Polyethylene terephthalate or simply PET is a synthetic polymer created by the combination of two monomers: modified ethylene glycol and purified terephthalic acid. Labeled with the #1 code on or near the bottom of bottles and containers, it is prized for its strength, thermo-stability, and transparency; PET is a popular choice for packaging since it is inexpensive, lightweight, resealable, shatter-resistant and recyclable.
It is the most widely used component of plastic, and is set to reach 100M tons in the next 10 years. The plus side of this material is that it is highly recyclable, the U.S. recycling rate is about 30%, while it is 52% in the European Union.
The French biotech, Carbios has now partnered up with the biotech TechnipFMC, a global player in the energy industry to take its PET recycling process a notch up higher and to overcome the limitations of current thermo-mechanical recycling processes using an enzyme-based degradation process that paves the way to infinite recycling of the plastic.
Carbios’ technology leans on the ability of enzymes to depolymerize all PET-containing plastics to give monomers, which in turn can be used to regenerate virgin PET directly from plastic waste.
The company is also simultaneously working on producing plastics from biomass by teaming up
with companies like Dutch Avantium, and Italian Bio-on.“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,” said Alain François, General Manager of the TechnipFMC.
