Sustainable polyester producer Fairbrics raises 22 million euros to fund project

Fairbrics, a chemical company developing sustainable polyester, has announced it has raised a total of 22 million euros through funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research & Innovation Programme and partners of the Technology Upscaling Project.

The EU’s grant, which provided 17 million euros, was awarded to a consortium coordinated by Fairbrics, bringing together 13 partners from the likes of process development firms to final product specialises.

The project also has a focus on education, with academic partners present to help develop learning and training resources on CO2 valorisation.

In a release, the firm said the funding would be used to upscale its own technology, which centres around replacing fossil-based polyester with CO2-based polyester, through a process that recycles CO2 waste fumes to create textile products.

It will first aim to implement a pilot line of 100 kilograms a day by 2024, and later will strive to support a one ton a day demo plant by 2026.

Speaking on the project, Benoît Illy, co-founder and CEO of Fairbrics, said: “By using CO2 emissions instead of fossil resources to manufacture polyester, Fairbrics addresses one of the greatest global challenge, climate change caused greenhouse gas (GHG) emission.

“This funding comes as a strong recognition of the work Fairbrics has accomplished so far, the quality of the consortium we brought together, and the extraordinary potential of our technology to provide highly polluting industries like textile with an alternate environment-friendly and economically viable solution.”