DePoly officially opens a demo facility
PET and polyester recycler DePoly, based in Sion, officially inaugurated a showcase plant in Monthey, Switzerland last week. This, it said, is the first depolymerisation facility of
its kind and scale in the country. The facility is said to have a nominal capacity of around 500 tonnes of feedstock input per year. It will also serve to optimise the process, qualify raw materials with industrial customers, and prepare for the deployment of DePoly’s first commercial plant, which is expected to be able to process 50,000 tonnes per year. The location of this future site will be announced next year, the company said.
The process developed by DePoly is based on light-activated chemical depolymerisation, which is said to be able to process PET in less than an hour, without the need for high temperatures or added pressure. It yields the original monomers of PET and polyester, PTA and MEG, with no loss of quality, the company said. The technology is also said to be versatile as it can handle a wide range of waste streams including food packaging, polyester textiles, complex films, along with coloured or contaminated materials.
DePoly was spun-out of the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in 2020 and founded by Samantha Anderson, Chris Ireland and Bardiya Valizadeh. The company has a staff of around 30 employees, with twelve new jobs created at the showcase plant.
The Monthey Industrial Park was chosen for its well-established industrial ecosystem which includes cutting-edge infrastructure, chemical expertise and proximity to the company’s Valais headquarters.
Photo courtesy of DePoly
