Origin Materials and Terphane collaborate for bio-based F&B and industrial pack films

04 Aug 2023 --- Origin Materials and Terphane, a global leader in specialty PET polyester films, biaxially-oriented PET (BOPET), are partnering to produce environmentally sustainable, high-performance bio-polymer films. 

Terphane, part of Tredegar Corporation, signed a multi-year capacity reservation agreement to purchase the advanced bio-polymer polyethylene furanoate (PEF) for use in film applications, including F&B packaging and high-value industrial applications. 

BOPEF is biaxially oriented PEF, and together with BOPET, the stretched polymer films are valued for their strength, transparency, barrier properties and electrical insulation. 

“We are pleased to partner with Terphane, a trusted global leader in films with expansive customer and partner relationships,” says Rich Riley, co-CEO of Origin Materials. “We are thrilled to work together to develop advanced, performance-enhanced products that help to enable a net zero material economy. This partnership represents further progress in Origin’s mission to enable the world’s transition to sustainable materials.”

Marcos Vieira, global director of R&D for Terphane, says “the development of this film will be critical to our efforts to meet this new global demand for [environmentally] sustainable flexible packaging solutions.”

Properties and recycling 
Vieira explains that the film is partially made from PEF and has all the traditional properties of a regular PET film, including post-consumption recycling. “In addition, PEF provides an excellent thermal resistance and superior barrier performance, extending the shelf life of the packaged products. Initial tests in the US proved the material works perfectly in extrusion lines.”

Origin Materials’ patented technology platform represents a potential breakthrough in commercializing cost-competitive and low-carbon PEF. Made from furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), the primary precursor to PEF, Origin PEF is a polymer with an attractive combination of environmental sustainability and performance characteristics for packaging including enhanced barrier properties. 

Origin Materials expects its PEF to be 100% plant-based, fully recyclable, have beneficial unit economics and offer a significantly reduced carbon footprint, with superior strength, thermal properties and barrier properties compared to today’s widely used petroleum-based materials.

Earlier this week, the carbon-negative materials company partnered with Husky Technologies to polymerize the bio-based chemical FDCA into PET for advanced packaging.

Origin expects to develop and sell 100% bio-based, low-carbon “PET/F” polymers offering full recyclability and “superior performance” compared to traditional 100% petroleum-derived PET.

Edited by Natalie Schwertheim

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