Green Machine

A hydrothermal treatment method to separate and recycle cotton-polyester blended textiles

Garments are often made from a blend of different fibres in order to improve fit, style, comfort and longevity. As yet no commercially viable separation and recycling technologies are available in the industry for the most popular blends such as cotton and polyester blends. Therefore, these materials have turned into textile waste in landfills.

In order to cope with this kind of blended textile waste, we have developed The Green Machine. It is an efficient hydrothermal treatment method to decompose cotton into cellulose powders, hence enabling the separation of the polyester fibres from the blends.

The separation process uses only heat, water and less than 15% of green chemical with a recovery rate of over 97% for polyester fibres in 2 hours. The separated fibres are ready for re-spinning, enabling a fibre-to-fibre recycling.

In 2020, the first industrial scale Green Machine was set up in an established textile manufacturer in Asia with a processing capacity of 1.5 tons per day

Awards

2022 R&D 100 Awards - Winner (Process/Prototyping)
ITMF Awards 2022
Edison Awards 2023 - Bronze Award
Fast Company World Changing Ideas Awards 2023 – Finalist
China Garment Industry Technological Progress and Contribution Awards 2023
China Patent Awards of Garment Industry 2023 - Silver Award
Reuters Events Responsible Business Awards 2023 - Finalist (Circular Transition)
Asia International Innovative Invention Award 2019 – Gold Award
46th International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva (2018) – Gold Medal
Hong Kong Green Innovations Awards 2017 – Silver Award

https://www.hkrita.com/en/our-innovation-tech/projects/green-machine-phase-1

https://www.hkrita.com/en/our-innovation-tech/projects/green-machine-phase-2