Sugar beet as the basis of plastic bottles and antifreeze

Sugar beet processor Cosun Beet Company and Avantium, a sustainable chemistry technology company, announced today (Thurs, 22 April) the construction of the first commercial plant of vegetable glycols. The companies plan to set up a joint venture this year. Commercial activities should start in 2025.

Avantium has developed a technique to convert sugars into glycols. This offers an alternative to the current materials obtained from fossil sources.

2 products are made in the new factory. PlantMEG, a product that is a raw material for, for example, plastic bottles and packaging, polyester textiles and antifreeze. The second product is plantMPG, which is used, among other things, for de-icing aircraft and in polyester resins used, for example, in windmill blades and as a heat transfer fluid produced in solar panels.

Green ambition
"We have the ambition to be the greenest, most innovative and most successful sugar beet processor in the world," said Paul Mesters CEO of Cosun Beet Company in a press release. “The partnership with Avantium is a great example of our commitment to maximize the use of sugar beets while actively contributing to a fossil-free future. We look forward to growing and deepening our partnership with Avantium in the coming years”

Avantium now produces plantMEG and plantMPG in a demonstration plant in Delfzijl, which opened in 2019. Cosun's beet sugar is used as a renewable raw material. The current cooperation between the companies is a solid foundation for the proposed joint venture.

In addition to the joint venture, Avantium will continue to further develop and license its Ray Technology globally. As part of its corporate strategy, Cosun Beet Company continues to look for opportunities to expand its biobased portfolio.

Jurphaas Lugtenburg

Is editor at Boerenbusiness and focuses mainly on the arable farming sectors and the feed and energy market. Jurphaas also has an arable farm in Voorne-Putten (South Holland). Every week he presents the Market Flash Grains

j.lugtenburg @boerenbusiness. Nl

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