Carbios: enzymatic recycling for the circular economy
Carbios is a French biotechnology SME developing a process specifically for degrading PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastics. The company co-founded Carbiolice and is involved in the Whitecycle project.
Carbios: a French biotech SME
Carbios was founded in 2011 by Jean-Claude Lumaret and Philippe Pouletty (as director of Truffle Capital).
In 2012 , a research and development projectcalled “Thanaplast” was launched, involving several academic and industrial partners (CNRS, INRA, TWB, Université Poitiers, Deinove, Limagrain and Groupe Barbier).
In 2013, the company went public, raising 14.15 million euros.
In 2016, the operation of the sought-after enzymatic process was entrusted to a joint venture, created for the occasion by Carbios, Limagrain Ingrédients and the SPI “Société de projets industriels” investment fund operated by Bpifrance, Carbiolice.
Emannuel Ladent was appointed Managing Director in 2021, replacing founder Jean-Claude Lumaret, who retired.
The company now has 85 employees. Although the company is still in the R&D phase (-€6,145,600 in 2020), it still generates net sales (€1,346,100 in 2020).
Carbios technology: enzymes to treat plastic
The first bottle from enzymatic biorecycling of plastics will be produced in 2019. It is made entirely from purified terephthalic acid (rPTA). The first from textile waste arrives in 2020.
In 2020, scientific recognition comes: their process, co-authored by Carbios scientists, is published in Nature :
Tournier, V., Topham, C.M., Gilles, A. et al. An engineered PET depolymerase to break down and recycle plastic bottles. Nature 580, 216-219 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2149-4
Over a period of 10 hours, they succeeded in depolymerizing 90% of the exposed PET by hydrolase, with a productivity of 16.7g of terephthalate per liter of water per hour, at an enzyme concentration of 3mg per gram of PET (i.e. 0.3%).
This publication boosted its share price from around €6.9 on 31/03/2020 to a high of €59.36 on 15/02/2021.
Achievements and projects
On September 29, 2021, Carbios inaugurates its first industrial demonstrator to test its C-Zyme process.
Carbios is coordinating the ” LIFE cycle of PET” project with T.EN Zimmer GmbH (monomer repolymerization) and Deloitte (environmental performance analysis). In November 2021, the consortium was awarded a European grant of 3.3 million euros (including 3 million for Carbios).
The consortium’s scientific director, Professor Alain Marty , was awarded the Biocat prize in 2022 for outstanding achievements in biocatalysis. He received it at the tenth International Biocatalysis Congress in Hamburg.
The Lyon-based startup has just signed a partnership agreement with TechnipFMC, a major oil and gas group