News-style summaries of the peer-reviewed research moving enzymatic polyester recycling from lab bench to industrial reality.
A landmark review charts how engineered hydrolases moved from a 2016 lab discovery to the cusp of industrial-scale recycling, and what still stands in the way.
Summary of Wei et al., Nature Reviews Bioengineering (2025).
A techno-economic study identifies the reactor and downstream changes that close the cost gap with virgin polyester.
Summary of recent work in Nature Chemical Engineering (2025).
Most lab work uses clean PET pellets. This study runs on actual post-consumer textile waste, and recovers usable monomers.
Summary of Zhou et al., Green Chemistry (2025).