This post is a part of the Early Stage Climate Startup series from Climafix 2024


Highlights

  • Thaal Innovations tackles polyurethane (PU) foam waste by recycling it into reusable raw materials.
  • The company’s chemical depolymerization process achieves significant recovery efficiency in recycling PU foam.

1. Value Proposition

  • Thaal Innovations has developed a proprietary method for recycling PU foam waste with 80-90% recovery efficiency, converting waste into high-quality raw materials suitable for various applications. 
  • Their solution enables foam waste to be processed repeatedly without quality degradation, recovering up to 30% of the costs.

2. Pain Points

  • Waste Reduction and Cost Recovery: PU foam manufacturers in India produce about 70,000 tons of waste annually. Thaal Innovation’s recycling process enables up to 30% cost recovery and supplies high-quality recycled raw materials.

3. Climate Impact

  • By converting waste into raw material, Thaal Innovations minimizes the amount of PU foam waste that ends up in landfills.

4. Current & Future Target Segments

  • Current Targets Segments: Achieving approximately 5 metric tons per day and gradually scaling up, targeting PU foam producers and manufacturers in India.
  • Future Targets Segments Thaal aims to expand its market reach to capture about 25% market share by 2028 with a target productivity of 15,000 metric tons annually. 

5. USP

  • Cost-Effective & Infinite Recycling Solution: Thaal Innovation’s chemical depolymerization process allows for infinite recycling, ensuring that materials can be reused multiple times without losing quality. 

6. Team Profile

  • Devi Ramamoorthy (R&D Lead): Devi holds a Ph.D. in Polymer Science and brings over 11 years of experience in research, pilot manufacturing, and business development. Her expertise in polymer chemistry has been instrumental in developing Thaal Innovations’ chemical depolymerization process, which is key to their recycling technology.
  • Prem Anandh (Production Lead): With over 15 years of experience in industrial-scale manufacturing, Prem oversees the production operations at Thaal Innovations. Prem’s background enables him to handle the complexities of recycling polyurethane (PU) foam at a commercial scale.