Aquafil Partnering with Genomatica to Make Green Caprolactam

Trento, IT and San Diego, CA, January 23, 2018-Aquafil and Genomatica have announced a multi-year agreement to create sustainable caprolactam, a key ingredient to producing 100% sustainable nylon.

The collaboration aims to develop a commercially-advantageous bioprocess (Genomatica’s GENO CPLTM process) to make caprolactam using plant-based renewable ingredients, rather than the crude oil-derived materials traditionally used by the nylon industry.

Used in a variety of nylon-based products including carpets and apparel, caprolactam has a worldwide market of over five million tons per year. Genomatica’s GENO CPLTM process aims to provide an environmentally friendly way to make caprolactam with better economics, including for smaller-scale plants. Additionally, it will enable licensees and their customers to differentiate themselves by offering a more sustainable bio-based product whose performance will be fully comparable with nylon made from crude oil-derived caprolactam, and which will not require any machine or process adjustments by the nylon supply chain. Genomatica is the licensor of the GENO CPLTM process.