by HelenaTavares Kennedy (Biofuels Digest) …News arrived from France that Carbios has made quite a leap forward on breaking down and recycling plastic bottles thanks to their enzymatic recycling technology leading the way to recycle plastic bottles not into clothing or carpet, but into, well, plastic bottles.
Carbios’s development of a novel enzyme, which can biologically depolymerize all polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic waste, followed by an extremely efficient recycling into new bottles is what it’s all about.
By leveraging many years of experience with a world-renowned team, Carbios and TBI are proud to have been able to increase the degradation yield of PET waste to 90% in 10 hours, a significant upswing from the initial degradation yield of 1% after several weeks. This paradigm shift in how effectively PET can be recycled, is leading toward a future circular economy technology applicable to all PET waste, which Carbios is proud to be spearheading.
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Well, yes, but the “main recycling process for PET, via thermomechanical means, results in a loss of mechanical properties,” which means it often is recycled into other things like clothing or carpets, but not back into PET bottles. “Consequently, de novo synthesis is preferred and PET waste continues to accumulate. With a high ratio of aromatic terephthalate units—which reduce chain mobility—PET is a polyester that is extremely difficult to hydrolyse,” according to Carbios. “Several PET hydrolase enzymes have been reported, but show limited productivity.”
However, Carbios’ recycling process, the first of its kind, initiates a real transition to a circular economy and can better prevent plastic pollution from harming our oceans and planet. This innovative technology also paves the way for recycling PET fibers, another major challenge in guaranteeing a clean and protected environment for future generations.
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While Carbios couldn’t give details on who or what PET producer they are working with to get this technology into the marketplace, Marty (Prof. Alain Marty, Carbios’ Chief Scientific Officer) told The Digest in an exclusive interview, “We plan to license our technology in 2022-2023 so that our 1st licensee, very likely a PET producer, will start-up his plant by 2024-2025.”
The plan is to “license units where PET is produced and consumed, i.e. everywhere (Europe, Asia, Americas),” and the more long-term goal is “to have several million metric tons of capacity installed, compared to a current worldwide production of PET of 70 million tons annually,” according to Marty. READ MORE
An engineered PET depolymerase to break down and recycle plastic bottles (Nature)
New Mutant Enzyme Breaks Down Plastic Fast – Could Solve Recycling Problems (Our Daily Planet)