In an article published on October 30, 2017, the European polyethylene terephthalate (PET) industry association Petcore Europe informed about the launch of a new European project called DEMETO focusing on the chemical recycling of PET. “DEMETO aims at enabling chemical de-polymerization of PET at industrial scale based on its microwave-based process intensification,” Petcore Europe explained. The project has received funding from the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program. The DEMETO consortium consists of the companies gr3n, Processi Innovativi, ACTOR, Synesis, 3V Tech, PETCIA, NEOGROUP, Fricke and Mallah GmbH, and H&M, the industry associations European Outdoor Group and European Plastics Converters (EuPC), as well as the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI). gr3n has invented the core technology of DEMETO enabling “an effective process intensification of the depolymerisation reaction (hydrolysis) of plastic, from bottles as much as from any other source, leading it back to its building blocks (EG and PTA) and, consequently, allowing their full re-introduction directly at the virgin-grade production stage.” This technology “would allow to close the recycling loop for PET, with a potential impact on environment and society at large that would be enormous, introducing the concept of full circular economy in the plastic domain,» stated Franco Cavadini, CTO of Synesis during the project’s kick-off event. The presentations of the project launch are available on the DEMETO website.
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Petcore Europe (October 30, 2017). “Launch of the new European project on chemical recycling DEMETO.”
Plastics News Europe (October 30, 2017). “European project launched for PET chemical recycling.”
