AI-designed enzymes to target critical minerals

An Australian recycler that developed plastic-eating enzymes is seeking funding to develop the technology for recovering critical minerals.

Since 2021, Samsara Eco has used artificial intelligence (AI) to design enzymes to break down commonly used types of plastics so they can be recycled for new products. The company now plans to retrieve value from electronic scrap. According to the Wall St Journal (WSJ), it is looking to raise more than US$ 70 million (EUR 61 million).

In a recent blog, ceo and founder Paul Riley, wrote it was a core belief of Samsara Eco that enzymes can recover molecules from many more materials than some plastics. The company’s Innovation Garage is engineering new classes of proteins and enzymes for other types of plastics and even critical minerals.

‘Astronomical’ potential

‘We’ve had game-changing discoveries already. The first in critical minerals, using our AI platform to design proteins like we do with plastics, to extract and restore critical minerals from end-of-life products. The potential here to open new critical mineral reserves and address one of the defining sovereign risks of our generation is astronomical.

‘The second is looking at how enzymes can capture carbon from industrial byproducts, again turning waste into value. These developments are early, but the impact is generational.’

Supply chain security

Samsara Eco is initially targeting rare earths such as neodymium and dysprosium, which are used as alloys in magnets. Quoted in the WSJ, Riley says: ‘Rare-earth metals represent one of the biggest geopolitical challenges that exists in the world today. Supply chain security and sovereign risk are areas that we think we can play in.’

After growing the enzymes in a yeast media, Samsara Eco combines them with plastics in vats. The enzymes break the polymer chain linking monomers, which solidify in the liquid and sink to the bottom for collection. The process for minerals would be largely the same, Riley told the WSJ.