Upcycling of Agricultural Waste Stream to High‐Molecular‐Weight Bio‐based Poly(ethylene 2,5‐furanoate)

Jukka Niskanen, Riitta Mahlberg, Nicolaas van Strien, Sari Rautiainen, Essi Kivilahti, Kari Koivuranta, Adina Anghelescu‐hakala (Corresponding Author)

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Abstract

Orange peel and sugar beet pulp contain large quantities of pectin, which can be turned via galactaric acid into furan dicarboxylic acid (FDCA) and its esters. In this work, we show the polymerisation of these FDCA esters into high-molecular-weight, 70–100 kg/mol, poly(ethylene 2,5-furanoate) (PEF). PEF is an emerging bio-based alternative for poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), widely used in for example packaging applications. Closing the loop, we also demonstrated and confirmed that PEF can be hydrolysed by enzymes, which are known to hydrolyse PET, back into FDCA for convenient recycling and recovery of monomers.
Original languageEnglish
Article numbere202301551
JournalChemSusChem
Volume17
Issue number9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 8 May 2024
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Keywords

  • bio-based
  • enzymatic degradation
  • furan dicarboxylic acid
  • poly(ethylene 2,5-furanoate)
  • polycondensation

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