Tires To Textiles

Chemical company BASF and yarn maker Fulgar collaborate on new textile material

Italian yarn manufacturer Fulgar has created a new nylon 6.6 yarn using a new chemical formulated with pyrolysis oil derived from scrap tires.

Called Q-Cycle, Fulgar’s new nylon 6.6 yarn was achieved through BASF’s ChemCycling process which uses pyrolysis oil as a recycled feedstock in the production of new chemicals. BASF customers use these new chemicals to make their own products.

BASF partner company Pyrum Innovations produces the pyrolysis oil at its plant in Dillengen, Germany using proprietary thermolysis technology to convert tire rubber granulate into pyrolysis oil, gas and coke.

BASF feeds Pyrum’s  tire pyrolysis oil into its production network Verbund in Ludwigshafen, Germany to create new chemical products.  BASF customers, like Fulgar, use these new chemicals to make their own products. Q-cycle nylon 6.6 yarn is one such product.

The share of recycled material ( e.g. pyrolysis oil) is allocated to products manufactured in the Verbund site by using a third-party audited mass balance approach. The resulting products have the exact same properties as those manufactured from virgin feedstock.  Customers can process them in the same way as conventionally manufactured products and use them in applications with a high demand for quality, hygiene and performance.

Fulgar’s new nylon 6.6 yarn preserves the same features — such as resilience and elasticity, non-allergenic properties and resistance to mold, bacteria, and insects — as virgin nylon.

Fulgar’s nylon 6.6 is used in parachutes, swimsuits, airbags, carpets, ropes and machine parts.

“We’re already spinning this new nylon and taking it to a level because we’re confident of its quality ,” Fulgar’s Alan Garosi said. The Q-Cycle yarn is expected to sell about 50 percent more than non-sustainable nylons but still within a price range that is attractive for mass market players.

© Scrap Tire News, March 2022