Leading resource-based manufacturing group Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) plans to invest $200 million over the next 10 years into cellulosic textile fibre research and development, as the company says in the press release received by Lesprom Network.
Bey Soo Khiang, Vice Chairman of RGE, said: “This is a strategic business growth area for RGE. Our integrated portfolio of companies across pulp, fibre and yarn production puts us in a unique upstream position in the textile value chain to realise commercial scale and affordable solutions that support downstream manufacturers and brands.”
Through its business groups Sateri in China and Asia Pacific Rayon (APR) in Indonesia, Singapore-based RGE is the world’s largest viscose producer with a total annual production capacity at 1.4 million tonnes. Sateri and APR source wood-based dissolving pulp from sustainably managed renewable plantations in Indonesia and Brazil through RGE-managed companies, APRIL and Bracell.
Through partnerships with innovators and in-house research and development, several initiatives are already underway. In August 2019, RGE invested in Finnish start-up Infinited Fiber Company (IFC) to scale up its technology. A 500-ton pre-commercial plant in Finland and customer training centre will be ready by early 2020.
In May this year, an MoU was signed with re:newcell for technical cooperation and trials on production of viscose using recycled cotton, with the aim of industrial scale production by 2025.
