Carbios successfully depolymerizes 100% of PET waste with its enzymatic recycling process

French green chemistry company Carbios said a major step is made in the development of its enzymatic depolymerization process of polyesters rending it applicable to polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

This process enabled for the first time the depolymerization of 100% amorphous PET based commercial products into its original monomers, terephthalic acid (TPA) and ethylene glycol (EG).

Applying this selective depolymerization to PET enables the regeneration of monomers while maintaining the same quality and physicochemical properties as their petroleum-based counterparts, according to the company.

After separation and purification, the monomers extracted from the enzymatic recycling process developed by Carbios could then be used for the synthesis of virgin PET, therefore avoiding any loss in value of the recycled material.

The new milestone is achieved with the THANAPLAST project, of which Carbios collaborates with INRA, TWB and the laboratory LISPB from INSA Toulouse in France.

Pierre Monsan, founding-director of TWB, said, "We are particularly proud of these results. They reflect the success of a public-private partnership dedicated to the development of competitive ecological innovations optimizing the life-cycle of plastics. It's with the vision and commitment of companies such as Carbios that we'll soon be able to bring this disruptive innovation to an industrial stage."

In addition, Carbios said the processes use highly selective enzymes, eliminating the need for a sorting step and offering the prospect of a 100% recycling rate and the production of high performance plastics composed entirely of recycled PET (rPET).

"We are very proud of these results, which lend further credibility to the innovation strategy and collaborative model established within the framework of the THANAPLAST project. We are also conducting advanced discussions with many major players in the industry in order to quickly bring our innovation to an industrial level," stated Jean-Claude Lumaret, CEO of Carbios.