Coke Bullish On PlantBottle Despite Feedstock Setback

Coca-Cola says it is committed to its PlantBottle program despite the decision of a supplier, India’s JBF Industries, to cancel plans for a sugar-based ethylene glycol plant in Brazil. Under the PlantBottle program, Coke sells beverages in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles made with plant-derived, rather than petroleum-derived, ethylene glycol. In 2012, Coca-Cola announced a partnership with JBF, which intended to build a 500,000-metric-ton-per-year ethylene glycol plant in Brazil by early 2015. Coke says JBF canceled the plant because of unexpected construction costs and a “challenging international economic environment.” Coke says it is in active discussions with several other partners on a new Brazilian project, which would not open before 2016. Additionally, Coke continues to work with Virent, Gevo, and Avantium on a biobased substitute for the other key PET raw material, purified terephthalic acid.