Plasma technology can turn the chemical industry’s biggest problems, high energy demand and fossil-based carbon, into an opportunity. By electrifying processes and transforming plastic waste into valuable synthesis gas, Cyclize enables a truly circular carbon economy that cuts emissions, reduces dependence on fossil feedstocks and makes waste a competitive raw material.

Stop burning carbon and start cycling it: instead of turning valuable resources into CO₂, plasma-based chemical recycling can turn complex mixed waste and industrial CO₂ emissions back into high-quality feedstocks. A true circular carbon economy keeps carbon in the loop – without relying on virgin fossil resources.

Cyclize GmbH is a partner in the 36-month European project BioH2Steel, funded by the BMWK. The initiative investigates replacing fossil natural gas with biogenic, hydrogen-rich syngas from waste streams for the Direct Reduction of Iron (DRI). Cyclize will deploy plasma-based gas conditioning to remove tars and impurities, ensuring industrial-grade syngas quality. The project further explores Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) to enhance circularity in energy-intensive primary industries.

The Corporate Carbon Footprint (CCF) and the Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) are essential tools for industrial decarbonization. While the CCF measures the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of an organization, the PCF quantifies the carbon impact of a specific product throughout its life cycle. There are strategic synergies between the two: since a raw material's PCF directly feeds into the buyer’s Scope 3 emissions, choosing low-carbon feedstocks becomes a primary lever for companies to achieve climate targets and navigate evolving regulatory requirements.

In an interview with Perspektiven, the magazine of the Baden-Badener Unternehmensgespräche (BBUG), Cyclize CEO Maike Lambarth and KfW CEO Stefan B. Wintels discuss the transformation of the chemical industry, carbon circularity, and the need for planning certainty and risk capital to scale climate technologies.

Plasma is the tool that allows Cyclize to electrify and defossilize one of the most basic building blocks of the chemical industry—syngas—while making use of carbon that is already in the system.

The Particle Sorters. A Stuttgart Start-up Dismantles Waste at the Atomic Level.

Cyclize has won the 2025 Stuttgart Innovation Award for its plasma-based chemical recycling technology, which enables the chemical industry to replace fossil feedstocks by converting non-recyclable waste into circular carbon and reducing CO₂ emissions.

Cyclize has been selected as a winner of the Startup Challenge Schwedt and will implement a 3,000-hour plasma reformer pilot at the Schwedt industrial site to demonstrate circular, defossilised syngas production from CO₂ and local waste streams in collaboration with PCK Raffinerie, VERBIO and Griesemann Engineering.

As winners of the Schwedt Start-up Challenge, we offer a concrete approach to the industrial transformation of a petrochemical refinery—bold, solution-oriented, and fully in line with the challenge's guiding principle of “Design the Industrial Transition.”

In Carl – Die Zukunft der Labore ist Roth, the Stuttgart-based start-up Cyclize is featured for its plasma-based technology that converts plastic waste and CO₂ into synthesis gas, enabling the chemical industry to replace fossil feedstocks while advancing a circular and climate-compatible use of carbon.

ClimateTech start-up Cyclize raised €4.75 million in seed funding to revolutionize the chemical industry with a plasma-based process that turns mixed plastic waste and CO₂ into climate-friendly synthesis gas, replacing fossil resources and enabling true circular carbon economy.

Magazine CHEManager interviewed two of the four founders of Cyclize. They gave an overview on the idea and their start-up journey.

In Innovation Chemie Pharma, Cyclize is featured for its plasma-based technology that enables the chemical industry to replace fossil natural gas with mixed plastic waste and captured CO₂, closing the carbon loop while supporting industrial defossilization.

Cyclize’s innovative plasma technology was highlighted on Lesch’s Kosmos in 2022, bringing national visibility to its approach for converting plastic waste and CO₂ into synthesis gas: a key step toward a circular carbon economy. The broadcast showcased the potential of circular solutions to industrial carbon challenges to a broad audience.

EXIST research transfer funding approved for Cyclize for the development of non-fossil carbon feedstock for the chemical industry.