#Recycling / Circular Economy

2022-01-20

Carbios accelerates its industrial development

Carbios (Euronext Growth Paris: ALCRB), a pioneer in the development of enzymatic solutions dedicated to the end-of-life of plastic and textile polymers, today announced it will accelerate the industrial development of its revolutionary enzymatic recycling process (C-ZYME™) with the construction of its reference unit in Europe.

This industrial scale-up is supported by the excellent results obtained at the demonstration plant, which launched in September 2021

Two world-class PET producers have been shortlisted to host the reference unit operating Carbios’ technology and the final choice of a European site will soon be communicated

After studying several potential location proposals, Carbios has shortlisted two of the worlds’ leading PET producers to host this future reference unit. The industrial sites considered are in Europe, including one in France.

“To consolidate our strategy and be ready for 2025, the date by which major industrial players are aiming for 100% recyclable and recycled packaging, we are entering the final stage of our industrial development. Discussions with our potential partners and public authorities are in process and we can expect the location of our future first-of-its-kind reference unit to be announced in the coming weeks,” said Emmanuel Ladent, Chief Executive Officer of Carbios.

The excellent results obtained from Carbios’ industrial demonstration plant, which began operations last September in France, confirmed the industrial scale-up potential of the Company’s technology. With regard to the core of Carbios’ recycling process, the depolymerization kinetics and yields obtained are identical to those achieved in the Pilot facility. “These promising results allow us to envision a large-scale deployment of Carbios’ enzymatic recycling process,” said Prof. Alain Marty, Carbios’ Chief Scientific Officer.

Carbios’ industrial teams are completing the comparative audits of the potential industrial sites submitted by PET manufacturers. This team has also been strengthened with the recruitment of additional expert talent and is already working on the development plans for the construction of the reference unit. Engineering work has begun and is expected to be completed by the end of the year. Additionally, Carbios continues to work with renowned industrial partners such as Technip Energies and Novozymes.

C-ZYME™ is a response to the rising concern of plastic pollution. This world-first enzymatic technology converts PET (the dominant plastic in bottles, trays and polyester textiles) into its basic components, which can then be used to make 100% recycled and 100% recyclable PET, without loss of quality. The transition to a circular plastic economy will be accelerated by the industrialization of this disruptive process.

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