US textile recycling pioneer Circ has given Andritz an engineering order to prepare for its first large-scale textile recycling facility. A plan will now be developed to assess Circ’s technology’s industrial scaling potential and economic feasibility. Recovering cotton and polyester from mixed textile waste would make it the first facility of its kind.
Since most fashion waste is composed of cotton and polyester blends, it is quite challenging to increase circularity. Separating cellulosic and synthetic fibres from textile waste has proven to be one of the most difficult tasks. Using Circ’s recycling technology, waste from polycotton textiles may be separated into its constituent polyester and cotton.
200 tonnes of textile waste will be processed daily by the proposed factory, enabling polyester to be recycled into new polyester and cotton to be recycled into lyocell. “We have the necessary skills to assist the business in achieving its objectives thanks to our extensive understanding of resizing, mechanical separation, hydrothermal processing, cellulosic pulp recovery, drying and pulp cleaning,” stated the vice president of textile recycling at Andritz, Michael Waupotitsch.
