Chemical textile recycling unveiled in Taiwan
TAIPEI – Taiwan textile supplier Far Eastern New Century (FENC) will unveil a raft of new environmental advances at next week’s TITAS exhibition, including an ‘all-in-one’ chemical recycling solution for mixed-stream post-consumer polyester textiles – along with a range of nylon fabrics dyed without the use of water.
“During the chemical process, polyester is dissolved, and the mixed polymers or dyestuffs are filtered out,” said the company, “cellulose is then converted into energy dense fuel rods which can be used to generate electricity.”
The new process can also handle spandex-blended polyester fabrics.
Saying the time is now right for the launch of its new recycling technology, the company told Ecotextile News : “Since mainland China no longer accepts any form of waste, as of today, that secondary stream for down cycling (textiles) has nowhere to go – even for reusable waste grades shipment to third-party nations meets with tough restrictions.”
Visitors to FENC booth will also be able to handle 100 per cent nylon 6 fabrics dyed using supercritical CO2 as a solvent instead of water. The company has been dyeing polyester fabrics with supercritical CO2 for around 5 years using DyeCoo technology, but it’s now also offering dyed nylon 6 fabrics using this method for the very first time.
