In partnership with the University of Amsterdam’s Industrial Sustainable Chemistry group and helmed by Avantium CTO Gert-Jan Gruter, the company has created a proprietary process that separates cotton from polycotton blends by converting it into glucose through a hydrochloric acid treatment while preserving the polyester component.
This new approach, which is detailed in a recent publication of Nature Communications, is said to represent the first technique for simultaneously recycling both polyester and cotton from blended fabrics, offering a solution to the escalating issue of textile waste disposal.
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According to Avantium, the process involves treating polycotton waste with highly concentrated hydrochloric acid and fully hydrolysing the cotton cellulose into glucose. The solid polyester residue can then be separated and completely recycled.
The extracted glucose has potential applications in producing polymers, resins, solvents, and Avantium’s flagship product 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA).
Gert-Jan Gruter said: “We are excited about this groundbreaking solution, which is not only providing feedstock for our own FDCA and PEF technology and aligns with our environmental objectives but also marks a crucial advancement towards achieving a circular economy. At Avantium, we are committed to perfecting this technology in collaboration with partners and broadening its application to address the global textile waste problem. Simultaneously, we aim to supply non-food glucose to support the large-scale transition toward a bio-based economy.”
The company’s Dawn Technology is instrumental in this process. It converts non-food plant-based feedstock into useful materials such as glucose and lignin, as demonstrated in the pilot plant located in Delfzijl, Netherlands. The glucose produced can be further processed into monomers for bio-based plastics and other products.
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By GlobalDataAvantium has conducted several successful trials in its laboratories and at its Dawn Technology pilot plant to test the effectiveness of this method on post-consumer polycotton waste textiles.
The trials are claimed to have yielded high amounts of glucose from polycotton waste, indicating scalability and cost effectiveness of this method.
With textile production projected to reach 149m tons by 2030 and current recycling rates languishing below 1%, Avantium said that its technology presents a sustainable alternative for fostering a circular and low-carbon textile industry.
This innovation aligns with emerging regulations that hold textile producers accountable for waste management.
Avantium has facilitated this project by hosting PhD students from the University of Amsterdam’s Industrial Sustainable Chemistry research group within its laboratories and Delfzijl Dawn pilot plant.
The company has been developing and commercialising technologies that produce materials from sustainable carbon feedstocks, including biomass-derived carbon and CO2 from the air. The company also created YXY Technology, which catalytically converts plant-based sugars into FDCA. This technology is successfully at its pilot plant in Geleen, the Netherlands.
