Researchers from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland have devised a method for transforming agricultural waste into a possible replacement for plastic in common products such a food packaging.

The team is attempting to use food waste — such as citrus peels or sugar beet pulp — as a raw material for creating a bio-based polyethylene furanoate (PEF), thereby replacing fossil-based polyethylene terephthalate (PET). To accomplish this, the VTT team used a stable intermediate for the manufacture of FDCA (2,5-furandicarboxylic acid), which is one of the monomers of PEF.

For food packaging, the team believes that PEF-based material would lower the carbon footprint of PET-based food packaging. Additionally, the PEF-based packaging will reportedly reduce waste because the material is fully recyclable and renewable.

According to the VTT team, the PEF polymer also demonstrated improved barrier properties, which subsequently promises to improve the shelf life of foods packaged in the PEF-based material.

The article detailing the research — "A unique pathway to platform chemicals: aldaric acids as stable intermediates for the synthesis of furandicarboxylic acid esters"— was published in the journal Green Chemistry.