Origin starts up CMF plant

Origin Materials, which describes itself as a carbon-negative materials company has started up the first commercial-scale biobased chloromethyl furfural (CMF) plant at Sarnia, Ontario. CEO John Bissell said that he expects the  products “to be transformative for the chemical industry and how the world generally makes things”.

CMF is a building block to many downstream products, including paraxylene, the precursor to PET plastic, and furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA), which can be used in sustainable products and materials, such as polyethylene furanoate. The plant will also produce hydrothermal carbon (HTC), with uses in sustainable carbon black for automotive tyres. Both will be based on wood residues.