Recovery Strategies for Textiles - ReSTex

The Josef Ressel Centre ReSTex develops methods to environmentally‐friendly separate cotton-polyester blend fabrics — the largest share of textile fibers. This allows high-quality raw materials to be recovered, resources to be conserved, and circular economy in the textile sector to be strengthened. ReSTex thus makes an important contribution to implementing the Clean Industrial Deal and to strengthening the competitiveness of Austrian industrial partners.

Under the leadership of Dr. Christian Schimper, the ReSTex team brings together experts from the fields of cellulose chemistry, enzyme technology, textile and polymer processing, process engineering, analytics, machine learning & artificial intelligence, life-cycle analysis, and circular design.

The main focus is on processes for efficient and complete separation of cotton and polyester: Enzymatic removal of cotton is conducted in a way that the remaining polyester can be processed in conventional PET recycling plants into high-quality granulate. Furthermore, methods for removal of polyester by green chemistry tools are being developed to enable recovery of cotton.

In addition, source textiles are characterised using modern spectroscopy; the results are recorded in a database and analysed by AI to continuously optimise sorting processes. In parallel, the centre develops concepts in circular design that textiles are produced in a recycling-friendly way.

The ReSTex project builds on the strengths of two campuses: At the Biotech Campus Tulln, biotechnological methods for separating mixed textiles are developed, and the entire project is coordinated from here. At the Campus Wieselburg, the ecological and economic impacts are studied via life-cycle analyses and circular design is evaluated. This allows combining cutting-edge scientific research with sustainability and economic expertise.

Research partners include the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU University), with its Institute of Chemistry of Renewable Resources, led by Prof. Thomas Rosenau. At the Department of Agricultural Biotechnology (IFA Tulln), research is being conducted by the groups of Prof. Georg Gübitz (Institute for Environmental Biotechnology) and Prof. Andreas Mautner (Bioplastics Technology). The Technical University of Vienna (TU Wien) is represented by the working group of Senior Scientist Andreas Bartl at the Institute for Process Engineering, Environmental Engineering and Technical Biosciences.

Key impetus comes from the corporate partners Salesianer Miettex GmbH, Starlinger & Co GmbH, and EREMA Engineering Recycling Maschinen und Anlagen GmbH. They contribute their expertise to enhance circularity in textile products and to decisively advance recycling processes.

The ReSTex centre is also embedded in the scientifically and economically dynamic environment of Campus Tulln, part of the Excellence Hub “Renewable Resources” and closely connected with the ecoplus activities at the Technopol location Tulln.