A team of researchers from Saxion University of Applied Science in Enschede started in 2011 with the SaXcell project.

Recovery of cellulose fibres from collected textile waste. This project resulted in the first 50 Kg batch of SaXcell fibers. The fibers are used to produce a non-blended fabric.

Dutch fashion brand Humanoid used SaXcell to create a dress, which was presented earlier this week at the congress ´Groen is de Rode Draad´ (i.e. green is the red thread). The congress was organised by the Dutch organisation MVO for corporate sustainability and ´Het Plan van Aanpak´: an initiative created by three associations from the retail sector. During the production of SaXcell, every kilogram of recycled cotton yielded at least 980 grams of new yarn. A study conducted by EY proved how the new fabric could become an interesting commercial solution for all apparel brands struggling with waste management.

The original inventors supported by Saxion founded the start-up company SaXcell BV, to further develop the technology towards commercialization.

The SaXcell research team was invited by RIETER, the world’s leading supplier of systems for short-staple fiber spinning, to test SaXell fibers on the most modern machines for spinning of short staple fibers. Preliminary tests have shown that SaXcell fibers are well suitable to produce 100% waste cotton based regenerated cellulose ring spun yarn to a fineness of at least Ne 40 (Nm 68), without optimization.

Saxion Research Group Smart Functional Materials, presented research results of a successful first phase of upscaling of recycled cotton, during the conference ‘Upscaling of Cotton Recycling, SaXcell’. Within the TechForFuture (TFF) project ‘Upscaling of Cotton Recycling, SaXcell’, researchers produced 90kg of SaXcell fibre. The research results were presented March 23, 2017 and the first phase of production upscaling of SaXcell, proved to be successful. This project was realised in cooperation with stakeholders: Artofil, Boergroep, C&A Foundation, JB Textiles, Rieter, Schmits, TITK, Van den Acker and WeVoTex.

SaXcell member of TexPlus (https://texplus.nl/ 100 kg produced using waste textiles from Wevotex and tested with excellent results at Rieter/Switzerland and Turkish partners Ugurlular, Selin Tekstil and Modeko.

2nd patent filed and granted

In this project, researches work in close cooperation with partners from the industry to implement SaXcell fibres in the workwear market. Big volumes, high quality and sustainability are of great importance. Old workwear will be collected and recycled into new SaXcell fibres. This project is in cooperation with Artofil, Frankenhuis, Havep, Johan van den Acker, Lavans and SaXcell B.V.

SaXcell, a spin-off from Saxion University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands, will set up a pilot programme in a new production facility to create high-grade textile out of used textile. In a pilot plant in the East of The Netherlands, a sustainable recycling process is used to turn old cotton fibres into new cellulose fibres, called SaXcell. With a production output of 100 kilos of fibre pulp per day, this marks the first time that this process is utilised on a larger scale. This has been made possible by a consortium of investors who have signed a shareholder agreement on 9 April, thereby allowing the production of SaXcell to begin.

Establishing a modern full scale lab on the Saxion premises in combi with the current textile lab…… TexPlus cooperation

Process development pulping on lab scale

Test equipment

Lab scale wet spinning

Goal: realization of industrial scale production plant(s) and licensing model

Construction and operation of pilot plant of 25 ton/yr start production October 2020

Turkish partner Ugurlular start building wet spin plant