Issue 04/2018

Basics
Biocatalytic process
to produce FDCA
By:
Stephan Roest
Market Development Manager
Corbion
Gorinchem, The Netherlands
PEF has become the popular new plastic on the block,
and companies like Corbion (Gorinchem, The Netherlands)
are working hard on its market introduction.
The new monomer FDCA is key to the plastic, and makes
it possible to produce PEF as an alternative to for instance
PET. Of all the companies working on the commercial-scale
production of FDCA, Corbion is the only one that uses a biocatalytic
route to produce FDCA from sugars.
Corbion is pioneering a highly efficient biocatalytic
process to produce 2,5-Furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) as
a monomer for the bioplastic PEF (polyethylenefuranoate).
Corbion has been developing this route since 2013, when
it obtained the biotechnology route with the acquisition of
biotech company Bird Engineering. The biocatalytic route
to FDCA is a perfect match with Corbion’s fermentation and
purification experience and capabilities in lactic acid.
Like a jacuzzi
Starting from C6 sugars, Corbion first produces the
intermediate 5-hydroxymethylfuryfral (HMF). The raw-
HMF is then fed to microorganisms that transfers the HMF
into FDCA. Conventional ways use selective oxidation with
platinum (or other noble metal or non-noble metal) catalysts.
One advantage of Corbion’s biocatalytic process is that is
has very mild conditions: to get the best production from
the microorganisms, the process has to be as comfortable
as possible for them, being: neutral pH, no-pressure, 37 °C
and a bit of aeration. You can picture it as a jacuzzi!
On top of that, due to the enzymatic conversion, the
process shows very high yields (>99%) and has a very high
selectivity resulting in high purity FDCA with virtually no byproduct.
This also allows to use raw-HMF without the need
to purify the HMF inbetween.
Corbion has been purifying organic acids from
fermentation-broths for over 85 years which is a great
experience to build on when it comes to purifying the FDCA
from the broth. This process results in a very pure polymergrade
FDCA that has found its use in many polymer and
chemical applications already, that are now being tested
and validated for market introduction.
Making PEF a reality
FDCA can replace oil-based purified terephthalic
acid (PTA), as used to produce PET and a wide variety
of other plastics. FDCA is not a direct replacement for
PTA, as PEF is not a direct replacement for PET since
their chemical structures are slightly different. However,
they are sufficiently similar to allow FDCA to be used in
combination with monoethylene glycol (MEG) in existing
PET polymerization plants , making FDCA an infrastructure
drop-in.
PEF is a sustainable bioplastic that – if combined with
biobased MEG - can be produced 100% biobased, boosting
the sustainability credentials in key applications such as
packaging.
PEF bioplastic has already attracted a lot of attention
as promising material across several industries, as
manufacturers can see its potentially huge impact on the
world. The benefits are clear (see table below). For food
and beverages, for example, PEF enables to keep the
products fresh longer than PET, due to the higher barrierproperties
of the material. This also reduces the amount
of food waste. Compared to PET, PEF is stronger allowing
for further light weighting of a packaging product, saving
material and transportation costs. Also the higher glass
transition temperature is of value: as it is above 85 °C, the
PEF allows for hot-filling of nutritious or oxygen sensitive
drinks, like sports-drinks, without the need to enforce the
top and shoulder of the bottle with extra material, that is
nowadays is required for PET.
Choosing biobased plastics like PEF means contributing
to the transition towards a circular economy. Not only can
PEF be recycled, just as well as PET, but it is also fully
biobased which means a decoupling from fossil resources.
With these advantages, it’s not hard to see why PEF has
become so popular in the last couple of years.
PEF properties table
PEF PET Benefit
Barrier O 2
6 – 10 x 1 x
• Increased shelf life / reduced food waste
• No need for additional barrier layers
CO 2
4 – 6 x 1 x
• Increased shelf life / reduced food waste
• No need for additional barrier layers
H 2
O 2 x 1 x • Better performance in warm and humid areas
Mechanical
Tensile
Modulus
~1.6 x 1 x
• Perfect for rigid bottles / Increased top load
• Allow for further light-weighting
Thermal T g
(°C) 86 – 87 74 – 79 • Hot-filling at 85 °C of oxygen sensitive drinks (PET bottle needs enforcement to allow this)
T m
(°C)
213 –
235
234 –
265
• Co-extrusion possibilities
• Reduced processing temperatures
48 bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/18] Vol. 13