Polyethylene furanoate

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Structural formula
Structural formula of polyethylene furanoate (PEF)
General
Surname Polyethylene furanoate
other names
  • Polyethylene 2,5 furandicarboxylate
  • Poly (ethylene-2,5-furandicarboxylate)
  • Polyethylene furandicarboxylate
  • Poly (ethylene furanoate)
  • Polyethylene dicarboxy furanoate
  • PEF
CAS number 28728-19-0
Type of polymer

Thermoplastic

properties
safety instructions
GHS labeling of hazardous substances
no classification available
H and P phrases H: see above
P: see above
As far as possible and customary, SI units are used. Unless otherwise noted, the data given apply to standard conditions .

Polyethylenfuranoat (specifically, poly (ethylene-2,5-furandicarboxylate), abbreviations PEF) is a 100% recyclable, biobased polymer . It is synthesized from the renewable sugar fructose as a starting material. As an aromatic polyester made from 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) with ethylene glycol (MEG), it is chemically comparable to polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyethylene naphthalate (PEN). The Synvina consortium of BASF and Avantium (Netherlands) is aiming for commercial production of PEF, which is expected to start in 2024. In mid-December 2018, BASF withdrew from the consortium.

PEF has high mechanical strength and good thermal properties. With its low permeability to oxygen and nitrogen, it is suitable for food packaging , bottles of carbonated soft drinks , water, alcoholic beverages, and non-food packaging. PEF is a possible substitute for PET in the long term.

synthesis

2,5 furandicarboxylic acid
Ethylene glycol

The vegetable hexoses sugars fructose is to give the intermediate 5- hydroxymethylfurfural dehydrated (HMF). The HMF is further oxidized to 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA). The polymer PEF can be produced by polycondensation from 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid with ethylene glycol . Polycondensation requires a long process time and a high energy expenditure.

Another polymerisation process was developed at ETH Zurich . First, oligomers (MW <5 kg / mol) are produced in a prepolymerization from dimethylfurandicarboxylate and ethylene glycol . In a high-boiling solvent, the oligomers are converted into cyclic oligomers with 2-4 repeating units via depolimerization . These rings can then be converted into polymers (MW> 5 kg / mol) within minutes via ring-opening polymerization . This method does not lead to undesired by-products or coloration of the product and is more energy efficient. This process is intended to reduce production time from several days to a few hours. Together with Sulzer , ETH is investigating how this process can be implemented in mass production.

properties

Comparison of polyethylene furanoate and polyethylene terephthalate

Compared to PET, PEF offers numerous advantages such as:

PEF requires fewer additives than PET.

PEF has very good barrier properties (previously difficult to achieve with most bio-based polymers):

  • O 2 barrier - 6 times larger than PET
  • CO 2 barrier - 3 times better than PET
  • H 2 O barrier - 2 times better than PET
  • Bottles made from PEF do not require any multilayer

Compared to PET, PEF also has interesting mechanical properties:

  • Higher modulus of elasticity
  • Higher tensile strength
  • Is easy. It has a density similar to PET.

Thermal properties:

  • Lower melting point (T m )
  • Higher glass transition temperature (T G )
  • A higher thermal stability without heat setting
  • Bottles can be filled hot at approx. 93 ° C.
property PEF PET comment
Glass transition temperature (T G ). 84–90 (° C) 67–81 (° C) Suitable for filling beverages hot
Melting point (T m ) 195–220–265 (° C) 250–270 (° C) Co-extrusion possible
Heat stable up to 325 (° C)
density 1.43 (g / cm³) 1.36 (g / cm³)
Young's modulus of elasticity E 3.0-3.5 (GPa) 2.1-3.1 (GPa) For rigid bottles
Greater stackability
tensile strenght 90-100 (MPa) 50-60 (MPa)

Applications

Bottles

  • Calculations show that PEF, due to its excellent barrier properties, can also be used completely with traditional, multi-million tonnes of packaging material such as Aluminum cans, multilayer packaging and smaller, multilayer PET bottles would be competitive in both price and applications if produced on a large scale.
  • In contrast to PET, bottles made of PEF can be completely recycled.
  • Bottles made from PEF have a longer lifespan than those made from PET.

The beverage manufacturer Coca-Cola , the French beverage and food group Danone and the Austrian packaging manufacturer ALPLA develop 100% bio-based PEF bottles.

Movies

PEF films can be designed as rigid or flexible film packaging. Compared to BOPET, PEF has the same thermomechanical and surface properties.

The Swiss holding company for companies in the machine industry, Wifag-Polytype Holding AG, enters into partnerships to develop thermoformed PEF products such as fibers, films, etc., ready for the market.

Fibers

The main uses of PEF fibers include apparel, carpets, home furniture, disposables, fabrics, diapers, filters and industrial fibers .

In 2014 Avantium showed the possibility of producing 100% bio-based t-shirts from 100% bio-based fibers .

Engineering plastics

Engineering plastics can be developed from copolymers .

recycling

PEF is not biodegradable, but it can be burned in a CO 2 -neutral way. PEF is recyclable and thus has a reduced CO 2 ecological balance. Bottles made of PEF can be recognized by infrared radiation and separated from PET bottles. Rejected PEF can be shredded and integrated as rPEF into the rPET recycling streams with up to 5% rPEF without affecting the properties of PET. In the second phase, if PEF were to be produced on a larger scale, it would be more economical to process the two plastics separately.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ This substance has either not yet been classified with regard to its hazardousness or a reliable and citable source has not yet been found.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Polyethylene Furanoate (PEF) - The Rising Star Amongst Today's Bioplastics . Omnexus. July 31, 2018. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
  3. ↑ First quarrel, now emergency brake. In: transkript.de. Retrieved January 4, 2019 .
  4. ↑ a b The POLYESTER of the FUTURE . Avalon Industries.
  5. ↑ a b PEF challenges PET to battle . July 25, 2018. Retrieved November 20, 2018.
  6. ↑ Jan-Georg Rosenboom, Diana Kay Hohl, Peter Fleckenstein, Giuseppe Storti, Massimo Morbidelli: Bottle-grade polyethylene furanoate from ring-opening polymerisation of cyclic oligomers . (pdf) In: nature communications . 9, No. 2701, July 2018. doi : 10.1038 / s41467-018-05147 .
  7. ↑ FDCA bioplastics, Biobased Monomers for PEF . Corbion Purac / bioplastics. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
  8. ↑ Products & applications, yxy . avantium. Retrieved November 20, 2018.