Teijin Frontier develops new technology for removing polyurethane elastomer fibers!

On April 10, Teijin Frontier Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the Teijin Group, announced that it has developed a new foreign matter removal technology that can remove polyurethane elastomer fibers from discarded polyester garments.

The technology uses a new treatment agent in the pretreatment stage of the chemical recycling process to help improve the quality of recycled polyester from garments containing polyurethane elastomer fibers. In addition to removing polyurethane elastomer fibers, the new technology also eliminates foreign matter such as dyes and helps omit the polyester decolorization process. Teijin Frontier has been testing the practical application of this new technology since October last year.

Guided by the THINK ECO environmental strategy, Teijin Frontier is striving to achieve its ambitious sustainability goals by developing advanced technologies that support recycling and enhance the value of environmentally friendly materials. As part of its move to focus on polyester, the company is working with supply chains to create an integrated ecosystem that covers clothing collection, sorting and recycling. Teijin Frontier believes that the new foreign matter removal method will help expand the scope of fiber-to-fiber recycling and contribute to a zero-waste society.

The new foreign material removal technology swells the polyurethane elastomer fibers, breaking their chemical bonds and making them soluble by new treatments. At the same time, the agent eliminates foreign substances including dyes to optimize the decolorization of polyester fibers. In order to control system cost and reduce environmental load, treatment agent can be collected and reused. The recycled polyester material produced by this method can be used in existing chemical recycling processes.

Stretchable polyester garments containing polyurethane-elastomer fibers are becoming popular as the demand for quick drying, wrinkle resistance and wearing comfort increases in the casual apparel market. However, since the conventional polyester chemical recycling technology is applicable to 100% polyester products, when it contains polyurethane elastomer fibers, the quality of recycled products will deteriorate. Therefore, the removal of polyurethane elastomer fibers from waste polyester fabrics is critical and breakthrough.