Abstract

Created in 2001, Axens is a subsidiary of IFP Energies nouvelles (IFPEN), a French research and training institute focused on energy, transport and the environment.

Part of the plastics recycling development program, IFPEN has launched a project aimed at recycling PET including clear and opaque bottles and heat-formed packaging (i.e. food containers) while eliminating pigments and dyes.

Today, Axens, which has been able to validate its process at a lab-scale by producing pure bis-HET from colored and opaque PET flakes, plans to further develop its process in an industrial-scale facility. This industrial-scale facility will be ideally realized through partnership throughout the entire value chain (from PET collectors to resin producers and brand-owners). This technology will bring to the market a solution to reach an eco-efficient PET recycling loop including clear PET, colored and opaque PET and heat-formed packaging.