Teijin Aramid and Avantium Enter Partnership to Explore Green High-Performance Polymers

AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS, October 06, 2010 (Press-News.org) Teijin Aramid and Avantium announced today that they have entered into an R&D partnership to explore high-performance polymers. The partnership builds on Teijin Aramid's world leading position of polyaramids and Avantium's catalytic technology for producing building blocks for green materials and fuels. Avantium is a research and technology company that is unlocking a new generation of biobased chemical building blocks, under the brand name YXY.

The companies will work together to explore the properties and commercial potential of high-performance polymers containing YXY building blocks. The companies will produce a range of polymer products containing Avantium's YXY building blocks. Subsequently, Teijin Aramid plans to test these products for different applications. Teijin Aramid and Avantium have entered into a multi-year collaboration agreement with milestones for monitoring the progress towards commercialization of these new polymers. The partners have successfully secured a government grant to support part of the work under the agreement.

Gert Frederiks, CEO & President of Teijin Aramid: "Teijin Aramid is dedicated to fully understand the needs and requirements of our customers in order to empower their products and their business with the best solutions. We are therefore constantly looking for new ways to improve our polymer products and processes in order to deliver maximum added value to our customers. In Avantium we have found a partner that is excelling in the field of advanced high-throughput R&D and offers a line of bio-based chemical building blocks for green polymers that will enable us to realize this ambition."

"By partnering with Teijin Aramid we can develop a novel and exciting application for our YXY building blocks," said Tom van Aken, CEO of Avantium. "Together with Teijin Aramid we aim to achieve a set of unique properties for polymer products using our bio-based YXY building blocks. Teaming up with Teijin Aramid, a leader in this field, clearly accelerates the application development of materials containing YXY building blocks. This agreement is an important step to explore high-value added applications for our YXY bio-based materials."

About YXY
Avantium has developed YXY - a family of green building blocks for making materials and fuels that can compete on price and performance. YXY (pronounced ~ixy) is a patented technology that converts biomass into Furanics. It is the perfect solution for today's challenges as it uses carbohydrates as feedstock, enabling the manufacture of green and sustainable products. This fast and cost-effective production process is based on Avantium's catalytic technology. YXY can be implemented in existing chemical production methods. Avantium collaborates with leading companies such as NatureWorks, Teijin Aramid and DAF Trucks to start using green materials and fuels based on YXY building blocks. See www.yxy.com for more information.

About Teijin Aramid
Teijin Aramid is a subsidiary of the Teijin Group with a passion for aramid with her products Twaron, Sulfron, Teijinconex and Technora. These are renowned for their strength, sustainability, heat resistance and low weight and can be found worldwide in different applications and markets including automotive, ballistic protection, marine, civil engineering, protective clothing, optical fiber cables, and oil & gas. The four high-performance aramids are produced in the Netherlands and Japan. Teijin Aramid works on innovations continuously, often in cooperation with clients and partners. More information is available on www.teijinaramid.com.

About Avantium
Avantium is a leading technology company specialized in the area of advanced high-throughput R&D. The company develops and commercializes YXY - its new brand name for chemical building blocks for making green materials and fuels that can compete on price and performance. Avantium has demonstrated the value and commercial potential of its unique technology and knowledge by collaborating with leading companies in the energy and chemical industries. Avantium has a global customer base for its profitable R&D services and systems offering, including market leaders such as BP, Shell and Sasol. Avantium offices and headquarters are based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

For more information about Avantium, please contact Mariette Hoogendoorn at +31 20 586 8010 or visit the corporate website: www.avantium.com or the product website www.yxy.com.

Avantium is a leading technology company in the area of advanced high-throughput R&D operating in the energy, chemicals and pharmaceutical industries. The company develops products and processes in the area of biofuels, bio-based chemicals and novel crystal forms of existing drugs by applying its proprietary, high-throughput R&D technology.

Avantium has demonstrated the potential of this technology by providing R&D services and tools to more than 70 companies worldwide. Avantium's customer base includes many of the world's largest energy, chemicals and pharmaceutical companies, such as BP, Shell, Sasol, Pfizer and GSK. Avantium has more than 100 employees; its offices and headquarters are based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.