June marked the debut of the Textiles Recycling Expo in Brussels, Belgium, attended by more than 5 600 global participants. Plenty of innovative ideas and cutting-edge technologies were discussed and exhibited.
Thomas Fehn of the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany came to Brussels to give an update on the promising R&D project Autoloop. It aims to create a system to process 1.2 million tonnes of textile waste annually by 2050 whilst potentially creating more than 130 000 green jobs across the EU.
Uniting many experts
The project brings together 14 partners from seven countries, combining research institutions with industrial partners. Autoloop comprises several key technological innovations for the complete recycling of polyester-based (PET-based) textiles. These include:
- artificial intelligence-powered sorting: Zoritex’s AI system identifies more than 15 different fibre types and their blends using hyperspectral near-infrared technology. This automated approach could increase sorting throughput tenfold whilst reducing costs by 50-75%
- chemical-free recycling: Aalto’s Ioncell process uses innovative ionic liquid solvents to extract cellulose fibres from textile blends, achieving over 95% recycling rates without harmful chemicals
- advanced synthetic recovery: The ReSyn technology developed by Fraunhofer Umsicht and SKZ breaks down synthetic fibres into high-purity building blocks for creating new materials, working efficiently even with contaminated textiles
- smart fibre tracking: TLX’s IntegriTEX technology embeds invisible identifiers in fibres, enabling contactless detection and complete supply chain transparency
- digital integration: Texroad’s cloud-based data hub standardises information management across the entire recycling process, ensuring compliance with emerging regulations like the digital product passport.
60% polyester output
Autoloop’s pyrolysis plant in Sulzbach-Rosenberg, Bavaria, Germany has three reactors, each with a 2.5 litre capacity. Fibre-to-fibre experiments bid to create T-shirts from recycled material. ‘Our output fraction now contains 60% polyester, which is a big milestone,’ Fehn says, adding the pilot can also treat medical textiles, composites and light shredder fractions.
Fraunhofer is planning a 50kg/h per hour plant as a next step. ‘If successfully scaled, our integrated approach could achieve 96% material recovery rates for PET-based textiles,’ Fehn reports. It could also significantly reduce municipal waste management costs, currently between EUR 60-110 per tonne.
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