History of enespa

Photo: Stefan Abele (former Chief Operating Officer, deceased November 2024) and Cyrill Hugi (Chief Executive Officer) in the production facilities where our prototypes for chemical recycling are developed and intensively tested.

It began with a casual dinner. Because the best ideas don't come from a desk, but from a napkin. They appear seemingly out of nowhere, but always have a backstory.

The story of enespa revolves around agricultural machinery, rapeseed oil, and combined heat and power plants, and takes place in several European locations. What seemingly doesn't fit together had to happen in exactly this order to take shape at a dinner in Appenzell. I would never have imagined back then that I, Cyrill Hugi, the success-spoiled manager, would have to fear for the livelihood of my employees 10 years later with the last 5 francs in my account.

Plastic is a resource that we simply throw away today and has therefore become an environmental problem.

On my journey with the enespa, I would cross many valleys. But since that dinner, I've had a vision before my eyes: a world without plastic waste. Because waste, especially plastic, is a resource we simply throw away today, and it has therefore become an environmental problem. Animals are dying in the ocean because of us. We are only just beginning to research the consequences of microplastics for us humans. The future doesn't look as bright for my four sons as it did for me at their age.

Rapeseed oil for CO2 reduction

At dinner in January 2008, Stefan Abele and I decided to abandon our idea of using rapeseed oil to power combined heat and power plants. At the time, we wanted to use rapeseed to reduce CO2 emissions because using a renewable raw material releases less harmful CO2 into the environment than burning fossil oil. Furthermore, due to the higher density of rapeseed oil, its calorific value by volume of approximately 34.590 kJ/l is only about 3% lower than the calorific value of diesel fuel at 35.870 kJ/l.

We should not simply burn plastic waste, but return it to the cycle.

At first, using rapeseed was financially worthwhile. We produced the rapeseed oil ourselves. We drove all the way to Ukraine to buy rapeseed and ground and pressed it ourselves. But because rapeseed prices rose, it suddenly became unprofitable. In addition, we felt it was wrong to burn food.

Plastic cycle

Plastic also has a high calorific value: While wood, for example, has a calorific value of 18 megajoules per kilogram (MJ/kg) and coal between 27 and 33 MJ/kg, polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) – plastics primarily used for films and packaging – are far higher, at up to 46 MJ/kg. After dinner and still at the table Stefan Abele and I decided not to simply burn plastic waste, but to close the cycle in order to save even more CO2. When new plastic is made from old plastic, less fossil oil is used. Today, 99% of plastic is made from fossil fuels. Every year, the amount of plastic in the world increases: in our oceans, in our food, everywhere. And outsourcing to a country like China won't solve this problem.

We want to reclaim the original material: crude oil. This can be used to produce all types of plastics needed by industry.

Only with a circular economy can we tackle the plastic in the environment. enespa's goal is to bring all types of plastic, from old plastic chairs to broken nylon stockings to worn-out car tires—simply everything made from plastic and thus petroleum or rubber—back into the recycling cycle.

Calorific values

Wood 18 MJ/kg
Coal 27-33 MJ/kg
Plastic 46 MJ/kg

Recycling technology

No sooner said than done? It wasn't that simple after all. Unlike recycling a single type of plastic, such as PET, where PET granules are melted to produce recycled PET bottles, we wanted to recover the original material: the plastic or crude oil. Only from this can all types of plastic needed by industry be produced. I remembered my father. During the war, he operated a so-called wood gasifier. Wood gasifiers were used to bridge the fuel shortages during World War II. The way it works: wood is converted into gas and liquid fuel at high temperatures. I thought: if that works, it must be possible with plastic too. And indeed! The so-called pyrolysis process involves a chemical conversion of plastic into oil.

Despite all the results, I wanted to prove that profitable production is possible.

So we wanted to buy a machine that would turn used plastic into crude oil. For the first two years, I traveled from pillar to post, from manufacturer to manufacturer, inspecting machines for ourselves, talking to experts, and acquiring knowledge. After that, I knew one thing for sure: There was no machine in the world that could do what we had in mind. Since the idea is so good, why hasn't anyone done it before us?

What's theoretically feasible hasn't been possible in practice so far: the profitable extraction of oil from mixed plastics. Producing the resulting oil requires energy. And if the energy we put in isn't returned many times over, we're not profitable. This is precisely why all the machines I've looked at so far have failed. Nevertheless, I didn't want to give up on the idea. Despite everything, I wanted to try it myself and prove that profitable production is possible.

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Tinkering time in Bulgaria

Through my research, I accidentally met the right people in Bulgaria: a chemist and two engineers. People from the University of Sofia who had the necessary tinkering spirit to build the first small experimental systems with me. Welding and grinding still work the same way they did when I was training as a blacksmith and agricultural machinery mechanic, so I pitched in. Working with these people, after three tough years, I was finally able to prove that it was possible.

I gave up my well-paid management position. Many people shook their heads at the time. Today, I'm admired for it.

My time in Bulgaria was humbling. Who in Switzerland would have welded thick steel beams or boiled plastic in a cauldron outside our open barracks at -15°C? We Western Europeans tend to quickly view our Western technology as the measure of all things. That's arrogant and untrue. I'd go so far as to say that you can't learn true improvisation here. It wasn't until I arrived in Bulgaria, a country that operates completely differently than Switzerland, Germany, or Italy, that I learned it.

Start in Germany

With the proof in hand, Stefan Abele and I continued in Germany, his home country. A country where you can rely on commitments, time agreements, and punctuality. We found a subcontractor in Neuried, near Munich, where I lived for a while and where I met Stefan Abele. We have worked with them for the past five years, further developing our "plastic-to-oil" machine.

Banks and major investors, anyone with money, aren't supporting us. There were no subsidies from the state either.

The establishment of our site in Neuried was the moment when I gave up my well-paid management position to focus on enespa. Many people shook their heads or reacted with great astonishment back then. Things are different today. Today, I am admired for my courage. Because we needed good people, we were very flexible from the very beginning. In addition to engineers in Germany, we still have an excellent man from Italy, Michele Loscalzo. It has always been important to us to have the right people. Their skills are what matters to us, not where they are from.

setbacks

For 12 years, I had financed enespa entirely on my own. With the move to Germany and the further development of the plant, costs rose. But for anyone with money—banks and major investors—the risk is too high, the profit too low. There were no subsidies from the government either. So we had no choice but to ask private individuals if they wanted to support us financially so we could continue. We sold bonds. Many private individuals liked our idea and wanted to support us.

Of course, not everything is always “happiness”

In addition to securing financing, I've also had to deal with fraudsters over the last 20 years at enespa. Once, I lost money because of this, and another time it came to light that someone had sold me construction plans he had stolen. Every entrepreneur has to be able to deal with such setbacks. What never crossed my mind, however, was FINMA. This period pushed me to my limits.

Low and turning point

In 2018, FINMA came one day, out of the blue, like a hurricane. I wouldn't wish the same experience on anyone. FINMA first blocked all my accounts, then I had to hand over the keys. I felt like a criminal, even though there was no reason to. And then came the long wait. For 18 months, the officials turned over every stone twice. For most of that time, I had no information and didn't know what would happen next.

When I had an appointment with my lawyer at the FINMA branch in Zurich on a very hot afternoon at the end of June, and upon entering, I mentioned the pleasant temperature in the air-conditioned office. The receptionist said flippantly, "Let's see if you still find it so cool after the appointment." This lack of empathy hit me incredibly hard. After all, it was about the survival of my company and job security.

Today we double and triple check every contract.

FINMA's massive deployment uncovered nothing but a few formal errors. Wording in a contract that wasn't precise enough. I was later told that FINMA conducts around 1000 such investigations a year and that we were only the third company to have survived FINMA's lengthy investigation period. We were saved by the people who had bought bonds from us. Almost all of them, 96%, converted their bonds into shares. These people are the reason why we have been able to achieve all our milestones to date and are optimistic about the future. I will never forget the unprecedented solidarity of our current shareholders.