Page 37 from: Recycling Technology 2020

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2020

Research

Tackling polyester and cotton
Worn Again Technologies, a London-based start-up firm, has recently hit its £5 mil-
lion (US$ 6 million) investment target to support the commercialisation of a brand new
polymer recycling technology. Its patented method is the result of six years of R&D work.
The Worn Again process can separate, decontaminate and extract polyester polymers and
cellulose (from cotton) from non-reusable textiles, as well as plastic bottles and packaging,
to go back into new products as part of a repeatable process. The main output materials
are circular PET pellets and cellulosic pulp.
‘Our first industrial demonstration plant will be opened in 2021,’ says company ceo Cyndi
Rhoades. She stresses that polyester textiles and cotton together represent 80% of all
clothing and textiles on the market. Worn Again Technologies is one of the first chemical
recycling technology companies to be Cradle to Cradle certified.

the cellulose, they got something unexpected
– ‘an aerogel with a unique porous structure
and nanoscopic tunnels running through the
sample’, Byrne reports.

She believes the sticky nature of the denim
cellulose solution is what yielded a delicate
yet powerful aerogel structure ‘ideally suited’
for use as synthetic cartilage. Indeed, arti-
ficial knee designs have proved successful.
Deakin reseachers are now able to mould and
tune the aerogel to create any desired shape.
Byrne says other potential applications in-
clude separators in advanced battery technol-
ogy and membranes used in water filtration
systems.

Sorting 1 garment per second
One big issue is the cost of sorting. It is

labour-intensive and currently requires each
item to be picked up and individually assessed
for quality, style, garment type, market and
other attributes. For used clothing that has a
value, this is economically viable if it is done
properly.

But the economics are questionable if you
want to separate out worn-out items by, for
example, fibre type and colour, especially
when some products don’t actually contain
the fibres in the proportions stated on their
labels.

One possible solution is the Fibresort tech-
nology being developed by Circular Econo-
my in the Netherlands. This is able to take a
mix of low-value textiles which has not gone
through a detailed sort itself but which has
been separated from the high-quality reus-
able items. Once fed into the machine, the
mixed textiles pass through an optical detec-
tion system which deciphers the fibre mix of
each textile item, before being passed along a
belt and sorted automatically by a pressurised
air system.

Its developer Valvan reports that this ma-
chine can sort one garment per second – ap-
proximately six times faster than if done by
a human. The optical detection system can
be calibrated to sort textiles into the different
desired categories and blends of fibres. Also,
because the system is modular, the number
of categories into which the machine can sort
can be enhanced by expanding the recycling
line and increasing the number of sorting
containers.

Please consult Billie
Novetex Textiles has launched the Billie

System at its new Tai Po textile mill, the first
in Hong Kong in over half a century. What’s
unique about this facility is the innovative wa-
terless system which upcycles textile waste,
says company chairman Ronna Chao.

Ronna Chao of Novetex Textiles developed the waterless Billie system.

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