The PE packaging is described by L’Oréal as having the same quality and properties as conventional PE. It hopes to be able use the material in its shampoo and conditioner bottles by 2024.
Using a novel biological process, LanzaTech captures industrial carbon emissions and converts them into ethanol.
Total converts the ethanol into ethylene using an innovative dehydration process jointly developed with cleaner fuels conversion specialist Axens. It is then polymerised into PE, which Total said has the same technical characteristics as its fossil-based counterpart, before being sent to L’Oréal.
The three companies now intend to continue working together on scaling-up production. Having proved that industrial carbon emissions could be used to produce plastics packaging, they agreed that it paved the way for new opportunities around the capture and re-use of industrial carbon emissions.
According to packaging and development director Jacques Playe, L’Oréal is constantly working to improve the environmental footprint of its packaging.
“With this innovation converting carbon emissions into PE, we aim to develop a new sustainable packaging solution,” Playe said. “We have the ambition to use this sustainable material in our bottle of shampoo and conditioner by 2024 and we hope other companies will join us in using this breakthrough innovation.”
The partnership was based on a shared goal of creating a cleaner planet for everyone, said LanzaTech chief executive Jennifer Holmgren.
“We are grateful to both L’Oréal and Total for their commitment to reducing the carbon intensity of their activities,” Holmgren said. “Together, we can reduce the carbon footprint of packaging by converting carbon emissions into useful products, making single-use carbon a thing of the past.”
Valérie Goff, senior vice-president for polymers at Total, added: “This partnership is an excellent example of collaboration between industrial firms in developing the plastics of the future, produced from recycled carbon, and meets a strong demand from our customers.
“The development of this new pathway of valuing industrial carbon emissions also contributes to the Group’s commitment to get to net-zero in Europe by 2050.”
