The News

Jeff Kolstad joins Avantium as Chief Scientist to accelerate bioplastics development

05/08/2011

August 5, 2011 - Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Today Avantium announced that Dr. Jeffrey J. Kolstad has joined Avantium as Chief Scientist. Jeff Kolstad will strengthen Avantium’s team in developing a next generation of bioplastics on the basis of its YXY technology.  Previously Chief Scientist at NatureWorks (formerly Cargill-Dow) he was one of the founding team members for developing and commercializing PLA (polylactic-acid), a biobased polymer. The team developed the process and polymer technology, moving it from laboratory scale, to pilot plant, into a fully commercial 140,000 MT/yr manufacturing facility in Blair, Nebraska, USA. Jeff was also responsible for managing the intellectual property portfolio and IP strategy of NatureWorks. Prior to NatureWorks, Jeff worked in the Corporate Research centers at Cargill,Inc. and Amoco Oil Company. He holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the Princeton University.   Tom van Aken, CEO of Avantium: “Jeff brings highly valuable expertise and experience to Avantium in the field of biopolymer development. He is one of the few experts in the world who has firsthand experience in bringing a new biobased plastic to the market. Jeff will be a great asset for Avantium when we work towards the commercialization of our YXY technology for bioplastics in a range of applications and end markets”.  

”I am excited to be joining Avantium at this stage of the YXY development,” said Jeff Kolstad.  “These new materials take full advantage of the opportunity brought by a renewable, carbohydrate based feedstock.  We have the potential to develop new polymers at a competitive price, with improved performance relative to their petrochemical based counterparts, while maintaining a high carbon efficiency.”   Avantium is developing its YXY technology for the cost effective production of Furanics building blocks. The company is building a pilot plant to demonstrate its YXY technology and to produce larger volumes of YXY building blocks for application development of new, green plastics, chemicals and materials. Earlier this year, Avantium announced that is actively developing PEF, a 100% renewable and 100% recyclable polyester as alternative to petroleum based PET. Avantium has also partnered with Solvay for the development of green polyamides for engineering plastics and with Teijin Aramid for the development of green high-performance fibers. 

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