Valmet Oyj has collaborated with Renewcell and promised the supply of machinery and equipment for the textile recycling plant at Ortviken industrial site in Sundsvall, Sweden.  

The recycling plant is the first-of-its-kind settlement in the world which will begin its operations in 2022. The overall worth of the order is € 25 million. Valmet has proved to be a strong partner that will actively take forward the concept of this recycling plant and will set an example in the world, comments Patrik Lundstorm, CEO of Renewcell.

Valmet’s mission of converting renewable resources into effective circular results can be very well carried out by sustainable textile recycling. The outcomes are very efficient and the team of two is working together agitatedly for developing the solutions. Bertel Karlstedt, President, Pulp and Energy business line, Valmet, says this is a pioneer project in itself and will be very important for them to strengthen their relations with Renewcell.

The process of upcycling cellulosic textile waste such as cotton and viscose clothes, transforming it into a dissolving pulp product called Circulose, has been patented by Renewcell, Comparing to the old plant in Kristinehamn, the new Ortviken plant will have a capacity of up to 4,500 metric tons of Circulose per year will be expanding in future.

From their work, they are paving the paths for the fashion industry to replace virgin textile fibers like cotton with fibers produced from Circulose, and reduce raw material extraction and fashion waste generation. Valmet by providing its technology in textile recycling is imparting significant technology from the bio, pulp and paper industry.

Valmet will provide technology for stock preparation, bleaching and drying commonly used in large scale state-of-the-art dissolving pulp plants instrumental in this project. It will significantly stand for machine equipment installation, commissioning and technical support.