Successful trials for PTA recycled from textile waste
Selenis, part of Portuguese group IMG, specialises in specialty polyesters for a wide range of markets. It has recently announced having successfully produced recycled PET chips from terephthalic acid provided by Circ. The Virginia-based company has developed a technology that chemically recycles polycotton textile waste back into its building blocks. Recovering the monoethylene glycol (MEG) is relatively common, but the PTA, or purified terephthalic acid, has proven to be more challenging.
The rPET chip was made by Selenis at a pilot facility in Italy. It is made from recycled PTA, which makes up roughly 70% of the polymer, and a biobased MEG (the remaining 30%).
“By working with the Selenis strategic and pilot plant manufacturing teams, we demonstrated the quality of Circ monomers and confirmed their performance as a like-for-like replacement of virgin monomers in synthesizing rPET from blended textile waste,” said Kaushik Vashee, SVP of Manufacturing at Circ.
Read up on chemical recycling technologies for polyester here.
Image courtesy of Selenis
