Reju, the textile-to-textile materials regeneration company, today announced on July 1st that it had opened a research & development center in Conshohocken (Whitemarsh Township) This is the French company’s first dedicated research facility in North America. The center is located within Technip Energy’s Advanced Materials and Catalysts’ existing research facility at 280 Cedar Grove Road. According to the announcement, the lab will “help Reju accelerate the deployment of its recycling technologies and will help develop Reju’s next-generation circular solutions.”

The opening marks the relocation of Reju’s core research team from IBM’s Almaden Research Center in San Jose, California, where Reju’s Volcat depolymerization technology, a catalytic chemical recycling method breaking down polyester into reusable raw materials, was first developed.

“I am excited to be joining such an innovative company and to be part of the team moving the technology towards industrialization and supporting the infrastructure for true post-consumer textile-to-textile recycling at scale,” said Gregory Breyta, director of research & development at Reju.

From the announcement:

The facility will be focused on the full development spectrum, from early-stage feasibility through to kilo-scale production. It will span polyester recycling, mixed-fabric solutions, and new circular chemistry pathways, enabling rapid iteration and accelerating Reju’s path from concept to industrial reality. The new R&D center will support the development and validation of technologies intended for deployment across Reju’s future Regeneration Hubs.

By locating the facility within Technip Energies’ existing research infrastructure, Reju will benefit from direct access to decades of Technip Energies’ expertise in catalysis, process development, technology integration and industrial scale-up.

The establishment of the R&D Center is a component of Reju’s broader strategy to build a closed-loop recycling ecosystem that converts discarded fabric and textiles back into quality products. The center joins Reju’s growing global infrastructure, including their first textile-to-textile facility Regeneration Hub Zero in Frankfurt, Germany and future Regeneration Hubs that have been announced in Sittard (Netherlands), Lacq (France), and Rochester, New York (USA).

“Together, these facilities form a replicable global circular infrastructure designed to turn today’s textile waste into tomorrow’s raw materials,” said Breyta.

Photo: Reju via PR Newswire