Recent developments
Restructuring and deals
Responding to fiber demand, BASF is consolidating Asian PolyTHF® operations and will exit the hydrosulfites business. Asahi Kasei and Teijin Frontier will merge distribution units into an 80/20 joint venture effective October 2026. Covestro’s acquisition of Pontacol and Teijin Aramid’s partnership with ICF Mercantile expand access to films and medical-device yarns.
Capacity and operations
Rhodia will invest R$ 100 million in its Santo André unit to modernize polyamide production and improve energy efficiency. Gabriel-Chemie expanded its Hungarian site, nearly doubling production lines and adding energy-efficient utilities. Mistra-Autex ordered a complete needlepunch line from ANDRITZ, targeting fivefold productivity and up to 10% fiber savings. At the same complex, Solvay achieved 94% reuse via Veolia’s ZeeWeed MBR integration, closing the process-water loop.
Circularity and recycling
Indorama Ventures and Jiaren Chemical Recycling formed a JV targeting up to 100,000 t/y textile‑recycled PET spinning. Repsol Foundation took a 14% stake in Coleo’s textile recycling division to expand recovery plants. matterr and BESTSELLER will scale polyester chemical recycling with a 10,000 t/y German plant by 2026. PureCycle gained EU REACH for PureFive and plans an Antwerp facility by 2028.
Materials and chemistry
Indorama Ventures introduced deja Care PET fibers for skin-sensitive apparel, meeting OEKO-TEX and related standards. It also enabled scalable bio-based PET fibers via mass-balance supply chains certified to ISCC+. Trinseo and RWDC advanced PHA dispersions for barrier coatings, with textiles among evaluated applications. Biotech firm Mevaldi secured funding to scale 3MPD, a bio-based building block for high-performance polyesters and elastomers.