Senbis, the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), Wageningen Food & Biobased Research, the University of Groningen, and NHL Stenden University have joined forces to develop a new biodegradable polyester. The new project, called Biottek, started in September 2023 and will run for three years.
The Dutch consortium received a €3.3 million grant from the European Commission Just Transition Fund (JTF), which supports member states territories expected to be most negatively impacted by the transition towards climate-neutrality. The partners will top off the investment to €6.6 million, with the aim of finding a workable solution to microplastic pollution caused by apparel textiles. Over 50 million metric tons of fibre is produced for apparel each year, of which over 60% is polyester. An estimated 500,000 metric tons of this volume is lost in the environment each year, for example through fibre shedding.
Next to investigating the biodegradability potential of the new materials, the new Biottek project will also study the properties that make them melt spinnable, a manufacturing process used to produce synthetic fibres. It will look at both the molecular design and physical properties required to achieve high performance, whilst leveraging artificial intelligence tools to speed up development and suggest new molecular designs.
Achieving a biodegradable polyester with high performance mechanical and thermal properties is the project’s key challenge, according to Gerard Nijhoving, managing director of Senbis.
“Our company has been developing fibres and filaments from biodegradable polymers for many years,” he said. “We know what is possible and too often what is not. With biodegradable polymers it is often challenging to achieve high mechanical and thermal properties. For technical yarns and textile fibres, this is often a showstopper. We believe industry needs a new type of biodegradable polyester that can be used for fibre applications which meets both the technical and economical requirements needed for a breakthrough in this field.”
Senbis will focus on the polymerisation and the melt spinning process. This February, the research and development company commissioned a melt-spinning pilot plant in the Chemport Europe region, in the northern Netherlands. It is fed with two extrusion systems: a twin-screw extruder and a bico extruder. The twin screw extruder, supplied by KraussMaffei has a capacity of 50 kg/h and can be used in combination with a water bath and cutter for compounding. The bico extruder system consists of a small-sized extruder with an output of 1-10 kg/h, and a larger extruder with a capacity of 4-40 kg/h.
The University of Groningen will be responsible for overseeing the polymerisation and characterisation of the polymers; NHL Stenden University will process and assess various end-of-life scenarios, including recycling; the Wageningen Food & Biobased Research will assess biodegradability; and TNO will be responsible for using artificial intelligence.