Carbios is a French green chemistry company created in 2011. The company develops enzyme-based processes to break down polymers into their original monomers. Reinventing the end of life of polymers is one of the main challenges of our time to build a more sustainable and environmentally friendly society. Carbios is developing a recycling process for polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a polymer used in plastic packaging and textile (70 million tons produced globally in 2017). Carbios has developed and engineered an enzyme, which is a biological catalyst that specifically breaks down PET into terephthalic acid (TA) and monoethylene glycol (MEG). 90% of PET can be depolymerized in only 10h in mild conditions, allowing an industrial use. The enzyme is very efficient on a huge diversity of waste, such as clear bottles, colored bottles, opaque bottles, multilayer trays, colored textiles and multicomponent textiles. The monomers can then be purified in order to remove colorants, pigments and other additives. It is thus possible to produce 100% recycled PET with quality equivalent to virgin PET, suitable for all applications. This innovation allows the transition from a linear to a real circular economy. Carbios’ economic development model is based on the industrialization and commercialization of its enzymes and processes through license concessions directly or through joint ventures to major industrial players.

Carbios, the first and only company to have developed an enzymatic depolymerization process to recycle polyester PET in plastic and textile waste

ACS Fall 2020 Virtual Meeting

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