Carbios successfully completes depolymerizing test

French firm says it was able to depolymerize 90 percent of the polylactic acid material in 48 hours.

Carbios, a chemistry company specializing in technologies dedicated to recovering plastic waste and producing bio-polymers, has reported that it has successfully managed to depolymerize 90 percent of the polylactic acid (PLA) material in 48 hours through the use of its enzymatic process.

The company, based in France, says the results of the tests were obtained by the team from the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) in Toulouse, France, and the Systems Biology and Process Engineering Laboratory (LISBP), both partners with Carbios on the Thanaplast project. They have prompted Carbios to continue successfully developing its depolymerization process of polyesters, including PLA plastic wastes.

Carbios claims that the enzyme it has patented induces the catalytic depolymerization of PLA waste at a rate that comes close to industrial performances. Such catalytic activity was tested on consumer goods made of PLA such as cups, trays, plastic films and flatware, whose semi-crystalline properties make it difficult for the enzyme to operate. The research firm says the exceptional performance marks the beginning of the production scale-up of Carbios' bio-recycling process. It allows the company to contemplate a faster manufacturing process than had been initially scheduled.

Carbios says the results of the test will enable the company to expand its technology to other plastic polymers, including PET and PTT, a plastics grade that is used in a significant amount of carpeting.

Click here for a video of the process:

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