FRANKFURT, Germany— May 23, 2023 — More and more countries around the world are considering the circular economy in their agenda for textile materials and apparel. The goals are resource savings, environmental protection and prevention of climate change. The EU Sustainable and Circular Textiles Strategy will have an impact on global supply chains. It calls for textile products placed on the market in the EU to be durable and recyclable, made largely from recycled fibers, free of hazardous substances and produced with respect for social rights and the environment by 2030.
VDMA members are committed to using highly efficient technologies to reduce resource consumption in the textile value chain. The aim is to exploit potential for saving resources such as textile material, water, energy and chemicals in order to reduce CO2 emissions.
In the spirit of the circular economy, VDMA members offer solutions for the entire processing and production chain. The production program and services include equipment and technologies for recycling textile production waste, textiles, textile auxiliaries or waste heat, and for processing recycled materials into textiles.
Recycling of textile production waste and textiles
ANDRITZ is at the center of the movement to provide industrially and economically viable solutions for recycling pre- and post-consumer textile waste. ANDRITZ has single and multiple complementary technologies to offer the full suite from textile fiber preparation, mechanical and chemical recycling, to combined processes. www.andritz.com/textile-recycling-technologies
DILO GROUP offers recycling machines for nonwoven production waste, e.g. edge trim openers, and auxiliary equipment for faster cleaning and air filtration systems for recycling lines. www.dilo.de
The EREMA GROUP launches the FibrePro:IV technology which has been specially developed for PET fibre-to-fibre recycling. EREMA presents the INTAREMA® FibrePro:IV and PURE LOOP the ISEC evo FibrePro:IV. Thanks to the efficient removal of spinning oils, the rPET produced can be reused in proportions of up to 100 percent for the production of very fine fibres. https://www.erema.com/en/public-relations-news/ https://www.pureloop.com/en/press/
With its innovative OMNI recycling systems, GNEUSS offers efficient solutions for tomorrow’s recycling requirements. The new recycling systems consist of a variety of machines, customized to a specific material and application, utilizing Gneuss’ established devolatilization and filtration technologies. The new OMNI recycling system can be used for post-consumer and industrial fiber waste recycling. www.gneuss.com/en/turnkey/omni-recycling-systems/
JBF manufactures dual shaft shredders, disintegrators and tailor-made combinations of both for textile and fiber treatment. Dual shaft shredders render worn military and police uniforms useless, including protective clothing with Kevlar ballistic plates. Disintegrators reduce textile production waste and used textiles down to fiber size for further recycling. jbf-maschinen.de/
MESUTRONIC metal detectors are used to protect guillotine cutting machines and similar appliances from damages through metal parts that are hidden in the fabric. They provide a great improvement in uptime and save costs by reducing the necessity to replace or resharpen blades. www.mesutronic.de
The OERLIKON BARMAG homogenizer recycling system is designed for manufactures who want to agglomerate, extrude, homogenize and melt bottle flakes and film waste to produce polymer melt or chips. www.oerlikon.com
TEMAFA’s production program also includes machines for opening, tearing and de-dusting of non-woven fabrics and other textile products. Performance can be adjusted through feed rollers, feed troughs and the main cylinder with different coverings and separation means for foreign parts. For de-dusting removal a vacuum system combined with a high-efficiency fan saves up to 50% of the energy. www.temafa.com
With expertise in industrial-scale production of pressure vessels and automated material handling equipment, THIES supports solutions for both color removal and re-dyeing of recycled fibers and yarns. www.thiestextilmaschinen.de
While the machines of XETMA VOLLENWEIDER are designed for textile finishing, they also meet the increasing demand in recycling of textile substrates. Customized machines are used to recover valuable pile fibers from textiles and carpets to be re-used in production. Good to know: The factory of XETMA VOLLENWEIDER is equipped with three solar power plants since 2009 and thus producing CO2 neutral. www.xetma.com
Recycling of caustic soda and waste heat
Large quantities of diluted caustic soda (weak lye) are a waste product of the mercerization process. KÖRTING Caustic Recovery Plants (CRP) can turn a very large proportion of this weak lye into reusable concentrated caustic soda (strong lye) and save one million euros and more per year. Körting has been on the market longer than any other manufacturers in this field and is the global market leader of CRP. www.koerting.de
MONFORTS offers various heat recovery and exhaust air cleaning systems for new machines and also as retrofit. The free-standing EnergyTower can save up to 25% energy. The integrated ECO Booster system enables energy savings of up to 35%. The modular MonforClean heat recovery system is integrated into the stenter chamber to save space and can be expanded to exhaust air cleaning and odor elimination.
www.monforts.de/en/machinery-ranges/environmental-protection/exhaust-air-treatment/
Processing of recycled materials
ANDRITZ offers nonwoven production lines, which can process recycled fibers. This includes lines such as airlay thermobonding and/or needling, needlepunch, spunlace, and Wetlace CP. These lines include fiber opening and blending, fine openers, and web forming, web bonding as well as slitting and winding equipment. www.andritz.com/nonwoven
BRÜCKNER offers a great variety of textile finishing lines which can also process recycled fibers. These lines include among others stenter frames, relax dryers, sanfor ranges, continuous dyeing ranges as well as coating and laminating lines for technical textiles and bonding ovens for nonwovens. www.brueckner-textile.com
The achievement of a consistent fibre performance with a varying quality of recycled feedstock requires an efficient, systematic and, in part, self-optimising experimental working system, which must be intelligent and flexible. DIENES meets these demands with its MultiMode® engineering approach and supports research teams from the first laboratory tests to the modular construction of their production lines. https://www.dienes.net/
The portfolio of DILO GROUP includes complete nonwoven lines with fiber opening & blending, carding, crosslapping and needlelooms for recycled synthetic and natural fibers. Airlay and textile recycling needling lines are offered in cooperation with partner companies. www.dilo.de
The KARL MAYER GROUP presents an innovative concept for the circular economy in warp knitting. The concept is about in-sector recycling: the processing of recycled yarns into high-quality textiles that can be recycled back into yarns. This reduces both waste and resources, providing economic and environmental benefits. www.karlmayer.com/en/news-and-media/events/itma-2023/
SAURER is a leading, globally active technology company and for decades sustainability has been an important part of our vision. Anticipating the need for circular economy, our spinning machines are already optimised to process recycled or regenerated fibres – with recycling Xtreme we can process even the shortest fibres. In addition our twisting machines can support to strengthen the yarns. saurer.com
The use of production waste in STC SPINNZWIRN’s extrusion lines has been common for decades. In recent years, there has been a shift from using post-industrial waste to post-consumer waste in order to develop circular economies. With yarns from STC’s monofilament lines a 100% polyester carpet can be produced – from virgin or recycled PET. Another big topic of recycled materials is filtration, where STC offers different set-ups. www.stc-spinnzwirn.com
TEXTECHNO’s efficient testing systems have proofed their performance on recycled fibres and yarns. For mechanically recycled fibres, Textechno offers innovative testing solutions for fibre length distribution and impurities, such as yarn remnants. This includes fibres from post-industrial and post-consumer waste, regardless of colour, blending or chemical treatment. www.textechno.com/
TRÜTZSCHLER is able to offer a complete range of technologically leading machines specifically designed for rotor and ring yarns made from recycled materials. Our machinery expertise and technological know-how enable our customers to produce sliver with the highest possible level of quality – and make it possible to turn waste into value. https://www.truetzschler.com/en/spinning/applications/recycling/
XETMA VOLLENWEIDER offers surface finishing machines adding value to fabrics produced not only of new, but also of recycled textile materials. The technologies of XETMA VOLLENWEIDER include Raising, Sueding, Shearing and Fabric Cleaning as well as Carpet Finishing. All machines of XETMA VOLLENWEIDER are equipped with an integrated energy recovery system to minimize the actual power consumption. www.xetma.com
Posted: May 23, 2023
Source: VDMA
