#Recycling / Circular Economy

2021-12-02

Spinnova-Suzano factory construction makes headway as planned in Finland

Woodspin, the joint venture of the sustainable textile material company Spinnova and its strategic partner, pulp company Suzano, is proceeding with its factory project in Central Finland according to the original schedule. The production spaces are expected to be ready for technology installations at the end of next summer, and for the factory to be completed by end of 2022.

On the south side of Jyväskylä in Central Finland, one can already see the Woodspin factory complex take shape. The facility is the first commercial factory of Woodspin, a joint venture between Spinnova and Suzano, and a start to what will be some million tonnes of annual global volume of SPINNOVA® fibre capacity within 10-12 years.

The main contractor SRV has proceeded on schedule in the project, lead by local real-estate developer Jykia. The production spaces for manufacturing the highly sustainable SPINNOVA® fibre are estimated to be ready for technology installations at the end of summer of 2022, and for the factory to be completed by end of 2022.

The factory complex will include Spinnova’s and Suzano’s joint venture Woodspin’s fibre production, Suzano Finland’s micro-fibrillated cellulose (MFC) refining, as well as Spinnova’s headquarters and some of its product development functions.

For Suzano, the MFC refining investment is the company’s first ever investment outside of Brazil. ?- Building an MFC facility next to the Woodspin factory is a very important milestone for us. We at Suzano believe in Spinnova’s technology that is the cornerstone of Woodspin, comments Director of Strategic Projects Ari Borg from Suzano Europe.

- The pulp is shipped to Finland in sheets, which mitigates the climate footprint of the logistics. Integrating the raw material refining into the fibre process is the most cost and energy efficient and climate friendly solution, adds Spinnova’s CEO and co-founder Janne Poranen.

Spinnova has also designed the factory’s energy solutions to ensure a low emission facility that runs on 100% renewable energy and recovered heat energy. In addition, the factory is planned to transfer excess energy back into the district heating network. ?- The only side stream of our process is evaporated water that is fed back into the process for the most part. Thanks to our clean production method, we don’t need an environmental permit, reminds Poranen.

The investment also brings both direct and indirect employment to the area. Besides the main contractor SRV, the project members are e.g. Arkkitehtipalvelu Oy on architecture, Vahanen Jyväskylä Oy on structural design and Elomatic Oy on heating, ventilation and air conditioning design.

Preparing for the SPINNOVA® technology delivery of the new factory is also proceeding as planned. Spinnova will communicate more on that in early 2022.

“Production is a product”

From technical textiles and AI-driven robotics to the limitations of textile circularity: Professor Dr Thomas Gries looks back on more than two decades of development at ITA Aachen. In the interview, he explains why production technology remains a decisive success factor, discusses international collaborations and innovation ecosystems, and shares his views on the transformation of production landscapes and the challenges facing an increasingly regulated industry.

“We need to move away from the price trap and return to a value-driven mindset.”

With its new Textile Innovation Center, KARL MAYER is sending a strong signal for innovation, collaboration, and the future of textile applications. In this interview, Karl Josef Mayer discusses new opportunities in warp knitting, the processing of staple fibres, recycling, the changing role of machinery manufacturers, and why the textile industry must once again focus more strongly on the value of textiles. by Oliver Schmidt

“Innovation, resilience and international experience remain the great strengths of the Swiss textile machinery industry”

Geopolitical uncertainty, growing competitive pressure from China, new free trade agreements and the shift towards a circular economy are currently reshaping the global textile industry. In this interview, Cornelia Buchwalder discusses the current mood within the Swiss textile machinery sector, the industry’s distinctive innovative strength, new market opportunities in India and Asia, and the technological trends that could shape the upcoming trade fair cycle leading up to ITMA 2027.

Ence and ShareTex begin initial testing of the ATENEA innovation project to promote textile recycling in Spain

Ence and ShareTex are making progress on the Atenea R&D project, which aims to develop a complete value chain for textile recycling in Spain. Specifically, the goal of the ATENEA project—which is funded by the Center for Technological Development and Innovation (CDTI)—is to connect all the necessary stages for the recovery of textile waste, from collection and management, through recycling and transformation into new raw materials, to their incorporation into new textile products.

DePoly Inaugurates its Showcase Plant in Monthey Switzerland

What if used plastic bottles, PET packaging material and polyester textiles could become raw materials just as high performing as virgin resources? That is the ambition of DePoly, a circular materials company based in Sion, Switzerland which inaugurated its Showcase Plant in Monthey on July 6th & 7th. The first depolymerization facility of its kind and scale in Switzerland, this industrial Showcase Plant represents a major milestone in the company's growth and its journey toward commercialization.

Commission clarifies rules on plastic bottles recycling

The European Commission today adopted new rules on recycling of single-use plastic beverage bottles made primarily of polyethylene terephthalate (PET bottles). These rules establish, for the first time, a methodology to calculate, verify and report chemically recycled content. This is part of the Commission’s December 2025 plastics package.

DyStar releases FY2025 sustainability report, marking a new milestone towards its 2030 targets

DyStar, a leading specialty chemicals company with more than a century of expertise in product development and innovation, today announced the release of its FY2025 Sustainability Report, marking a significant milestone in its sustainability journey and reinforcing its commitment to long-term value creation.

TERIS reaches milestone: Fraunhofer consortium develops new standards for tire analysis

In the “TERIS” project, the Fraunhofer institutes ICT, IGD, and IWM—led by the Fraunhofer Institute for Structural Durability and System Reliability LBF—have reached a decisive milestone. For the first time, the teams aim to generate, analyse, and predict tire wear in the laboratory in a standardized and practical manner. As part of this milestone, results are now available on reference abrasion, particle analysis, tribological models, AI-based surface analysis, a test bench concept, and methods for accelerated aging and VOC detection. The tire industry, testing services, and environmental agencies will in future benefit from reliable, rapid laboratory procedures for emissions assessment.