Carbios attracts government venture funding

Clermont-Ferrand, France-based Carbios, along with Toulouse White Biotechnology (TWB), another French company, have announced they have received €7.5 million ($8.5 million) of funding from the Investments for the Future Program operated by ADEME.

ADEME describes itself as the French Environment & Energy Management Agency responsible for the implementation of public policy in the areas of the environment, energy and sustainable development. The “Investments for the Future” funding provided to the two companies has been designated to “support, over a period of 39 months, the scale-up” of the industrial and commercial polyethylene terepthalate (PET) plastic and fibers bio-recycling project being conducted by the two firms.

“We would like to thank the French environment and energy management agency for its renewed confidence in the innovations developed by Carbios,” remarks Jean-Claude Lumaret, CEO of that firm. “This funding represents an important step that will allow us to accelerate the industrialization of our technology."

Comments Pierre Monsan, founder of TWB, “We are very proud of the scientific milestones achieved through this collaboration between Carbios and TWB. Our partnership has led to the emergence of new sustainable and eco-friendly solutions to the management of the plastics life cycle.”

Carbios says that since 2012 it has been developing a process designed to produce new virgin plastics from plastic scrap, following “circular economy principles.”

 The €7.5 million funding comes in the form of grants and conditional advances that will be paid in several instalments over the period of the two firms’ CE-PET project and includes a first payment of 15 percent of that amount.

Carbios, as coordinator and lead manager of the project, says it will oversee the acceleration of the industrialization of its PET plastics and fibers technology, and will receive up to €4.1 million ($4.9 million) of the total.

The company describes itself as a green chemistry company that has developed two industrial-scale biological processes for the biological breakdown and recycling of polymers.