Avantium Signs Offtake Agreements on PEF with AmBev and LVMH Group

Technology company in renewable chemistry Avantium, Amsterdam, has signed an offtake agreement with AmBev, the Brazilian brewing company, part of the AB InBev Group, the largest beer company in the world. AmBev will purchase PEF (polyethylene furanoate) - a 100% plant based and recyclable alternative to plastic - from Avantium’s Flagship Plant and will use it to make bottles for its soft drinks portfolio.

Also, the company has signed a conditional offtake agreement with world luxury goods leader LVMH Group (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton). With this offtake agreement, LVMH Perfumes & Cosmetics Houses has secured a fixed volume of PEF from Avantium’s Flagship Plant for its cosmetics packaging.

Avantium is currently constructing the world’s first commercial plant for the production of FDCA (furandicarboxylic acid) from plant-based sugars in Delfzijl, The Netherlands. FDCA is the key ingredient for making the plant-based, highly recyclable plastic material PEF, which has superior performance properties compared to today’s widely used petroleum-based packaging materials. Avantium expects to open this FDCA Flagship Plant by the end of 2023, enabling the commercial launch of PEF from 2024 onwards.

Over the past year, AmBev and Avantium have worked closely together to develop multilayer bottles for AmBev soft drinks, where PEF is used as a 100% plant-based and recyclable high-barrier liner in PET bottles. In addition to the sustainability benefits, PEF also has excellent functional advantages, such as outstanding barrier properties. PEF’s oxygen barrier is ten times better than PET, and its CO₂ barrier is sixteen times better. This not only leads to a longer shelf life, but also maximises the taste and fizziness of the soft drink.

Earlier this year, the research branch of LVMH joined the PEFerence consortium coordinated by Avantium, to team up with other leading brands and value chain partners to facilitate the commercialisation of PEF. Over the past year, LVMH and Avantium have worked closely together to assess the potential of Avantium’s PEF as a sustainable packaging solution for LVMH beauty brands, which includes Parfums Christian Dior, Givenchy Parfums, Guerlain and many others. With those test results proving successful, LVMH Perfumes & Cosmetics Houses has now decided to sign an offtake agreement, as the first luxury cosmetics company, further enabling the commercial introduction of PEF to the cosmetics market.

This past June, Avantium announced its collaboration with global brewery group Carlsberg to take the next step in the commercialization of PEF. Carlsburg has signed a conditional offtake agreement with Avantium to secure a fixed volume of PEF from Avantium’s FDCA Flagship Plant. Carlsberg will use the PEF resin for various beer packaging applications, including its Fibre Bottle—the biobased and fully recyclable beer bottle. Carlsberg has also launched a trial of its latest Fibre Bottle, which contains an inner barrier layer of PEF produced in Avantium’s current pilot plant. Carlsberg will sample the Fibre Bottle to 8,000 consumers and other selected stakeholders in eight pilot markets in Western Europe.