaterial PET packaging alone.Įmerging markets, urbanization and e-commerce are all driving forces behind the transition towards a more circular economy and therefore the increase in demand for sustainable packaging solutions such as smaller serving sizes and longer shelf life. PET’s success as the material of choice for beverage packaging is due to its ideal combination of performance, design freedom, ease of processing and excellent recyclability. When PEF is processed as part of the PET recycling stream, even 100% PEF bottles will have no negative impact on haze, color and other properties of the resulting rPET products at market penetration levels of at least up to 2% PEF into the rPET /2/. Avantium’s PEF is compatible with PET recycling assets, can be identified and sorted using near infrared technology and can also be recycled as a separate stream. This resin offers outstanding barrier performance, coupled with balanced thermomechanical and processability properties. Made from renewable resources, compatible with existing recycling equipment and with outstanding barrier properties (approximately 10 times better O2 and 20 times better CO2 barriers with respect to PET /1/, PEF is full of potential promise: not as a replacement for PET, but as a side-by-side complementary technology, enabling a full polyester solution for applications where both the performance and sustainability of the incumbent is not sufficient.Īvantium currently offers a 100% plantbased, PEF grade for development in application areas such as rigid and flexible packaging, injection molded articles, films and fibers. Avantium is already producing FDCA and PEF at a smaller scale from its pilot plant in the Netherlands and is using this material to accelerate the market introduction of various high-value applications, including those in packaging.
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