Materials & Chemistry
Provide sustainable resources for our industry
The chemical industry is essential to most of our daily activities: from the materials that make up our objects to hygiene and cleaning products, not forgetting fuels and plant protection products. Today, it is responsible for 5% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions and is the third largest industry in terms of energy consumption.
What are the biggest challenges in this sector for the next decade ?
Of the many challenges facing the chemical industry in the years ahead, we believe that five will have the greatest impact on the environment and society:
- Reducing the sector’s greenhouse gas emissions, by optimising the energy efficiency of processes and direct emissions from synthesis.
- Increasing the use of biobased inputs in synthesis processes, both for polymers and fine chemicals.
- Development of recycling processes, particularly for plastics and critical metals
- Development of processes with a reduced ecological footprint, for example without solvents
- Synthesis of sustainable alternatives to compounds regulated by international standards
Why we believe deeptech can solve the biggest challenges ?
The research carried out in these laboratories covers many aspects and has the potential to demonstrate tangible proofs of concept, generally on a scale of less than a kilogram. Chemistry is a field with strong scientific expertise, where breakthrough innovations require a development environment available only in the most advanced public or private research laboratories.
What’s more, the colossal industrial stakes involved have long made intellectual property protection a requirement for the sector, which rapidly reduces the ambitions of start-ups in this field.
What kind of project do we want to create there ?
We are looking for projects with the potential to have a very broad environmental, societal and economic impact. Here are some examples of topics that caught our attention:
- Synthesis of families of existing molecules with a reduced environmental impact (GHG, biodiversity), and a price comparable to existing ones on an industrial scale
- New synthesis routes (catalytic platforms, mechanical chemistry, microwave synthesis, plasma), especially without solvent
- Innovative materials with a reduced environmental footprint (concrete, polymers, composites)
- Recycling of plastics into platform molecules