Developing Next-generation Catalysts for High-performance Materials and Chemicals

An Interview with Patrick Piot, DEMETA’s CEO

TAGS:  Green and Bioplastics    

DEMETA’s catalysts make better use of available resources, while helping to improve three key parameters for the industry:

• Product performance
• Sustainable performance
• Economic efficiency

In the context of the ecological transition, DEMETA is positioned as a key partner for many industrial players. Its high-performance materials and molecules are protected by a portfolio of more than 50 patents.

DEMETA is also committed to a quality and safety approach, deploying ISO 45 001 (Occupational Health and Safety Management) and ISO 9001 (Quality Management).

Recently we interviewed Patrick Piot, Company CEO at Demeta where he shares his insights on the latest technologies and how to meet the growing needs of customers for innovative and sustainable materials with a low CO₂ footprint.

Let's hear from him...

#1 Hello Patrick, could you give our readers a brief overview of DEMETA?

PP: Hello and thanks for having us! DEMETA is a Green Chemistry company based in Rennes (Western France) that produces and markets high-performance materials and chemicals from new-generation catalysts. We create value through two distinct technology platforms.

• The first one, GreenCARE, develops specialty bio-based chemicals to be used for a wide range of applications, including Flavors and Fragrances or Cosmetics.
• The second one is NexTene™, a novel family of high-performance, low-carbon-footprint materials based on olefin metathesis technologies, with a wide array of applications, from industrial parts to performance composites and a variety of tough coatings for deep offshore applications.

#2 Many companies claim they provide “high-performance materials”. What makes NexTene™ so special?

PP: NexTene™ by DEMETA is a truly disruptive, tough, heat-resistant and lightweight engineering polymer, combining the best features of Thermoplastics, Thermosets and Fluoropolymers, at a competitive cost.

Furthermore, their straight and simple synthesis pathways enable carbon footprint savings compared with existing materials. Its price is very competitive, between high-end epoxies and more recent polymers PVDF and PEEK. With NexTene™, engineers and designers do not have to make compromises between properties.

#3 Could you be more precise in terms of applications? For which applications does NexTene™ bring the highest value to the market?

PP: Thanks to its combination of high toughness, exceptional mechanical properties and extreme service temperatures (cold/heat), with good thermal insulation and extreme corrosion resistance, NexTene™ has naturally been finding its way into demanding energy markets, such as oil and gas, as well as projects aiming to solve carbon capture and storage in a safe and durable manner.


In the world of performance composites processing, NexTene’s low viscosity enables faster fiber infusion with lower porosity rates and faster curing than Epoxies. As for composite field performance, NexTene™ helps to reduce the weight of parts, thanks to its low density (1.03), while providing superior toughness to repeated impacts and fatigue including hot-wet environments, contrasting with epoxies, which lose properties quickly in tropical conditions. When you think of ballistic protection, for example, this is a crucial advantage.

Last but not least, there is a wide array of industrial applications where NexTene™ is a material of choice, especially for small to medium batch production of large and complex parts. The reason behind this statement is the low-pressure processing of NexTene™. With the RIM (Reaction Injection Molding) process, you can use low-cost molds and low-capex injection equipment while making it possible to produce 10 to 15 parts per hour, whatever their size and weight, with high accuracy, repeatability and surface quality. RIM-produced NexTene™ parts are a natural fit for elements demanding toughness or temperature resistance on truck, bus and off-highway vehicles.

…and all of this is combined with a 50% reduction in the carbon footprint...

#4 How can Demeta help its customers reduce their carbon footprint by 50%?

PP: In Green Chemistry, “Simple is better than Complex”. NexTene™ is a perfect industrial application of this axiom.

• Firstly, it is primarily produced from an underutilized product from naphtha refining, thus generating atom economies.
• Secondly, the product uses the monomer almost without any intermediary chemical reactions, except a mild purification phase.

NexTene™ grades formulation itself is done with mild mixing chemistry: low temperatures, low pressures, low shearing. Lastly, but probably most importantly for our readers, the final conversion is done at low temperature and low pressure, thanks to the use of catalysts and ring-opening metathesis polymerization. You avoid the CO₂-costly suite of polymerize-extrude-granulate, re-melt, and then only high-pressure shape your part.

#5 What is your road map for the coming years?

PP: Our team’s road ahead is steep but straight: we must grow through enlightening our target markets.

As a novel polymer, dissemination throughout the industrial world needs to be achieved through selective communications, like SpecialChem, with a focus on educating designers and engineers. We must demonstrate to them the actual and measurable features of NexTene™, for both direct customers - those who will convert our system into parts, and at OEM levels - the end-users seeking to enhance the performance of their finished products.

With a fabless and globally localizable business model, DEMETA nevertheless keeps full responsibility over distribution to molders or applicators, along with a close and tireless research and application support team.

In terms of production capabilities, DEMETA recently qualified and partnered with a European-based toll manufacturer. After producing industrial-scale batches, they have a 5,000-ton p.a. capacity available for Demeta. We are ready to supply our first customers.

On the financial side, we have been receiving diligent support from our shareholders (Truffle Capital based in Paris), followed more recently by €4.8 million of support through the EIC Accelerator program.

#6 For our audience, could you explain what the EIC Accelerator is?

PP: EIC stands for European Innovation Council, and this is the European public support program for breakthrough innovations with strong potential for growth. The EIC Accelerator call for projects is probably the most selective financing program, which was awarded to DEMETA at the beginning of 2020 with blended financing, including a grant and an equity contribution. As a result, the European Commission will become a shareholder in our company. We are one of the first French start-ups to have this great honor. This reinforces our ambitions, and we are ready to meet the challenge!

NexTene™ High-performance Materials by DEMETA

View all the NexTene™ products used for a wide range of applications, analyze technical data of each product, get technical assistance or request samples.




About Patrick Piot

Patrick Piot is the CEO at Demeta S.A.S since January 2017.

Before that, Patrick worked for 9-years for ARD then BioAmber Inc. as Vice-President Marketing and Business Development, pioneering the development and commercialization of the first large-scale bio-based succinic acid facility. In his role, Patrick led business development, sales & marketing activities, and strategic partnerships & alliances.

He also worked for 10-years in various sales and purchasing positions at Rhône-Poulenc, Aventis and Bayer. Patrick holds a Master of Science in Agronomy from AgroParisTech and an MBA from INSEAD, France.