An article titled ‘Assessment of Four Engineered PET Degrading Enzymes Considering Large-Scale Industrial Applications’ was published in the scientific journal ACS Catalysis. It compares two variants of Ideonella sakaiensis’ IsPETase enzyme from the Universities of Manchester and Texas at Austin; a variant of PES-H1, also known as PHL7, from the University of Greifswald; and Carbios’ LCCICCG enzyme, claiming that the latter outperforms all competitors.
According to reports, Carbios and Toulouse Biotechnology Institute employed a standardized way to test PET degrading enzymes under industrial circumstances and determined that LCCICCG provides ‘ superior performance’. Its capabilities appear to have been refined since its first publication in Nature in 2020, and while the most recent results have not yet been published, the enzyme is expected to be used in its future bio-recycling plant.
“With this publication in the prestigious ACS Catalysis journal, we wanted to offer the scientific community a standardized method for comparing enzymes under industrial conditions,” explained Alain Marty, Carbios’ chief scientific officer. “This study confirms Carbios’ position as a leader not only for the superior performance of its enzyme for PET degradation but also for its industrial-scale application for plastic and textile recycling.”
“I would like to thank all my teams and my fellow co-authors for their collaboration and perseverance in publishing this landmark article.”
Professor Uwe Bornscheuer of Greifswald University and Professor Gert Weber of Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin are credited as collaborators in Carbios’ pursuit of biological recycling for PET. Carbios has also developed an international standardized approach for enzyme comparison, which it hopes will help it establish itself as “the world leader in enzymatic PET depolymerization.”
Carbios established an industrial demonstration plant in 2021 as part of the commercialization of their C-ZYME enzymatic recycling technology. Soon after, it joined forces with Indorama Ventures to plan a manufacturing plant at the latter’s PET manufacturing facility in France.
Leipzig University scientists also found an enzyme that is anticipated to destroy PET in record time, and project head Dr Christian Sonnendecker discussed this breakthrough with Packaging Europe.
