Transition to a Bio-Based Economy: Worley Takes on FEED for Avantium’s New Plant

Worley has been awarded the front-end engineering design (FEED) contract to develop Avantium’s flagship plant, supporting the transition to a bio-based economy for plastics. This plant will produce 100% plant-based FDCA (furandicarboxylic acid), a crucial component for various chemicals and plastics.

Avantium announced that its subsidiary, Avantium Renewable Polymers, will build the new plant in Delfzijl, the Netherlands. The facility will use innovative technology to convert plant sugars into sustainable chemicals and plastics, including the next-generation plastic material PEF (polyethylene furanoate).

PEF is a novel, fully recyclable, bio-based polymer with enhanced barrier performance and thermal properties. It has the potential to significantly impact the packaging, textiles, and film industries.

Avantium Renewable Polymers has demonstrated its new YXY® plant-to-plastics technology in a pilot plant. Worley is conducting the FEED for the new plant, which will make FDCA and PEF commercially available. Having completed the concept development phase in March, Avantium is ready to progress to commercial scale.

“The Worley team brings strong expertise in technology assessment and extensive experience in scaling up first-of-a-kind plants. We highly value our collaboration with Worley in this next exciting stage of development,” said Tom van Aken, CEO of Avantium.

Paul Seaton, President of E&C Services Europe & Central Asia, added: “We are delighted to collaborate with Avantium in bringing this new plastic material to the market. Avantium’s technology development, operations of the pilot plant, and experienced team inspire confidence for scaling up towards a first commercial flagship plant and beyond.”

The PEFerence project is a five-year EU flagship initiative to establish a supply chain for FDCA and PEF. It has received funding from the Bio-Based Industries Joint Undertaking under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program.

Worley aims to complete the FEED phase by the end of this year, enabling Avantium to make a final investment decision for the flagship plant’s construction by the end of 2020. The plant is scheduled to start operations in 2023.

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