The Rieter yarn spinning line originally planned for Spinnova’s plant in Jyväskylä, Finland, will now be installed at the facility of Tearfil in Guimarães, Portugal, following a product development agreement between the two companies.

In June this year, Spinnova and Suzano – the world’s largest pulp producer – officially opened the first commercial-scale facility producing wood-based Spinnova fibre. Operated by Woodspin, a joint venture between the two companies, the plant will produce 1,000 tons of sustainable, recyclable and fully biodegradable textile fibres from responsibly-grown wood each year.

Spinnova will now benefit from the extensive industry know-how of Tearful and from the proximity of Europe’s most significant textile industry hub in Portugal to improve its access to global textile markets.

The technology will be delivered this Autumn and the spinning line is intended to be operational by the end of the year. Tearfil will be responsible for its operation and Spinnova will use a part of the line’s capacity for commercial scale yarn production and to streamline development work with industry partners.

“We are very pleased to have agreed a cooperation model with Tearfil where we are able to benefit from its decades of experience and expertise in yarn spinning,” sais Spinnova interim CEO Ben Selby. “The location in Portugal speeds up our product development work and gives us the opportunity to cooperate on development with key players in the industry.”

www.spinnova.com