News daily updated News at www.bioplasticsmagazine.com Carbios enzymatic recycling technology Carbios (Saint-Beauzire, France) recently announced the validation of the 3 rd and final technical step of the CE- PET research project, co-funded by ADEME (France’s Environment and Energy Management Agency), for which Carbios is the lead partner alongside its academic partner Toulouse White Biotechnology (Toulouse, France). This achievement confirms, once again, the full potential and breadth of Carbios' enzymatic recycling process, C-ZYME. This breakthrough innovation makes it possible to produce a wide variety of products of equivalent quality to those of petro-sourced origin from any PET waste, including textiles. The first white PET fibre recycled enzymatically from coloured textile waste Worldwide, around 90 million tonnes of PET are produced each year, more than 2/3 of which are used to manufacture fibres. However, only 13 % of textile waste is currently recycled, mainly for downcycling, i.e. for lower quality applications (such as padding, insulators, or rags). By successfully manufacturing at pilot scale a white PET fibre that is 100 % enzymatically recycled from coloured textile waste, Carbios is paving the way for the circular economy in the textile industry. C-ZYME is now on the doorstep of industrialization and will soon enable the biggest brands to move closer to their sustainability goals. Textile waste that can also be used to manufacture food contact packaging In November 2020, Carbios had already produced the first transparent bottles from textile waste. These 100 % recycled PET bottles have now passed the food contact validation tests. This is an important step that paves the way for the use of a new waste source for the production of biorecycled PET food packaging. Separate collection of textile waste soon to be mandatory in Europe from 1 January 2025 the separate collection of textile waste, which is already in place in some countries, will be mandatory for all EU Member States (European Directive 2018/851 on waste). Carbios’ process will be one of the solutions that will enable this waste to be sustainably recovered and included in a truly circular economy model. These technological validations were carried out as part of the CE-PET research project, co-funded by ADEME. In particular, the project aimed to develop Carbios' enzymatic PET recycling process on textile waste. The C-ZYME technology is complementary to thermomechanical recycling and will make it possible to process plastic and textile waste deposits that are currently not or poorly recovered. For the validation of this stage of the project, Carbios received EUR 827,200 (EUR 206,800 in grants and EUR 620,400 in repayable advances). AT www.carbios.com/en Biobased epicerol Technip Energies (Nanterre, France) announced that OCIKUMHO, a joint venture between OCIM (Kuching, Malaysia) and Kumho P&B Chemicals (Seoul, South Korea) has signed a license agreement for a 100,000 tonnes/a EPICEROL ® plant for the production of epichlorohydrin (ECH) from glycerine. ECH is a compound mainly used to produce epoxy resins. Its main applications serve the clean energy market, such as wind, solar, tidal, and electricity transmission, providing corrosion protection coatings. It is also used in the industrial, automotive, and packaging industries and as composites in the aerospace industry. Using a biobased raw material, Ocikumho’s unit will be integrated into a new processing complex using electricity made by hydropower, in Sarawak, Malaysia to serve the growing ECH market. Ocikumho will be the first to manufacture epichlorohydrin in Malaysia. Bhaskar Patel, Senior Vice President Sustainable Fuels, Chemicals and Circularity, commented: “Epicerol offers a cost-effective process with a reduced carbon footprint compared to traditional propylene-based ECH. This breakthrough technology produces no wastewater, fewer emissions, effluents, and harmful by-products, making it one of the most environmentally friendly processes possible”.AT www.technipenergies.com Electrochemical conversion of CO 2 Avantium (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), announced that it has been awarded a EUR 3 million grant by the EU Horizon Europe programme for its participation in the 4-year research and development programme WaterProof. This programme aims to demonstrate the value of electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) into high-value chemicals and products. Avantium is a frontrunner in developing and commercialising innovative technologies for the production of chemicals and materials based on sustainable carbon feedstocks, i.e. carbon from plants or carbon from the air (CO 2 ). One of Avantium’s innovative technology platforms is called Volta Technology and uses electrochemistry to convert CO 2 to high-value products and chemical building blocks such as formic acid, oxalic acid, and glycolic acid. The latter two are key building blocks for polyesters and other materials, allowing the production of CO 2 -negative plastics. The WaterProof programme aims to demonstrate the full value chain of a closed carbon cycle. Under this programme, Avantium will convert CO 2 , from wastewater purification and waste incineration into formic acid using its proprietary catalytic electrochemistry platform. This formic acid can then be used to make new consumer products. This project will demonstrate that competitive and profitable business opportunities can be created by turning CO 2 into value-added products. AT www.avantium.com 6 bioplastics MAGAZINE [03/22] Vol. 17
