Enval co-founder Carlos Ludlow-Palafox.

Enval in Cambridge has secured new funding for the commercialisation of its technology for the recycling of plastic and aluminium laminate packaging.

The investment was secured from a syndicate of investors including Cambridge Enterprise and business angels from both Cambridge Capital Group and Cambridge Angels.

“With this investment and the backing from our industrial partners – Kraft Foods and Nestlé – Enval expects to bring its first commercial plant into service towards the middle of this year,” said co-founder Dr Carlos Ludlow-Palafox.

The new plant will be used to showcase Enval’s technology to potential customers across the waste sector.

Enval’s award-winning technology separates plastic and aluminium laminate packaging – which to date has been unrecyclable – into its constituent components.

It produces clean aluminium ready for introduction into the secondary aluminium supply chain and hydrocarbons that can be used as fuel or chemical feedstock.

The company, based at the Cambridge Science Park, was originally formed as a spin-out from the department of chemical engineering at the University of Cambridge.