The textile industry faces significant challenges regarding sustainability and resource use. While global fiber production reached 124 million tonnes in 2023, polyester (polyethylene terephthalate, PET) accounts for 57% of this, making it the industry’s oil-based workhorse. Although the textile industry continues to show strong growth, value creation has so far been organized linearly and is heavily dependent on limited resources. After disposal, textiles today are predominantly incinerated or landfilled. The textile value chain is now responsible for 10% of global CO2 emissions. Regulatory measures such as the European separate collection obligation for used textiles or the “EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles” aim to make the textile value chain more sustainable. As a result, recycling technologies for textiles are being developed.

ReSolution has developed a process that combines sustainability and economic viability and can significantly avoid CO2 as well as typical chemical waste. To establish this chemical textile recycling process on an industrial scale, it is necessary to develop and operate the industrial prototype for the electrochemical process.