Category: NEWS & EVENTS

Within the action A4 Design in detail of demonstrative textile prototypes, the design process has been carried out for the prototypes for the insoles, using digital lasts, and for the isolation materials for building, using 3D CAD software and implementing eco-design methodology. In parallel, the physical requirements of the insole and the isolator have been studied to be produced with the recycled polyester fibre. The productive processes have been analysed and parametrised for the previous manufacturing and to be able to foresee possible modifications in the production, due to the use of recycled PET. ...

Last October 30th, the second Monitoring Meeting of the Project LIFE-ECOTEX took place at the facilities of GAIKER. During the event, the supervisor was informed about the progress of the project, indicating also how the validation of the purified monomer obtained has been started and presenting the preliminary results associated with the production of pellets and textile yarn. The PET from chemical recycling shows similar properties to virgin PET and therefore it is concluded that the achieved results are highly satisfactory. Furthermore, the results associated to the replicability of the technology and the transference of the outcomes to other industrial sectors were highlighted. Particularly, the packaging sector and the automotive sector, have shown interest in treating polyester waste generated in both industries and also in including the resulting products in the manufacturing of other goods and even in products linked to packaging. ...

The second technical follow-up meeting of the Project LIFE-ECOTEX was carried out at the facilities of CTCR with the attendance of all the partners involved in the Project: GAIKER-IK4 (Leader), BETA, CTCR, EKOREC y LOGROTEX. During the meeting, the progress of the project was exposed, focused on the demonstration of the catalytic glycolysis process of textile polyester waste to generate the purified monomer BHET, that will be the starting point for the synthesis of the new polyester. Moreover, the results of the design and simulation of the industrial processes were presented: PET2BHET Process and BHET2PET Process, together with the dissemination, networking and management activities carried out by the partners of the Project. Finally, GAIKER presented the first monitoring report received from the European Commission, and the future tasks were planned. ...

In this action, A4. Design in detail of demonstrative textile prototypes, the prototypes for the insole and isolation material have been developed through digital lasts (in the case of the insoles), using a 3D design software, implementing the methodology of eco-design and after studying the "LifeCycle Assesment" (LCA). In parallel, the physical requirements of the insole and the isolation that will be manufactured with recycled polyester fibre have been designed and studied. ...

Since January of the current year, the LIFE-ECOTEX project team is working coordinated at the different headquarters of the partners, althoug the most remarkable progresses obtained have come from the pilot plant of GAIKER-IK4. During this trimester, important advances have been achieved there, related to the catalytic glycolysis, whose first results confirm the possibility of obtaining the previous compound, BHET, needed to polymerize and get virgin PET. ...

As a part of the activities carried out in the action A2. Adjustment of the demonstrative  catalytic glycolysis pilot experiences reproducing the BHET monomer from polyester textile wastes, the design and simulation of the catalytic glycolysis process has been completed. On the bassis of the data provided by GAIKER-IK4 in the pilot plant tests and using the software Aspen Plus, BETA has simulated the different stages of the catalytic glycolysis process, optimizing the technical and operational parameters of the process PET2BHET. ...

In this action, A1. Preparation of the footwear waste for the demonstrative de-polymerization, all the wastes from the cutting processes of the components for the footwear manufacturing were analysed, such as cutting materials, lining materials, insoles, etc. The polyester wastes were characterised processed and grinded to obtain the ideal particle size for the following phase of de-polymerization. ...

The LIFE-ECOTEX project has currently a profile in the social network Twitter and a group in Linkedin which are continously active. The objective of this social networks is to contribute to the dissemination of the project through the publication of the evolution and the results achieved during the project development as well as discussion topiss and news related to the sector. ...

During the “Momad Shoes” Congress, held from 4th to 6th March at IFEMA (Madrid), the LIFE ECOTEX Project has been made public thanks to the dissemination carried out by the Footwear Technology Center of La Rioja (CTCR). By means of different graphic and visual resources exhibited in the CTCR stand, companies and assistants could know firsthand how it is possible to introduce the circular economy concept within the shoemaking industry.   ...

Following with the activities derived from “Action D1. Dissemination planning and execution”, a networking has been carried out between GAIKER-IK4 and the research group “Clean technologies for the environmental sustainability” from the Chemical Engineering Department of UPV/EHU. The meeting was held on 2nd February at UPV/EHU’s facilities with PhD. Jose Ignacio Gutierrez Ortiz and PhD. Ruben Lopez Fonseca. ...