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Investment

BASF threatens to end Synvina joint venture with Avantium

by Marc S. Reisch
October 19, 2018 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 96, Issue 42

 

BASF is threatening to pull out of its Synvina furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) joint venture with renewable chemical developer Avantium. The two disagree over the timing of an investment decision on a facility planned for BASF’s site in Antwerp, Belgium. Biobased FDCA is used to make polyethylene furanoate, an alternative to polyethylene terephthalate used for soda bottles. When the venture was set up in 2016, the partners anticipated starting up their FDCA plant in 2021 at a cost of up to $600 million. However, earlier this year, Avantium said the plant wouldn’t actually start up until 2023 or 2024. According to Avantium, BASF is refusing to delay a review of the plant’s progress that the 2016 agreement pegs for the fourth quarter of 2018. “We are surprised by BASF’s position,” says Avantium CEO Tom van Aken, who adds that his firm will pursue the project “with or without BASF.” Synvina is ahead of its timeline to resolve the technical issues that led to the postponement, van Aken says. Avantium says the two firms are discussing an amicable settlement.

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