LOOM Carbon has entered into a research collaboration with RTI International, an independent scientific research institute, to scale a thermal chemical recycling technology aimed at addressing hard-to-recycle textile waste.
The partnership will focus on advancing LOOM Carbon’s proprietary recycling platform, which converts non-recycled and contaminated textile waste into carbon-neutral materials that can be reintroduced into industrial supply chains. The initiative comes as global textile waste exceeds 92 million tonnes a year, with recycling rates remaining below 15%.
LOOM’s process is designed to transform mixed textile waste into a range of outputs, including circular pigments and materials intended to replace fossil-derived inputs in textiles, coatings and plastics, as well as carbon materials that can be used in cement, asphalt and composite applications. The system also generates excess thermal energy to support operational efficiency.
“Together with RTI, Loom is demonstrating that blended textile waste can be recycled into valuable resources,” said Kimberly Landry, chief executive of LOOM Carbon. “This collaboration moves us from pilot to commercial readiness, proving textile waste is a resource, not a liability.”
The work will be carried out at RTI’s Pilot Xcelerator facility, which supports the scale-up of emerging technologies from laboratory testing to real-world deployment. The facility provides process engineering support and emissions validation to accelerate commercialisation.
David C. Dayton, senior fellow and director of biofuels at RTI International, said the collaboration would focus on scaling a solution with the potential for broad environmental impact. “We are proud to leverage RTI’s Pilot Xcelerator facility and our expertise in process engineering and emissions validation to help accelerate a scalable solution to textile waste,” he said.
The 12-month programme will concentrate on processing challenging textile waste streams, validating the quality of recycled outputs and preparing the technology for commercial deployment. The partners said the approach could support the treatment of millions of tonnes of textile waste annually across Southeast Asia, Europe and North America, particularly in markets introducing new textile stewardship regulations.
