New process for developing FCDA, a building stone of PEF

PET has a market demand of close to 1.5 billion tons per year. As the bio-based substitute for PET, PEF’s potential to break into that sizeable market has been hampered so far by the high cost of producing furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA).
Using a plant-derived solvent, researchers have now developed an economical and high-yielding way of producing FDCA. The new process begins with fructose, which they convert in a two-step process to FDCA. The end result is a high yield of FDCA that easily separates from the solvent as a white powder upon cooling. An article about the research is published in Science Advances (News Item University of Wisconsin–Madison, 19 January 2018).
Click here for the news item.
Click here for the published article (798 kB).
Click here for more information about the NVC Project PUMA: the end of packaging as an environmental issue. You are welcome to join us for the next project meeting on 4 April 2018.

This news item is also included in our monthly overview, the NVC Members-only Update. If you have any questions, please contact us: info@nvc.nl, +31-(0)182-512411.