(source: Circ website)
Austrian technology group Andritz has signed a cooperation agreement with American recycling technology innovator Circ to bundle each party’s expertise in the field of textile recycling and to upscale Circ’s technology for commercial use. The agreement comes after many months of successful Circ processing trials in various Andritz research and development facilities.
CIRC’s patented technology can separate and recover mixed polymer streams – specifically any blend of polyester and cotton, which accounts for most fabrics manufactured. Andritz will engineer, design, manufacture and start the process equipment for the first demonstration plant and other commercial textile recycling facilities and provide support as a global technology player.
Jorma Latva-Kokko, Vice President, Mechanical Pulping, in the Paper, Fiber and Recycling division at Andritz declared: «In the past year, Circ’s highly innovative process underwent an intensive development and optimisation program at our pilot plant in Springfield, Ohio, USA, leading to production runs on a small scale. Thus, we have seen Circ’s comprehensive capabilities and were very impressed by their highly skilled recycling experts and open-minded cooperation».
Dr Julie Willoughby, Circ’s Chief Scientific Officer, said, «Andritz has a global reach, depth of expertise, and a solid reputation for executing world-class projects. The Andritz team is working shoulder-to-shoulder with Circ to implement our vision of a circular economy for textiles and other materials. We are delighted with the high competence of the Andritz staff, and we are more than excited about our next chapters together».
The partners have not yet announced a timeline for building and commissioning the first commercial facilities. At the end of December 2020, Andritz also signed a cooperation agreement to develop the process and equipment solutions for Infinited Fiber Company’s textile fibre regeneration technology.
