Origin Materials develops furan platform based on Chloromethyl Furfural

Origin Materials, a United States and Canada-based material development company founded in 2008, has committed to the commercial manufacture of the versatile, sustainable chemical 5-chloromethyl furfural (CMF).

5-chloromethyl furfural is a highly flexible raw material for many chemistries including para-xylene, purified terephthalic acid (PTA), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), as well as numerous commodity and specialty chemicals through its derivatives, including furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA). At commercial scale, Origin’s process produces CMF with a highly carbon negative cradle-to-gate footprint.

“I joined Origin Materials because I’d spent years in the chemical industry looking for sustainable solutions to chemical industry problems,” says Dr. Robin Gibson, Origin’s UK-based director of Business Development, who joined the company in March of this year.

“You can find many technical solutions that are sustainable, but very few make sense economically. Origin’s technology turns chloromethyl furfural into a disruptive, important molecule with an incredibly wide range of applications in commodity and specialty chemicals. Now, because of Origin’s unique process technology, the carbon footprint of the CMF produced is highly negative and, critically, represents a chemical platform that is very cost competitive with the incumbent petrochem supply chain at scale. It’s an incredibly exciting package.”