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Biobased Materials

Life Cycle Assessment demonstrates significantly lower carbon footprint of Avantium’s plantMPG™

1:55 min Biobased Material
Amsterdam, Netherlands

Avantium has published Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) data for its plantMPG™ (plant-based mono-propylene glycol) from its Ray Technology™: a chemical intermediate used in a variety of applications including in functional fluids and unsaturated polyester resins. The ISO-certified LCA for plantMPG™ shows a significant improvement of up to 81% in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over the full life cycle when Avantium’s plantMPG™ is compared with its incumbents.

Avantium partnered with Sphera to perform a cradle-to-grave LCA for plantMPG™, produced with its Ray Technology™ from sucrose derived from Dutch sugar beet. The LCA takes into account wastewater treatment as the end-of-life for plantMPG™ 1 . Avantium’s plantMPG™ is compared to incumbent MPG production routes from fossil raw materials (naphtha- and shale-derived propylene) and renewable raw materials (soy- and rapeseed-derived glycerine). For the plantMPG™ production process, electricity from wind power, green hydrogen based on wind power and thermal energy from natural gas was assumed 2 . The plantMPG™ LCA study has been conducted according to the guidelines of ISO 14040/14044 and has been reviewed by an external independent critical review panel.

The impact on climate change of plantMPG™ is significantly lower, with 50% to 81% lower GHG emissions, compared to fossil-based and biobased incumbents 3 . The climate change reduction for plantMPG™ is largely driven by the use of plant-based feedstock (sugar beet) and the resulting biogenic nature, with the carbon being absorbed and stored by the sugar beets and re-entering the natural carbon cycle at the end of life of plantMPG™. Furthermore, the non-renewable primary energy demand of plantMPG™ is significantly lower (-41% to -82%) compared to other fossil and renewable MPG alternatives. PlantMPG™ also outperforms all incumbent MPG technologies in water use (-13% to -99%). "

"The LCA clearly demonstrates the potential of Avantium's plantMPG™ to help reducing global warming. As 100% plant-based intermediate, plantMPG™ entails a significantly lower carbon footprint compared to its alternatives. This accommodates the global need to transition to climate neutrality and a green future”, says Math Lambalk, Business Development Manager at Avantium Renewable Chemistries and responsible for the plantMPG™ LCA.

A summary of the LCA, also addressing other relevant impact categories, is available on the Avantium website: http://www.avantium.com/sustainability/LCA

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1 In applications such as aircraft deicing and laundry detergents (home care), MPG will be subjected to wastewater treatment as end-of-Life scenario.

2 The life cycle impacts of plantMPG™ are sensitive to assumptions around energy sources. Given a scenario using the national electricity grid mix, grey hydrogen based on natural gas and thermal energy from biomass for the Ray Technology™ production, significant changes to total results compared to the base case results occur for climate change, primary energy demand, marine eutrophication, land use and water use. 

3 The incumbent routes are based on Ganzheitliche Bilanzierung (GaBi) datasets with average country level data for the technologies assessed.

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www.avantium.com/

plantMPG™ LCA study

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