Not long ago, DuPont Industrial Biosciences and Archer Daniels Midland announced a new breakthrough process in producing FDME from fructose, with “the potential to expand the materials landscape in the 21st century with exciting and truly novel, high-performance renewable materials”, the companies said in a joint release.
FDME is furan dicarboxylic methyl ester. The technology has applications in packaging, textiles, engineering plastics and many other industries.
One of the first polymers under development utilizing FDME is polytrimethylene furandicarboxylate (PTF), a novel polyester also made from DuPont’s proprietary Bio-PDO (1,3-propanediol). PTF is a 100-percent renewable and recyclable polymer that, when used to make bottles and other beverage packages, substantially improves gas-barrier properties compared to other polyesters. This makes PTF a great choice for customers in the beverage packaging industry looking to improve the shelf life of their products.
DuPont Industrial Biosciences’ ebullient business director for biomaterials, Michael Saltzman, gave this illuminating overview of DuPont and ADM’s progress towards FDME in this presentation deck.
