Carbios, a French green chemistry company, publishes an article on its PET enzymatic recycling technology in the scientific magazine Nature.

WHY IS THAT GREAT NEWS?

 CARBIOS is a French cutting edge innovative green company and a catalyst for a true circular economy of plastic.

 This is a major step for Carbios and globally for the development of the circular economy. Indeed: 86% of packaging waste is not recycled worldwide. Every year, 150 million tones of plastic waste are generated, of which 9 million tones end up in the oceans and the natural environment.

Up to 120 billion euros (the value of plastic) is disposed of just after a single use. As a result, the world currently produces 70 million tons of PET, which is mainly used for the manufacture of bottles and textile fibers. In particular, 500 billion units of plastic bottles are produced every year.

This is why world-class manufacturers such as L'Oréal, Suntory (notably Orangina and Schweppes), PepsiCo and Nestlé Waters have signed an industrial development agreement with Carbios in 2019. The goal of this four-year partnership is to industrialize this technology and thus increase the availability of recycled plastics. This agreement will also serve to demonstrate the economic and environmental potential of this innovation and to support the development of an industrial value chain genuinely based on the principle of the circular economy.

This publication highlights the innovative nature of the Carbios process for converting plastic waste into new bottles: a step towards the circular economy to sustainably preserve our planet.

Carbios, a French green chemistry company and pioneer in the world of bioplastics, has just published an article in the prestigious scientific journal Nature entitled "An engineered PET-depolymerase to break down and recycle plastic bottles". It is co-signed by Carbios scientists and its academic partner Toulouse Biotechnology Institute (TBI).

Nature is one of the world's oldest and arguably most renowned scientific journals. It was launched in 1869 by the Englishman Joseph Norman Lockyer with a vocation for excellence in all fields of science.

his article describes the development of a new enzyme capable of biologically depolymerizing all plastic waste into polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and recycling it into new bottles. PET is one of the most common thermoplastic polymers on the market. It is used to manufacture bottles, food packaging and polyester textile fibers. The development of this new enzyme, which is a world first, places Carbios' technology as a leading solution to initiate a real transition towards a circular economy and thus better preserve our oceans and the planet from plastic pollution.

To view this publication, visit the Nature website: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2149-4.

This process, which is currently being industrialized, will therefore enable PET packaging and synthetic textile fibers to be recycled in a virtuous manner. An important advantage of this technology is that the enzymatic depolymerization of PET is carried out in an aqueous medium, at low temperature and atmospheric pressure. What remains at the end of the process are: the elementary PET bricks (monomers), free of additives and impurities, and reusable in all original applications (bottles, fibers, trays...).

Prof. Alain Marty, Scientific Director of Carbios and co-author of the Nature article comments: "I am very proud that Nature, one of the most prestigious scientific journals in the world, has validated the quality of the work carried out by Carbios and TBI scientists on the development of our proprietary enzyme and this revolutionary PET recycling process. The performances obtained confirm the industrial and commercial potential of the process, which will be tested from 2021 in our demonstrator in the heart of Lyon's chemical valley. »

Sophie Duquesne, INRAE Research Fellow: "For any researcher, seeing his work recognized by the prestigious journal Nature is a consecration. Also, I am very proud of the work done jointly by TBI and Carbios researchers to bring a sustainable solution to the end-of-life of plastics. »

According to Dr. Saleh Jabarin, Professor Emeritus at the University of Toledo, Ohio, USA and member of the Scientific Council of Carbios: "This innovation is a real breakthrough for PET recycling and production. Thanks to the innovative technology developed by Carbios, the PET industry will become truly circular. This is a major expectation of all the players in this industry, starting with the marketers of plastic products, PET producers and more broadly civil society as a whole. »

Bertrand Piccard, Founder and President of the Solar Impulse Foundation: "I am very pleased that the scientific community recognizes one of the solutions labeled by the Solar Impulse Foundation as financially profitable to protect the environment. The use of such technologies is logical as well as ecological! »

Nature, the scientific journal with the highest Impact Factor, praises the extremely innovative nature of this enzymatic engineering work, which paves the way for the virtuous management of plastic waste. "Carbios is the first company in the world to successfully combine the two sciences of enzymology and plastics processing in this way," said Dr. Philippe Pouletty, CEO of Truffle Capital and co-founder of Carbios.

Drawing on the many years of experience of a world-renowned team, Carbios and TBI are pleased to have been able to increase the degradation yield of PET waste: the enzyme depolymerizes 90% of a post-consumer PET in just 10 hours. This result paves the way for the deployment of circular economy technology applicable to all PET waste, which Carbios is proud to spearhead.

CURRENT USES OF PET: 

As a recyclable bottle, PET is partly CO2-tight, hence its use for lemonade bottles and other sparkling drinks.
Many credit card-sized cards such as membership cards, loyalty cards, discounts, customer cards, etc. are available. They can also be made of PVC or PC (polycarbonate).
Recyclable bottles, PET is CO2-tight, hence its use for lemonade bottles and other sparkling drinks bottles number of credit card-sized cards such as membership card, loyalty, discount, customer, etc. They can also be made of PVC or PC (polycarbonate).

Stuffing of stuffed animals, cushions.
 Textile fibres known as "polar" fibres for the manufacture of clothing (in particular those made from recycled PET).

Oven-resistant packaging.

Coating added on aluminium foil to prevent contact with food.

Metallic, solar eclipse goggles.
 Low cost transparent films for optical applications (LCD screens, instruments).
 Disposable packaging of all kinds (boxes for salads, presentation trays, etc.).

Ligament plastic and reconstructive surgery.

Printed and then thermoformed plates for the manufacture of illuminated signs.

Feathers for competition arrows.

Cardiovascular prostheses.

Protection of game boards for pinball machines.

The sail of high-performance hang gliders.
It is paperless and is used in the comic book preservation project.

On battery skins, in the form of a thin film, arranged to increase the strength and resistance of the skin.

It is one of the materials used by 3D printers, along with nylon or PLA.

About Carbios: Carbios is a green chemistry company whose innovations respond to the environmental and sustainable development issues facing manufacturers. Since its creation in 2011, the Company has developed, thanks to biotechnologies, two industrial processes that are revolutionizing the biodegradation and recycling of polymers. These innovations made possible thanks to the support of BPI France (Project THANAPLAST™, OSEO ISI), are a world first and make it possible to optimize the performance and life cycle of plastics and textiles by exploiting the properties of highly specific enzymes. 

Carbios' business development model is based on the industrialization and commercialization of its products and/or enzymes, technologies and bioprocesses through licensing directly or through joint ventures with major industrial companies in the sectors concerned by the Company's innovations. As such, Carbios created the Carbiolice joint venture in September 2016, in partnership with Limagrain Ingredients and the SPI fund operated by BPI France. This company, majority controlled by Carbios, will exploit the first technology licensed by Carbios by producing enzyme granules used in the manufacture of biodegradable and biosourced plastics.

Carbios benefits from Bpi France's "Innovative Company" qualification, which makes the Company's shares eligible for investment by the FCPI (Fonds Communs de Placement dans l'Innovation).

For more information: www.carbios.fr

About TBI: The Toulouse Biotechnology Institute, located on the campus of the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Toulouse (INSA), combines fundamental and applied research in the field of biotechnology. Multi-institutional (INSA, CNRS, INRAE) and multidisciplinary, combining scientific excellence with economic and societal relevance, the laboratory is positioned in synergy of skills in Life Sciences and Engineering Sciences with a multi-scale and interdisciplinary strategy, associating a large network of public and private collaborators, major national and international players in the bio-economy. TBI's Catalysis & Molecular Enzyme Engineering team associated with this work focuses its research on enzymatic biocatalysts based on a fine understanding of the structure-activity relationships of enzymes and the implementation of advanced technologies and methodologies for catalyst discovery and engineering.

For more information: www.toulouse-biotechnology-institute.fr 

Read the article: CARBIOS and TECHNIPFMC announce the construction of a demonstration plant for the depolymerization of PET plastic waste into monomers.