Exclusive"With Reju, Technip Energies opens a circularity loop" (Arnaud Pieton, CEO of Technip Energies)

As Technip Energies celebrates its fifth anniversary, the company is making progress on Reju, a wholly-owned subsidiary dedicated to textile regeneration, with the aim of creating a circularity loop in this market: a far cry from your usual businesses. What motivated this initiative?

Arnaud Pieton: “With Reju, Technip Energies is applying its expertise in molecules to a key transition issue: circularity in the textiles sector. It is a new approach in a new sector, far from our usual activities. But we bring recognised and useful expertise. Since the creation of the original Technip in 1958 by IFP, we have built know-how and a culture around the transformation of molecules, in a broad sense and beyond carbon molecules. Technip Energies has developed and built around 30% of the world’s hydrogen capacity. It has also built Neste’s infrastructures in Finland, now the world leader in SAF, with 1.5 million tonnes per year, in Rotterdam and Singapore, among other examples.

Since the creation of Technip Energies five years ago, on 16/02/2021, our strategy has been clear: we provide our clients with the engineering and infrastructure needed to transform all types of raw materials into end products. This takes many forms. We are currently building two LNG plants in Qatar, NFE and NFS, the largest in the world. They employ 60,000 people and are each the size of a Paris arrondissement.

Our scope of action is much broader than what people usually think.

We also work with Verso Energy in France, which is developing plants to produce synthetic fuels. Its first facility is under construction in Port-Jérôme, near Rouen. There, we support an innovative player at an early stage. Our scope of action is much broader than what people usually think. For instance, we are involved in ammonia processing, which is used in fertilisers, and this contributes to food security. These are just three examples, and there is a vast range of projects in between: our order book currently stands at €16.8 Bn, and 98% of our turnover is generated outside France.

What does Technip Energies bring to Reju?

First of all, our expertise in the transformation of molecules, which has enabled Reju to develop its post-consumer polyester fibre depolymerisation technology: we process the fabric - most often a mixture of cotton and polyester - after it has been collected and sorted. To do this, we have invested tens of millions of euros in the Frankfurt demonstrator, which currently has a production capacity of 1,000 tonnes a year. We use it to test processes and equipment, to hone our expertise, and to set up scalable processes: we are an engineering company, and we know how to scale up processes.

We're an engineering company, and we know how to scale up processes.

This is vital in the world of energy, it's vital in the world of industry, and it's also vital in this new world of circularity: transitions won't happen if they aren't affordable, for both players and consumers.

With this investment, and the €350m investment that we are going to make in a first plant, in Lacq, or in the Netherlands or the United States, we are enabling Reju to cross a critical threshold for any start-up that is already well advanced: the financing of the first plant.

And what does Reju bring to Technip?

Reju is first and foremost an embodiment of the spirit of innovation that drives Technip Energies: we are developing the most innovative projects in our sectors, such as the world's largest carbon capture infrastructure at Teeside in the UK, where we have signed a £2bn contract. And we are also investing 100% of our R&D (€73m budget in 2024) in decarbonisation, through various projects.

We started to take an interest in circularity, and we discovered IBM's solution for recycling polyethylene, which was still in the laboratory; and Patrik Frisk, who was then CEO of Under Armour, an American sportswear brand, then joined us: we then launched Reju, in 2023, dedicated to the regeneration of polyester, one of the biggest challenges of circularity on a global scale, particularly since the rise of fast-fashion.

Historically, we have always developed other people's projects; with Reju, Technip Energies is also becoming a producer in a promising sector.

Historically, we have always developed other companies' projects; with Reju, Technip Energies is also becoming a producer in a promising sector. And we're coming in with ambitions, since we're aiming for annual sales of €2 billion by 2035: the market has yet to be created, and while there are objectively more risks than in the engineering business, there are also more potential spin-offs. But on the one hand, risk calculation and management are part of our business, and on the other, we are also designing an industrial tool that we can replicate on every continent and in every configuration.

Today, circularity is a declared political objective, particularly at European level with the Circular Economy Act, announced for 2026. But what is the reality of circularity on field?

With Reju, we can recycle post-consumer polyester. Upstream, we still need to organise the collection, to provide us with a sufficient supply of feedstock, and downstream, we then need customers, which means players in the textile industry, such as Inditex (owner of Zara), for example. And all this takes place in an ecosystem that has yet to be created, so we are present at all levels. At European level, Alain Poincheval, Reju's Chief Operations Officer, is a member of the associations and expert groups that are currently helping to define the rules of the game for circularity in textiles: waste status, digital labelling of textiles, as well as EPR and CSRD. It's all happening right now, and the EU's targets for circularity are ambitious.

All this is taking place in an ecosystem that has yet to be created, so we are present at every level.

On the upstream side, we are forging partnerships with waste management players, such as Goodwill in the United States, and with manufacturers such as Suez, with whom we are in discussions. It's a question of completely industrialising a sector, and creating new habits among consumers: the stakes are high, and complex, with many tests currently being carried out on the subject.

And downstream, we benefit from Patrik Frisk's experience: it was he who convinced us of the importance of creating a brand in markets he knows well. And today, around sixty players are interested in our advances and our products.

Finally, you have announced the Chemparc site, in Lacq (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), as the location for Reju's first plant in France: why this choice?

We are awaiting the final investment decision to choose between Lacq in France, Chemelot in the Netherlands and Rochester in the United States for our first plant: the amount of subsidies we can obtain will, of course, be a factor. We have opted for Lacq because it is a major centre for French chemical industry and has everything a company like Reju could need: equipment, partners and service providers. We will be delighted to set up Reju there, if the level of support allows us to do so. In France, as in Europe, it is the balance between regulations and incentives that will enable European industry to create and conquer these new markets.

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