Austria’s international technology group, Andritz, has signed a cooperation agreement with US-based CIRC, to bundle each party’s expertise in the field of textile recycling and to upscale CIRC’s recycling technology for commercial use.
The agreement comes after months of successful CIRC processing trials at Andritz research and development facilities.
CIRC, a recycling technology innovator, has developed and patented textile recycling technology to separate and recover various valuable raw materials contained in most fabrics and used in textile production.
The cutting-edge process mainly focuses on the handling of mixed polymer streams, specifically any blend of polyester and cotton, Andritz said in a press release.
As part of the agreement, Andritz will engineer, design, manufacture, and start up the process equipment for the first demonstration plant and other commercial textile recycling facilities and provide support in its role as a global technology player.
Andritz Expands Recycling Focus
“We have already been very active in the recycling of various waste streams for different industries. We know about the importance of recovering raw materials in order to maintain value. The cooperation with CIRC will enable us to further focus on the rapidly growing textile recycling sector,” Wolfgang Lashofer, senior vice president and division manager of paper, fibre, and recycling at Andritz said in a statement.
“In the past year, CIRC’s highly innovative process underwent an intensive development and optimisation programme at our pilot plant in Springfield, US, 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,” Jorma Latva-Kokko, vice president, mechanical pulping, in the paper, fibre, and recycling division at Andritz said.
“Andritz has 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,” Julie Willoughby, CIRC’s chief scientific officer said.
