ZUG, Switzerland - AVALON Industries AG, the new entity of the Swiss-based company AVA-CO2 Schweiz AG, is taking over all biobased chemistry activities from AVA-CO2 with immediate effect. In order to fully focus on biochemistry, AVA-CO2 has also decided to sell its Hydrothermal Carbonization (HTC) technology to International Power Invest AG, a holding company investing in renewable energy projects. From now on, AVA-CO2 will act as a holding company.

In response to rapid application developments relating to bio-based chemical 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) and following increased 5-HMF demand from value-chain partners, AVALON Industries was created to take advantage of new market opportunities and to prepare for future large-scale production. A subsidiary of AVA-CO2, AVALON Industries is taking over all operational activities from AVA-CO2 and will focus on the global implementation of the Hydrothermal Processing (HTP) technology for the industrial-scale production of 5-HMF. This technology was successfully developed and patented by AVA-CO2 over the last seven years.

All technical, operational and commercial activities as well as the associated rights and obligations currently held by AVA-CO2 are being transferred to AVALON Industries. AVALON Industries will roll out the HTP technology globally to be used in future, large-scale 5-HMF production plants in order to meet the demand of the rapidly growing market for biobased chemicals, specifically in the areas of bioplastics as well as biobased resins and adhesives.

AVA Biochem BSL AG, the operator of the Biochem-1 production plant in Muttenz, Switzerland, becomes an AVALON Industries subsidiary and will continue to focus on 5-HMF production for the fine chemicals market. With this, AVALON Industries is now taking control of the existing 5-HMF production capacity, as well as the expertise and know-how related to the proprietary HTP technology. In this setup, AVALON Industries is fully equipped for the future commercial, industrial-scale implementation of 5-HMF production.

International Power Invest AG, a holding company active in renewable energy projects, has acquired AVA-CO2’s HTC-0 industrial-scale demonstration plant and all relevant HTC intellectual property rights. Among other renewable energy projects, IPI has also invested in the Innovationspark Vorpommern, located in Relzow, Germany, and plans to continue the development and international rollout of the HTC technology.