Carbios, Sasa sign LOI for PET biorecycling tech

Carbios, a France-based company that uses biological technologies to recycle plastic and textiles, and Sasa, a Turkey-based manufacturer of polyester, fiber, filament yarn, polyester-based polymers, specialty polymers and intermediates, have signed a letter of intent (LOI) to cooperate through Sasa’s potential acquisition of a license for Carbios’ unique polyethylene terephthalate (PET) biorecycling technology.   

This licensing agreement would allow Sasa to construct and operate an enzymatic depolymerization plant in Adana, Turkey, with a capacity of 100,000 tons per year of prepared PET scrap, and would give access to a circular recycling technology, enabling the production of polyester pellets, fibers and textiles from various sources, including polyester textile material 

With Carbios' biorecycling technology, Sasa says it can meet the growing global demand for sustainable materials in the textile industry, primarily catering to the European market. 

With European regulations moving toward the incorporation of more recycled content of about 20 percent recycled fibers by 2030, demand for recycled polyester in the EU is expected to increase.   

“As a leading producer of polyester, it’s our duty to pave the way in terms of sustainability and environmental responsibility,” Sasa General Manager M. Kemal Öz says. “Sasa needs to be a part of the recycling business, and our partnership with Carbios reinforces our commitment to innovation to advance a circular economy for textiles.” 

Sasa says it is striving to become the largest supplier of high value-added polyester in the region and beyond. The company aims to introduce recycling as part of its activities, which already encompass the whole value chain from PET production to fiber and textile conversion. 

Carbios’ PET biorecycling technology impacts Sasa’s transformation strategy with back integration, capacity expansion, competitiveness and circularity. 

Carbios has developed enzymatic depolymerization technology it says enables efficient and solvent-free recycling of PET and textile material into virgin-like products. After the recent announcement of a joint LOI with Zhink Group in China, this new LOI for a potential licensing agreement in Europe confirms global traction for Carbios’ biorecycling technology and marks another step in the international rollout of its licensing model. 

In addition to the world’s first industrial-scale enzymatic PET recycling plant which is currently under construction in Longlaville, France, this potential plant in Turkey would process PET that currently is not recyclable using conventional recycling technologies.  

“With the creation of a major PET yarn and fiber manufacturing capacity on a European scale, we believe Turkey will play a pivotal role in the expanding textile market,” Carbios CEO Emmanuel Ladent says. “Partnering with SASA, a leader in polyester production, is a natural fit for Carbios’ international ambitions for licensing our biorecycling technology, and will contribute to a more circular and sustainable textile industry.”