EQTEC PLC (AIM:EQT) told investors it has launched a French subsidiary and entered into a collaboration with French company SEPS SAS to develop contaminated waste treatment plants.
It comes after a letter of intent was signed between EQTEC and SEPS in December and follows a series of successful tests on contaminated plastics.
The new French subsidiary has been set up amidst a growing pipeline of opportunities in the country supported by highly active and accelerating interest in cleantech from the French national, regional and local governments and from potential lenders and development partners in France.
“France is a major market with a strong history in progressive investment and development of new energy and we believe this will prove true also for baseload renewables such as clean syngas,” said David Palumbo, EQTEC chief executive.
“As a leader in clean syngas production, we are proud to set our sights first on contaminated, plastic waste, in partnership with our colleagues at SEPS, who have a strong track record with this feedstock.”
Laurent Rousseau, SEPS chief executive, meanwhile, added: “This collaboration with EQTEC has been very well prepared over the past months, based on thorough review of one another's technologies and culminating in joint testing at the EQTEC facility at Université de Lorraine.
“It is based on the proven success with contaminated plastic waste-to-syngas production we witnessed in situ that we are so happy to proceed. SEPS has a strong history with treatment of contaminated plastics, but with EQTEC's leading syngas technology, we now see many doors opening for market growth and development in France and beyond.
“Our commitment to clean treatment of contaminated waste, together with EQTEC's transformation of that waste into clean syngas will now support a range of applications for power, hydrogen and biofuels in support of local, energy security and fossil fuel replacement."
EQTEC noted that it has defined a pipeline of a dozen opportunities and is actively bidding for three projects at the moment, including a waste-to-power project and two waste-to-biofuels projects.
The French unit is to be led by David Le Saint, who has been working in the country with the company since July 2021.
Palumbo highlighted: “We are also proud that our France market entry was made possible not only by David Le Saint's tireless leadership there, but also on the strength of our R&D programme at the Université de Lorraine.
“The work we do together in France will make a direct contribution to reduction of rising volumes of plastic waste, transforming it into baseload energy and biofuels."