Birch Biosciences, Portland, Ore., has signed a global patent license agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to commercialize a new enzymatic deconstruction process for polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The technology enables the efficient recovery of PET monomers that can be remanufactured into virgin-quality PET that can be used to make recycled content products.
“This licensing agreement represents a significant step forward in our mission to enable a circular plastic economy using biological solutions,” said Dr. Johan Kers, co-founder and CEO of Birch Biosciences.“NREL’s process complements our enzymatic recycling platform perfectly and will help us achieve scalable, low-cost plastic recycling.”
“NREL is pleased to partner with Birch Bio-sciences to bring this technology to market,” added Dr. Gregg Beckham, senior research fellow at NREL. “This is a great example of how national laboratories and industry can collaborate to address plastics recycling challenges with real-world impact.”
2025 Quarterly Issue III
