Carbios and Indorama Ventures jointly announce a collaboration to build a manufacturing plant operating Carbios’ polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bio-recycling technology at Indorama Ventures’ PET production site in Longlaville, France.

The goal is to build and operate in France the world’s first industrial-scale enzymatic PET bio-recycling plant by 2025. The processing capacity is estimated at 50,000 tpy of post-consumer PET waste, equivalent to 2-B PET bottles or 2.5-B PET trays.

After the positive results of Indorama Ventures’ initial analysis on the technical soundness of Carbios’ technology over the past several months, both parties agreed to complete a due diligence process. A feasibility study will be conducted for the industrialization of Carbios’ technology on Indorama Ventures’ French production site. Subject to the successful completion of these technical and economical evaluations, Indorama Ventures would co-invest in the project.

“We are pleased to implement Carbios’ innovative and transformative technology at our Longlaville site. Bio-recycled PET addresses customers’ growing demand to contribute to a cleaner planet through high-quality plastics while decreasing the use of hydrocarbons,” said D K Agarwal, Chief Executive Officer of Indorama Ventures.

The capital investment required for the project is expected to be around €150 MM for Carbios core technology, including in particular an additional purification step, which has been integrated into the process. In addition, an estimated €50 MM investment will be allocated for the infrastructure preparation of the site. The project is expected to create approximatively 150 direct and indirect full-time jobs. In the coming months, Carbios expects to finalize a strong non-dilutive financial support from French Government and from the Grand-Est Region, based on the offer received last week by Carbios, from the Minister of Industry, Agnès Pannier-Runacher and the President of Grand-Est Region, Jean Rottner.

This financial support will be conditional on the notification to the European Commission and on contractualization by French authorities. Carbios announced in its half-year results on the 30th September 2021 a cash position of €112 MM. Since then, Carbios has also secured a €30-MM loan from EIB.

Carbios’ technology, C-ZYME, converts PET—the dominant polymer in bottles, trays and textiles made of polyester—into its core monomers, which can then be used to manufacture 100% recycled and infinitely recyclable PET.

"We are very pleased that Carbios and Indorama Ventures have chosen France to build their first 100% bio-recycled PET manufacturing plant," said Bruno Le Maire, French Minister of the Economy, Finance and the Recovery. "From cutting-edge science, Carbios has developed a disruptive technology and process that enables efficient transformation of plastic waste into novel valuable products. This breakthrough project showcases the government’s ambition within France (to get) ready for the challenges of the next decade. Combining biotechnology and a renewed industrial ambition will be key to achieve a more circular economy."