Andritz has entered into a partnership with French companies Pellenc ST of Pertuis, Les Tissages de Charlieu of Charlieu, and Synergies TLC, of Albertville, to set up a new industrial-scale business combining automated sorting and fibre recycling technology.

The new business, to be called  Nouvelles Fibres Textiles, will be jointly run by Les Tissages de Charlieu and Synergies TLC and will establish post-consumer textile value chains from sorting to manufacturing.

The new textile sorting line being built is the first to combine Pellenc ST’s automated sorting technologies with Andritz recycling technologies. It will process post-consumer textile waste to produce recycled fibres engineered for the spinning, nonwovens and composites industries. Starting operations in mid-2023, it will serve as a production line for Nouvelles Fibres Textiles, as an R&D line for the three partners, and as a test and demonstration centre for customers.

Nouvelles Fibres Textiles aims to become a reference in both industrial grade material production and industrial scale post-consumer textile sorting with the latest technologies for hard point removal providing pure fibres, selective colours and differentiated fibre types.

“We are very proud to announce the launch of the Nouvelles Fibres Textiles partnership,” said Eric Boël, president of the new company. “Several years of R&D involving key players from both textile and household waste management industries made this possible. We all shared our knowledge and expertise to promote on-the-ground circularity for textiles. This will guarantee the traceability of recycled materials, mitigate the environmental impacts of the textile and composites industries and create meaningful jobs.”

www.andritz.com