TreeToTextile ready to scale ‘sustainable’ cellulosic fibre
Stockholm-based TreeToTextile (owned by H&M Group, Inter IKEA Group, Stora Enso and LSCS Invest) has invested €35 million in the construction of a new demonstration plant in Sweden.
The company described the move as a critical next step towards commercialising its new “sustainable”, man-made cellulosic fibre - currently unnamed - with scalable technology and low manufacturing costs.
TreeToTextile’s main differentiator is its technology, which is able to produce biobased textile fibres with a low environmental footprint at an attractive cost level, the company said in a press release.
Its sustainability claims (less use of energy, chemicals and water when compared with conventional fibres) were third party verified by Quantis in January.
CEO of TreeToTextile, Sigrid Barnekow, commented: “Our technology has the potential to reduce the environmental footprint of the textile industry significantly.
“With our owners’ support, know-how and size, we assess that TreeToTextile can play an important contributing part globally in enabling the textile industry to become sustainable and circular.”
A high proportion (€27.4 million) of the plant’s costs have been funded by the enterprise’s owners, with the remaining €7.6 million stemming from a Swedish Energy Agency grant.
The plant will be constructed at Stora Enso’s Nymölla mill in southern Sweden, beginning spring 2021. It will ultimately have production capacity of 1,500 tonnes of fibre per year.
Image: TreeToTextile.
