Recycling: Aduro/AstroTurf collaborate on synthetic turf recycling; Reju opens US R&D centre for textiles recycling

Aduro Clean Technologies Inc. and AstroTurf Corporation, the innovator of synthetic sports surfacing, have announced the signing of a MoU to evaluate the application of Aduro’s Hydrochemolytic technology (HCT) to end-of-life synthetic turf.

The MOU establishes a framework for Aduro and AstroTurf to evaluate how HCT, together with appropriate mechanical pre-treatment, can support a technical and economic pathway for recovering the PE and PP fractions of end-of-life synthetic turf and converting them into liquid hydrocarbon products suitable for use as circular feedstock in existing petrochemical infrastructure.

Synthetic turf is a highly engineered, multi-material product designed for durability, performance, and long service life. It also contains valuable PE and PP components, including grass blades, thatch, and backing layers, that can be difficult to recover because they are embedded in a system that may include cured polyurethane backing or adhesive materials, infill, sand, rubber, and accumulated field-use contamination. Aduro’s previously announced laboratory testing of post-use synthetic turf demonstrated selective conversion of the PE and PP components into shorter-chain hydrocarbon products suitable for further upgrading or use as steam-cracker feedstock, while also confirming the importance of upstream preparation and separation.

Through the MOU, Aduro and AstroTurf intend to assess the practical steps required to recover and prepare the PE/PP fraction from end-of-life turf for HCT evaluation. The work is expected to focus on the pathway from field recovery and disassembly through de-infill, separation of non-target materials, cleaning or preparation of the polyolefin-rich fraction, and potential management of side streams.

AstroTurf has publicly advanced sustainability initiatives focused on manufacturing, installation, and end-of-life operations, including partnerships intended to divert end-of-life turf from landfill and support circular recycling pathways. The MOU with Aduro provides an additional route for evaluating how advanced chemical recycling may complement existing mechanical recycling, take-back, and material recovery approaches.

The need for synthetic turf recycling is increasing as more fields reach end of life and as customers, communities, and regulators seek practical alternatives to landfill disposal. Policy frameworks in North America and Europe are placing greater emphasis on producer responsibility, recycled content, landfill diversion, and traceable circular outcomes, with New York State’s carpet extended producer responsibility framework providing one example of how end-of-life obligations may shape future demand for recycling solutions.

In other news, Reju, the textile-to-textile materials regeneration company owned by Technip Energy, has opened a R&D centre in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, marking the company's first dedicated research facility in North America. Located within Technip Energy's existing research centre, the lab will help Reju accelerate the deployment of its recycling technologies.

The R&D centre marks the relocation of Reju's core research team from IBM's Almaden Research Centre in San Jose, California, where Reju's Volcat depolymerisation technology, a catalytic chemical recycling method breaking down polyester into reusable raw materials, was first developed.

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. It 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 says it 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 centre 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 centre 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 (US).

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