French green chemistry firm Carbios has signed an agreement with TechnipFMC to move its enzymatic recycling process for PET plastics from the laboratory to the pilot scale.
Carbios is seeking to combat the limits of existing thermo-mechanical recycling processes using an enzyme-based degradation process, which paves the way to infinite recycling of PET.
The annual production of PET is expected to reach 100 million tons in the next 10 years and Carbios is working to make its life cycle much more sustainable.
Carbios said the innovation will enable to produce virgin PET from plastic waste. The contract covers support to the French firm for the scale up of its process to make sure industrial competitiveness.
Carbios’ innovation offers an industrial solution to satisfy the demand for sustainable development of PET production processes.
The assistance will further intend to support the development of the project and define the bases of the industrial process.
The contract will allow Carbios to benefit from TechnipFMC’s expertise in bioprocess engineering and from its German affiliate Technip Zimmer, in PET polymerization technologies.
TechnipFMC operating center general manager Alain François said: “We have gained a solid experience in process engineering and we are very enthusiastic at the idea to assist Carbios in shaping the industrialization of this innovation.
“It’s a premiere in the world of green chemistry to which we can bring our expertise and know-how in the fields of process industrialization, engineering and project management.”
Carbios general manager Jean Claude Lumaret said: “This agreement is another step in thetransition of our PET biorecycling process from the status of disruptive innovation to a leading industrial technology.”