Since announcing its Truecycled system in cooperation with Turkey’s Balkan Textile Machinery at ITMA 2023 in Milan, Treuetzschler reports that its has received many enquiries from companies looking to enter the recycling field.

The German machine builder is now expanding its portfolio to include full Truecycle solutions covering the whole process – from the fibre preparation of torn textile waste through to the carding and drawing of secondary fibres. Balkan is meanwhile supplying the cutting, tearing and bale pressing equipment.

Challenges

Recycling systems face significant technological challenges since on average, torn fibres are much shorter than virgin fibres and their percentage share in the fibre mass is much higher.

Unopened yarns and fabric particles are also difficult to process and not surprisingly, much academic and practical research is currently being conducted to find solutions for these problems.

Dr Georg Stegschuster, a researcher specialising in textile recycling, believes a systems approach is needed. He is working at the Recycling Atelier, a model factory for mechanical recycling at ITA  Augsburg in Germany.

“A perfect fine-tuning between tearing and spinning preparation is the key to obtaining the best possible quality results and avoiding unnecessary fibre shortening,” he explains. “This can be achieved if you are in control of both processes – and have the necessary expertise.”

In some cases, for example, it may be advantageous to have less aggressive settings in the tearing line. This can help avoid unnecessary fibre shortening. The remaining higher share of unopened fabric must then be handled in a high-performance spinning preparation line. This starts with the right blow room configuration for perfect opening, cleaning and blending. A card that is specially designed for recycling materials, such as the new Treuetzschler TC 30Ri, can also enable gentle but effective treatment of fibres.

Drafting

A shortened drafting process is also a must. The integrated IDF 3 draw frame with the TC 30Ri card can make this possible since the draft is high enough to provide excellent levelling of the short fibres, but low enough to prevent floating fibres.

“There is a lot of technological potential for improving the quality of the end-product through the right configurations and settings,” Stegschuster says. “There are a growing number of examples that show how higher quality end-products can be achieved from recycled materials, and how the share of pre or post-consumer waste in yarns can be increased without compromising on quality.”

Each Truecycled recycling installation can be configured and fine-tuned by Treuetzschler experts based on specific customer requirements.

Specialists from Treuetzschler and Balkan will be at the forthcoming Techtextil show from April 23-26 in Frankfurt, at stand C68 in Hall 12, to discuss all aspects of successful textile waste recycling.

www.truetzschler.com