RE:Spin – A new technology to expand recycling of cellulosic textile fibers

Category: Thematic calls

The project ran between November 2022 and November 2024.

The project group validated a new spinning methodology so that filaments could be directly spun from waste textiles via ShareTex’s technology. Laboratory trials were successful with both cotton and viscose waste and it was possible to produce recycled filaments with similar molecular weight than the starting material. Apart from the increase in technology readiness level derived from this experimental work, the project group delivered increases in market and sustainability readiness levels as well to fulfill all project goals and deliverables described in the application for funding. It was possible to confirm that the produced filaments could be acceptable in certain market segments and the preliminary LCA showed that environmental benefits could be achieved with respect to other chemical recycling processes and production of virgin fibers. The results of the project show potential to increase circularity in the textile industry and, together with results from other projects, they led to the securement of an investment for the construction of a pilot plant in which the technology will be verified at larger scale in a relevant environment.

Participants

ShareTex AB, Valmet AB, H&M Hennes & Mauritz GBC AB, RISE AB and Lund University Dept. of Chemical Engineering.

Budget

The project’s total budget was 2 MSEK.

More pictures from the project: