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To build textile recycling systems sustainably at scale, we need to replace petrochemical solvents with safe & sustainable, circular & bio-based alternatives: introducing Cyrene
About
Globally, 10% of carbon emissions are generated by the textile and fashion industry, yet less than 1% of clothing textiles are recycled into new clothing. A number of innovations are seeking to address this challenge, including multinationals such as ABG. The mechanical processes being developed usually require solvents and frequently these solvents are problematic in themselves vis-à-vis toxicity and environmental footprint. As new sustainably-driven, large-scale processes come onstream, the least we owe society is that these are in themselves designed benign, with safety and sustainability at their core. In the context of textile recycling, the mechanical processes ideally need a low-toxic, environmentally benign, near net-zero, bio-based solvent available at scale from waste non-fossil cellulosic feedstocks. The Circa Group has developed such a novel, sustainable, circular solvent – trademarked Cyrene™ – and preliminary work with textile recyclers has shown it to be a technical replacement for solvents, such as DMSO, in the transformation of waste textiles into reusable cellulose and polyester. Cyrene™ exhibits promising results particularly around the sorting of cellulose materials from their polyester counterparts. With solubilising properties similar to DMSO/NMP/DMF/DCM, Circa’s green novel solvent Cyrene™ has a unique property set, including viscosity, surface tension and tuneable polarities. It is low-toxic, environmentally benign, biodegradable, biocompatible and recyclable as well as circular and bio-based with low water usage and low carbon emissions. Most importantly, Cyrene™ can be produced at scale. We are building our first-of-a-kind 1,000 mtpa plant in France with the goal of 80,000 mtpa global offtake capacity by 2030, including in Asia, the Americas and Europe. Circa is accelerating the transition to better, greener, safer chemistry for use in both existing and – most importantly – new, emerging chemical processes. We have made the breakthrough – now we need you to join us in fundamentally changing chemistry for good.
Key Benefits
-Sustainable manufacturing process: Bio-based, waste non-food feedstock fosters the circular economy with a near GHG neutral production process, low production of pollutants and low water consumption. Cyrene™ offers short, resilient supply chains that are divorced from the complex petrochemical supply dynamics and simplified logistics/storage facilities, recycling and downstream waste water reuse. -Health and safety: Low toxicity, low health hazards (mild eye irritant), low flammability (can be shipped by air), low corrosivity, biodegradable, biocompatible, recyclable, does not produce NOx or SOx gases if incinerated, Cyrene™ contaminated water is readily treatable (unlike NMP). -Technical performance: Cyrene™ has proven to outperform the likes of NMP, DMF, DMSO in around 25% of applications. Indeed, in some applications, like graphene and carbon black suspensions, Cyrene™ has shown 10X increased performance than NMP. -Cyrene™ is in line with the EU 2018 Chemical Strategy for Safer, Sustainable Chemicals; the EU Green Deal; the global drive for net-zero; supports the UN Sustainable Development Goals; and will enable end-users to meet ever increasing stricter regulations regarding solvent use.
Applications
The application of Cyrene™ extends across multiple markets, such as pharmaceuticals, paints and coatings, polymers and plastics, electronics, carbon technologies, agriculture, speciality chemicals, textiles and footwear production/ recycling, automotive, cosmetics and more. It is used in membrane formation, graphene dispersion, textile recycling, battery production and recycling, polyurethane production, extractive distillation, natural product extraction, cleaning and paint stripping, monomers for polymerisation, coatings and recrystallisation. Trialled in over 1,000 industry applications with over 150 published scientific papers, Cyrene™ has been shown to outperform traditional aprotic solvents in ~25% of industrial tests to date.