As CelluCircle develops its technology and prepares for the next stage of scale-up, understanding both the recycling process and the performance of our recovered materials is essential.
We spoke to Dr Pierre Munier, our R&D Manager, about his background in materials chemistry, the challenges of scaling a recycling process and the opportunities he sees for CelluCircle’s materials.
Pierre, could you start by telling us a little about yourself and your background?
I grew up in France, where I studied chemistry and chemical engineering in Paris. I always leaned towards problem-solving and applied research, which led me to specialise in materials chemistry.
I was particularly intrigued by soft matter and biomaterials, and that interest eventually brought me to Sweden to work with forest-based resources.
Before joining CelluCircle, what were some of the key stages in your career?
Ten years ago, I started a PhD at Stockholm University alongside our CEO, Varvara, researching nanocellulose composites.
After that, and until recently, I was a technical manager at a start-up developing bioplastics and composites based on lignin, another major component of wood. In particular, we worked on renewable traffic signs to replace the plastic ones commonly seen around road construction sites.
You could say that my main area of interest is finding new uses for underutilised resources.
What first interested you in CelluCircle and made you want to join the company?
Many things! The opportunity to return to nanocellulose, but from a completely different perspective than I was used to, was one of them. I also knew some of the team members and had followed their journey from the very early stages.
And, of course, I’m joining at the start of CelluCircle’s most ambitious project to date. Put all of that together, and I’m extremely excited to be on board!
What will your role as R&D Manager at CelluCircle involve?
After only a few weeks, I feel that an important part of my role will be to strengthen our understanding of every step in the value chain. That means making sure we can anticipate and manage the inevitable variations that come with scaling up and working with a waste stream.
My main responsibility will be to oversee the R&D team’s efforts to identify and enhance useful properties in our different outputs. But that will only be meaningful if we also understand how the feedstock and process influence those properties, and whether they are what potential customers are looking for.
I expect to work with many different people and organisations, both upstream and downstream in the value chain.
What excites you most about CelluCircle’s technology?
I have worked with challenging starting materials before, mostly because nature made them that way. Here, there is something particularly exciting about separating complex blends that were originally made by people for a specific purpose, and transforming them into materials for new and equally important purposes.
There is also a sense of urgency that I find motivating. Textile waste is accumulating, and we need practical ways to deal with it as soon as possible.
What are some of the biggest R&D challenges involved in moving a recycling technology from the laboratory towards industrial scale?
It’s about building on what we already know while accepting that moving to a larger scale might challenge some of our assumptions and introduce new questions.
Will we understand larger volumes of incoming textile waste as well as we understand the material we work with today? Will the reactor be mixed as efficiently? Will we be able to control our outputs and maintain good performance in larger products?
Those are some of the main questions we will need to answer.
How important is the connection between R&D and the final application?
It’s perhaps the most crucial aspect if we want the business to thrive. Recycling is only one step; the ultimate goal is reuse.
Understanding the end user is key. Which properties do they want, and which ones do they really need? Can our materials provide them? If not, can we achieve them by adjusting the process?
That feedback loop needs to be very close if we want to succeed.
What are you most looking forward to working on over the next year?
I can’t wait to see our pilot reactor and demonstrator facility being assembled step by step and brought into operation.
I’m eager to work with all departments, but particularly with the team developing our pellets and 3D-printing filaments. It’s an area that is familiar to me in theory, but one I haven’t yet had the opportunity to explore in depth in practice.
I’m very interested in exploring the range of products we can offer!
Looking further ahead, where do you see the biggest opportunities for CelluCircle’s technology and recovered materials?
Initially, I would definitely say 3D printing. The field has expanded and become much more diverse over the past few years, so I think we can dream big. In our case, there is also the potential for the cellulose already present in the material to provide built-in reinforcement.
There is still a lot to explore with nanocellulose too. The market has not grown as quickly as some hoped, but it would be exciting to discover whether our nanocellulose fractions have distinctive properties that could help address existing challenges.
Finally, what do you enjoy doing when you’re not working?
Playing with my five-year-old son definitely takes the number one spot! If there’s any time left after that, I like to practise the piano.
We also have family in France, Italy and Greece, so visiting everyone usually takes up most of our holiday time!