The path to chemical recycling of plastic waste

The history of enespa: how it all began

29 May 2024

Founder, Chief Executive Officer

It all started with a relaxed dinner. Because the best ideas are not born at a desk, but on napkins. They seem to appear out of nowhere, but always have a back story.

The story of enespa is all about agricultural machinery, rapeseed oil and combined heat and power plants and takes place in several locations around Europe. What doesn't seem to fit together had to take place in exactly this order for everything to fall into place over dinner in Appenzell. At the time, I would never have thought that 10 years later I, Cyrill Hugi, the manager spoilt by success, would have to fear for the existence of my employees with the last 5 francs in my account.

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

I had to overcome many abstacles on my journey with enespa. But ever since that dinner, I have had a vision of a world without plastic waste. Because waste, especially plastic, is a resource that we simply throw away today and that has therefore become an environmental problem. Animals are dying in the sea because of us. We are only just beginning to study the consequences of microplastics for humans. The future doesn't look as good for my four sons as it did for me when I was their age.

Rapeseed oil for CO₂ reduction

At dinner in January 2008, Stefan Abele and I decided to drop our idea of running combined heat and power plants with rapeseed oil. At the time, we wanted to use rapeseed to reduce CO₂ einsparen, weil die Nutzung eines nachwachsenden Rohstoffs weniger schädliches CO₂ into the environment than is the case with the combustion of fossil oil. In addition, due to the higher density of rapeseed oil, the volume-related of approx. 34,590 kJ/l is only around 3% lower than the calorific value of diesel fuel at 35,870 kJ/l.

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

In mathematical terms, the use of rapeseed was initially worthwhile. We produced the rapeseed oil ourselves. We travelled all the way to Ukraine to buy rapeseed and ground and pressed it ourselves. But because the price of rapeseed rose, it was suddenly no longer profitable. We also felt that it was wrong to burn food.

Plastic cycle

Plastic also has a high : while wood, for example, achieves a value of 18 megajoules per kilogramme (MJ/kg) and coal a value of between 27 and 33 MJ/kg, polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) - plastics that are preferred for films and packaging - record a far higher value of up to 46 MJ/kg. After the meal 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, for example, cannot solve this problem.

We want to recover the original raw material: crude oil. This can be used to produce all types of plastic that the industry needs.

Only with a circular economy we can stand up to plastic in the environment. The aim of enespa is to bring all types of plastic back into circulation in the future, from old plastic chairs and broken nylon stockings to worn-out car tyres - simply everything that has been made from plastic and therefore crude oil or rubber.

Recycling technology

Said and done? It wasn't that simple after all. In contrast to recycling a single type of plastic, for example PET, where PET granulate is melted to obtain recycled PET bottles, we wanted to obtain the original material: the plastic or crude oil. This is the only way to produce all the types of plastic that the industry needs. I remembered my father. During the war, he used a so-called to drive vehicles. Wood carburators were used to bridge the fuel shortage during the Second World War. How it works: Wood is converted into gas and liquid fuel at high temperatures. I thought: if that works, it must also be possible with plastic. And indeed! With the so-called process, the chemical conversion of plastic to oil takes place.

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

So we wanted to buy a machine that would turn plastic waste into crude oil. I spent the first two years travelling from pillar to post, from manufacturer to manufacturer looking at machines for us, 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. If the idea was so good, why hadn't anyone done it before us?

What was feasible in theory wasn't yet possible in practice: the profitable extraction of oil from mixed plastic. The production of product oil requires energy. And if the energy we put in does not come out again many times over, we are not profitable. That was exactly why all the machines I initially looked at 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 was possible.

Tinkering time in Bulgaria

Through my research, I got to know the right people in Bulgaria entirely by chance. A chemist and two engineers. People from the university in Sofia who had the necessary inventive spirit to build the first small test systems with me. Welding and grinding still worked the same way as they did when I was an apprentice blacksmith and agricultural machinery mechanic, so I lent a hand. Together with these people, after three tough years, I was finally able to prove that my idea did work.

I gave up my well-paid managerial position. Many people shook their heads at the time. Today I am admired for it.

My time in Bulgaria made me humble. Who in Switzerland would have welded thick steel beams or boiled plastic in a kettle outside our open barracks in temperatures of -15°? We Western Europeans tend to think that our western technology is the measure of all things. That is arrogant and not true. I would go so far as to say that you can't have genuine proper improvisation here. I only learnt this in Bulgaria, a country that works in a completely different way from Switzerland, Germany or Italy.

Early days in Germany

With the proof in our pockets, Stefan Abele and I moved on to Germany, his home country. A country where you can rely on promises, agreed times and punctuality. We found a subcontractor in Neuried, near Munich, where I lived for a while and where I also met Stefan Abele. We have been working with him for the past 5 years and have continued to develop our "plastic-to-oil" machine.

Banks and major investors, anyone with money, did not support 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 managerial position to concentrate on enespa. At the time, many people shook their heads or reacted with great astonishment. Things are different today. Today I am admired for my courage. Because we needed good people, we were very flexible from very outset. In addition to engineers in Germany, we still have Michele Loscalzo, an outstanding man from Italy, with us today. It has always been important for us to have the right people. Their skills are important to us, not where they are based.

Setbacks

I had financed enespa entirely from my own resources for 12 years. With the move to Germany and the further development of the plant, the costs increased. But for anyone with money - banks and major investors - the risk was too high and the profit too low. There were no subsidies from the state either. So we had no choice but to ask private individuals whether they wanted to support us financially so that 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 funding, I have also had to deal with fraudsters over the last 20 years of enespa. Once I lost money because of this, another time someone had sold to me construction plans that had been stolen. Every entrepreneur has to be able to deal with such setbacks. However, what I never would have thought of was FINMA. This event pushed me to my limits.

Rock bottom and turning point

In 2018, FINMA came out of the blue one day in the form of a hurricane. I wouldn't wish anyone to have to go through the same experience. 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. Most of the time I had no information and didn't know what would happen next.

When I had an appointment with my lawyer at FINMA's Zurich branch at the end of June on a very hot afternoon and mentioned the pleasant temperature in the air-conditioned office when I came in, the receptionist said flippantly: "Let's see if you still think it's that cool after the appointment." That hit me incredibly hard. This lack of empathy. After all, my company's existence and the staff's job security were at stake.

Today, we have every contract double and triple checked.

FINMA's large-scale inspection revealed nothing but a few formal errors. Formulations in a contract that were not sufficiently precise. I was later told that FINMA conducts around 1,000 such inspections a year and that we were only the third company to survive FINMA's long investigation. We were saved by the people who had bought bonds from us. Almost all of them, 96% of them, have converted their bonds into shares. These people are the reason why we have been able to achieve all our milestones to date and can look to the future with optimism. I will never forget the unprecedented solidarity of our current shareholders.

Author

Cyrill Hugi

Founder, Chief Executive Officer

Cyrill Hugi's passion for technology has never wavered since his first apprenticeship. Various international training programmes have seen him travel as far as the USA. His professional career has taken him to Italy and Germany, where he previously held management positions in major global corporations in the commercial vehicle sector. Cyrill Hugi fulfilled a dream when he founded enespa ag. With the support of his team and visionary investors, he strives to «make the impossible possible». The outcome is circular economy solutions aimed at protecting nature, which is something very close to his heart.

From 0 to 50

50 employees - one common mission: the fight against plastic pollution in nature. Each and every one of them a specialist in their field. Together we work on new, innovative solutions. We undertake research and development, are pioneers and shape the industry as first movers. Praise for my employees.

enespa's vision

Clean beaches, rivers and streams. Free from plastic waste. No animals dying because we humans simply dump our rubbish in the environment. That is our vision. enespa is helping to remove waste from nature and recycle it. Together with many like-minded campaigners, this vision will become reality.

The name enespa

It could also have been Cyrill Hugi AG. But I didn't want that. So in 2004, enespa started with a better-sounding name and a different business idea than it has today. This is the prehistory of enespa as it exists today.

The history of enespa: how it all began

Rapeseed oil for CO₂ reduction

Plastic cycle

Recycling technology

Tinkering time in Bulgaria

Early days in Germany

Setbacks

Rock bottom and turning point

Cyrill Hugi

From 0 to 50

enespa's vision

The name enespa

enespa shares

enespa bonds

The history of enespa: how it all began

Rapeseed oil for CO2 reduction

Plastic cycle

Recycling technology

Tinkering time in Bulgaria

Early days in Germany

Setbacks

Rock bottom and turning point

Cyrill Hugi

From 0 to 50

enespa's vision

The name enespa

enespa shares

enespa bonds

Subscribe to newsletter

Subscribe to newsletter

Subscribe to our media newsletter

Rapeseed oil for CO₂ reduction