How curiosity can lead to unexpected and positive turns: Steef's Internship at DePoly

Why did you choose DePoly in Sion,Switzerland, for your internship?

During my bachelor’s and master’s studies, the emphasis was always on contributing to a more sustainable and innovative future in the chemical industry. I have always been particularly fascinated by the concept of chemical recycling in the plastics industry. When I learned aboutDePoly’s efforts to scale up its innovative PET recycling process, I immediately knew I wanted to be part of it. Through the internship opportunity DePoly offered me, I was able to actively contribute as a chemical engineer and make a meaningful impact in the field of chemical recycling.

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Did the work/research match your expectations?

The focus of the internship was optimizing the consumables utilization in the pilot and eventually the showcase plant. I performed experiments on lab scale, to subsequently verify these on the pilot scale. Being the ‘bridge’ between two scales makes this internship experience unique. I even got the chance to work in the pilot plant along the chemical operators for process identification, which was beyond my expectations.

Not only did I optimize the utilization of consumables, I also investigated the quality of the recovered monomers and the impact of influencing parameters. The pilot verification of the quality optimization turned out to be a challenge. However, with the promising results on lab scale, I think it is certainly worth implementing the technique for testing and verification purposes.

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What did you like most about your internship

The freedom and flexibility I was given during my internship allowed me to focus on making more strategic and effective choices, which helped to steer the project in the right direction. Efficient planning of experiments and organizing meetings played a key role in this process. Additionally, I developed a more critical mindset toward the project’s results and its overall progress, which has further enhanced the impact of my contributions.

What I most liked about my internship is that the project demonstrated how curiosity can lead to unexpected and positive turns.This promising achievement created the opportunity for reconsideration the further scaling of the process.

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Would you recommend DePoly for any future students wishing to do an internship?

I would definitely recommend doing an internship at DePoly. The company offers a pleasant learning environment with highly motivated people who offer the necessary support. Due to the small but growing scale of the company, you not only get to learn a lot from your own department, but also from other departments, such as R&D and QC. The project I worked on is a great example, which was partly R&D related. Therefore, I received valuable support from my colleague Sylvain from the R&D department. In addition, I received incredibly valuable guidance from my internship supervisor Adélie, who shaped my critical attitude, resulting in the successful completion of the project. As I said, DePoly consists of different departments; not only interns with a chemical engineering background, but also chemistry and business interns can definitely benefit from this pleasant learning environment.

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