Friday, January 20, 2017

News: Xeros targets textile sector

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Xeros, the cleantech company based in Rotherham, has revealed that textiles is the first of its new target markets for its patented polymer beads.

Based on the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP), Xeros is a Leeds University spin-out that has so far been deploying its special polymers in the laundry and leather tanning industries where they can massively reduce the amounts of water needed.

Having raised a further £40m in a share issue at the end of 2015, the AIM-listed firm has boosted its R&D and engineering teams as it commercialises the technology. The group's strategy is to develop and commercialise Intellectual Property to deliver significant water and chemical savings to large scale global industries. Xeros' patented technology can be applied in partnerships with other companies across an increasing number of sectors.

The firm has now announced that the third area of focus for development of its technology will be the textile sector.

Rothbiz reported last year on the progress being made on the third generation of polymer beads. Three specific applications were selected for further R&D within the Xeros Technology Centre on the AMP and scale trials were pencilled in. The company has been coy about the new applications but say that they are as big as laundry and leather and should have a shorter development lifecycle.

The group has also provided a trading update which highlighted that major commercial relationships were in development and the award of Approved Supplier status for Hilton hotels in the Americas, which comprises an estate of over 4,300 hotels now with access to Xeros' cleaning technology.

The US has been the target market in laundry with partners approved to sell, install and commission Xeros machines. 316 have been installed and the company has increased its commissioning capacity to meet demand and introduced its new 16kg machines to the market.

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The Group also said that it continued its detailed discussions with several globally recognised OEMs to incorporate Xeros' technology in Commercial and Residential washing machines.

Targeting the $50 billion leather processing market for the deployment of its polymer beads, Xeros has signed a heads of terms with Wollsdorf Leder Tannery in Austria for a ten-year contract to convert its entire re-tanning processes to Xeros' technology in 2017. It follows from successful trials and four European tanneries committed to trials in December with two currently underway, including one with a globally recognised brand. The Group now has a dedicated commercialisation team in place.

On the new area of textiles, Xeros said it has started small-scale trials and that all early indications are that the technology can reduce the chemistry, water consumption and effluent in textile manufacturing. Work is now underway to cover application areas with Intellectual Property registration.

Mark Nichols, chief executive of Xeros, said: "We continued to make excellent progress in the execution of our platform strategy. The endorsement of such leading organisations as Hilton and Wollsdorf further validates the benefits of adopting our polymer technology.

"We have identified textiles as the third area of focus. It is a sector which is very water and chemical intensive and therefore holds significant potential for our technology.

"We are in advanced discussions with a number of globally recognised brands as we look to accelerate the adoption of our technology. We look forward to reporting on further progress in 2017. We are confident of increasing the penetration of our chosen markets."

Xeros website

Images: Xeros


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