Editorial: Chemical recycling for tomorrow’s technical textiles

Editorial: Chemical recycling for tomorrow’s technical textiles

The chemical recycling of synthetic fibres, primarily polyester, is set to have a major impact on the textile industry in the years to 2030, according to this Textiles Intelligence report, based on a keynote presentation given by Gherzi Textil Organisation during the 63rd Dornbirn Global Fiber Congress (Dornbirn-GFC) in September 2024. As well as the chemical recycling of synthetic fibres, the report examines the key trends impacting the textile industry, the rapid growth of the market for second-hand apparel, and forecasts of fibre consumption and associated production figures for 2026. Considerable amounts of new recycled content will start to enter production cycles for technical textiles and for the apparel market as significant chemical recycling operations come on stream. Notable among such operations will be those for turning polyester and other synthetic fibre waste back into polymers and back further into monomers. Four major methods for turning recycled polyester and other synthetic fibre waste back into monomers have been identified, namely enzymatic recovery, glycolysis, hydrolysis and methanolysis, and a number of companies are making impressive strides in the development of these methods. In the field of methanolysis, Eastman’s technology is capable of breaking down hard-to-recycle polyester waste into the monomer building blocks for producing polyester, and the monomers can be used repeatedly without compromising performance. In the field of glycolysis, Syre is being supported by an offtake agreement with H&M Group and is preparing for its first two gigascale textile-to-textile recycling plants. In the field of hydrolysis, Far Eastern New Century (FENC) has a commercial recycling plant in operation with a capacity of 600,000 tons. And in the field of enzymatic recovery, Carbios is constructing a plant which is expected to start delivering significant quantities of recycled feedstocks in 2026 and the company is developing a licensing model for its recycling technology which is already bearing fruit.