1000 - Econyl
Transcription
1000 - Econyl
“SUSTAINABILITY IS NOT A GOAL TO BE REACHED BUT A WAY OF THINKING, A WAY OF BEING, A PRINCIPLE WE MUST BE GUIDED BY.” GIULIO BONAZZI – CHAIRMAN, AQUAFIL GROUP Imagine if you could turn old waste into something brand new and beautiful. The ECONYL® brand does just this: we turn nylon waste into prime material for industrial manufacturing. As we all know waste is a by-product of any industrial production. What if we could somehow turn this concept upside down? This is exactly our idea: We reduce the amount of global waste by collecting it from landfills and oceans and feeding it back into production cycles. As people working for the ECONYL® brand we invest our commitment, determination and skill to make these dreams, ideas and values come true. By that we create processes and products that help make tomorrow a better place to live. A place, where industrial production goes hand in hand with respect for the environment. A place, where sustainable technologies, processes and products with low environmental impact dominate the landscape of global markets. THE ECONYL® REGENERATION SYSTEM AN INTELLIGENT AND SUSTAINABLE WAY TO CREATE PRODUCTS FROM WASTE IN A CONTINUOUS LOOP. THE ECONYL® REGENERATION SYSTEM CONSISTS OF SIX PRODUCTION STEPS THAT FORM A CLOSED LOOP. AJDOVSCINA, SLOVENIA (EU) LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA (EU) LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA (EU) 1 ECONYL® WASTE RESCUE WORLDWIDE POLYAMIDE WASTE RESCUE The ECONYL® reclaiming program is the first step of the ECONYL® Regeneration System. Nylon waste is collected in different areas around the world. It is sent to the ECONYL® waste collection and treatment center in Ajdovščina, Slovenia. From there it is forwarded to the nearby regeneration plant located in Ljubljana. The pre-consumer waste we collect includes production discards, industrial plastic components and oligomers. Our supply chains that provide post-consumer waste are becoming more and more important. We collect products at the end of their life cycle- fishing nets, fabrics and fluff from carpet flooring. We aim to work in synergy with clients and institutions, particularly in the BCF sector, where we assist yarn manufacturers to collect old carpets and rugs. Currently, we reclaim waste throughout Canada (British Columbia), USA, Greece, Egypt, Pakistan, Turkey, Thailand and Norway, and we are constantly exploring new opportunities. BETWEEN 2011 AND 2013 WE REMOVED 30,000 TONS OF WASTE 2 ECONYL® WASTE PREPARATION AJDOVSCINA, SLOVENIA (EU) STORAGE AND PREPARATION OF WASTE Ajdovščina (Slovenia) near Ljubljana, is the place where the collected waste begins its journey back to its origins. In this waste treatment center, the different types of waste are cleaned and prepared for depolymerization. As part of the cleaning process, foreign materials other than nylon 6 - organic, plastic or metallic materials - are removed and sent to other supply chains. The cleaned nylon waste is shredded, compacted, bagged and transported to the ECONYL® regeneration plant in Ljubljana. We started the production of ECONYL® material in 2011 with 70% pre-consumer waste and 30% post-consumer waste. In 2013, the percentage of post-consumer content has reached up to 60%. We continue to increase this ratio, since our goal for the near future is to produce ECONYL® material from 100% postconsumer waste. OUR GOAL: 100% POSTCONSUMER WASTE ARE TREATED IN OUR PLANT THE WORLD IS FREED OF 1,000 1,000 TONS OF PA6 MONTHLY TONS OF WASTE 3 ECONYL® DEPOLYMERIZATION LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA (EU) THE ECONYL® DEPOLYMERIZATION PLANT At the heart of the ECONYL® Regeneration System stands a miracle: the ECONYL® depolymerization process. What makes this step so innovative and superior to the processes used by our competitors? The difference – and this is quite a miracle – lies in our system that gives us a very high ratio of nylon output compared to the waste input. Until recently, depolymerization at a scale that is commercially viable has been deemed impossible in the synthetic fibers sector. The cost was simply too high since only very little nylon could be gained from huge amounts of waste. The ECONYL® brand found two ways to make the impossible possible. First, we have installed highly effective supply chains that guarantee waste with 90 - 95% of polyamide content. This means we can harvest a maximum amount of nylon from the waste, since it contains little foreign material. Second, we have invented a radically new purification process that is less complex than the ones applied in the industry. As a result, we utilize a lot less energy and water, have a lot less residual waste and produce a lot more first-grade nylon. CREATING THE MIRACLE: 100% REGENERATION TO ARRIVE AT RECYCLING VIRGIN QUALITY 4 ECONYL® POLYMERIZATION LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA (EU) THE ECONYL® POLYMERIZATION PLANT Our two polymerization plants are located in Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Arco (Italy). The ECONYL® caprolactam we produce has the same chemical and performance characteristics as caprolactam from raw fossil material. Hence, the process and chemical methods of transforming the ECONYL® caprolactam into nylon 6 polymers – what is known as polymerization – are identical to polymerization of virgin caprolactam. 5 ECONYL® TRANSFORMATION TRANSFORMATION OF PA6 POLYMERS The PA6 polymers produced from ECONYL® caprolactam are distributed to our production facilities where they are processed into BCF yarn (carpet flooring yarn) and NTF yarn (textile yarn). 6 ECONYL® RE-COMMERCIALIZATION COMMERCIALIZATION INTO YARNS From ECONYL® caprolactam we process two types of products: BCF yarns for synthetic carpet flooring and NTF yarns for textiles. We market these products to our customers who produce goods for their final markets. When we speak of re-commercialization, we want to rewrite the rules for producing man-made fibers. Our goal is to manufacture products that are not only entirely made of regenerated material, but are fully and endlessly regenerable. Our process starts at the beginning by designing products that are suitable for remanufacturing and finishing with the collection and regeneration of post-consumer waste. It’s a process that forms a closed loop in the truest sense. THINKING AHEAD, CREATING REGENERABLE PRODUCTS FACTS & FIGURES THE PRODUCTION PROCESS OF ECONYL® CAPROLACTAM FOUR YEARS AND €20M WERE SPENT ON THE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, DESIGN AND BUILDING OF THE CHEMICAL SYSTEM AND DEPOLYMERIZATION PLANT (Source: Aquafil Internal data, 2013) WE HAVE RECOVERED NYLON 6 FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD CANADA, USA, NORWAY, GREECE, TURKEY, EGYPT, PAKISTAN, THAILAND BASED ON THE 2014 Q1 PERFORMANCE, WE WILL RECLAIM CLOSE TO 26,000 TONS OF PRE- AND POST-CONSUMER WASTE THIS YEAR (Source: Aquafil Internal data) BASED ON THE 2014 Q1 PERFORMANCE, AT LEAST 13,000 (Source: Aquafil Internal data) TONS WILL BE POST-CONSUMER WASTE PRODUCTS IN 2014 WE WILL PRODUCE 20,000 TONS OF REGENERATED CAPROLACTAM WHICH AQUAFIL WILL TRANSFORM INTO YARN (Source: Aquafil Internal data) IN 2014 ECONYL® PRODUCTS WILL CONTAIN AT LEAST 50% POST-CONSUMER CONTENT, INCREASING THE LEVEL OF 2012 WHICH WAS AROUND 30% (Source: Aquafil Internal data) www.econyl.com Contact us Follow us [email protected] © 2014 Aquafil S.p.A. ECONYL® is a trademark of Aquafil S.p.A. @ECONYL www.econyl.com
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