A consortium of seven companies across five countries has jointly established a supply chain for more sustainable polyester fiber. Instead of fossil materials, renewable and bio-based materials as well as carbon capture and utilization (CCU) will be used in the manufacturing of polyester fibers for The North Face brand in Japan.
The consortium parties are Goldwin, as project owner, Mitsubishi Corporation, Chiyoda Corporation (all three from Japan), SK geo-centric (South Korea), Indorama Ventures (Thailand), India Glycols (India), and Neste (Finland).
The polyester fiber produced in the project is planned to be used by Goldwin for a part of The North Face products, including sports uniforms, in July 2024.
After that, the launch of further Goldwin products and brands will be considered.
The seven companies apply a mass balancing approach to ensure credible traceability of material streams throughout the supply chain, and will jointly continue to proactively promote the defossilization of materials to contribute to a more sustainable society.
Dovetail with NEDO CCU project
Neste will provide renewable Neste RE as one of the required ingredients for polyester production.
The para-xylene will be derived from carbon dioxide (CO2) as a raw material and supplied from a pilot plant built as a New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) project.
In 2020, the University of Toyama, HighChem Co. Ltd, Nippon Steel Engineering Co. Ltd., Nippon Steel Corporation, Chiyoda Corporation, and Mitsubishi Corporation were granted a NEDO project “Technology Development for Carbon Recycling and Next Generation Thermal Power Generation/Technology Development for CO2 Emission Reduction and Effective Utilization“.
This joint research and development project will supply CO2-derived para-xylene in the course of a trial. It has been produced during the operation process of a pilot plant installed in Chiyoda Corporation’s Koyasu Research Park since March 2022.
