INOX Australia is a food and processing company that has begun to diversify into other areas of the manufacturing supply chain, which is where we see this award come from.
INOX was approached by BlockTexx who is a clean technology company that recovers polyester and cellulose from textiles and clothing. The company’s mission is to divert textiles and clothing away from landfill and accelerate the global textile recycling industry toward a sustainable future.
BlockTexx turns textile waste into a resource, stimulates the production of new products, and meets consumers’ demands to reduce the environmental impact of our everyday clothing.
INOX Australia was approached initially with a process scope from the company and their engineering support team to collaborate, design and supply a system to meet their unique process to achieve their required product outcome.
This process was a world first, so existing technology did not exist that matched their requirements. INOX quickly changed the design thought process from the company’s initial idea, into a processing piece of equipment that was the culmination of INOX’s 25 years of experience with the design of bespoke food processing equipment, relating mostly to efficient and innovative thermal processing design techniques and operating features.
The equipment, an 8000L Reactor vessel, was developed, built, and commissioned in late 2022 and was so successful with its effectiveness and product result, that a second unit was supplied in late 2023.
Manufacturers’ Monthly spoke to INOX’s managing director Robert Becher to learn more about the process the company undertook to develop this solution.
“The part that we created is effectively a large reactor which is a big stainless-steel tank which has steam and chemicals injected into it and the temperature goes up,” Becher explained.
“The key was to design the system to not be touched at all during the process to maximise safety. That was the most challenging part of the engineering process and that is where our expertise really came to the fore.
“We have been designing and building equipment for 20 to 30 years so when we get projects like these we think back to the 1000s of projects we completed to deliver this one,” he said.
A challenge that INOX can often face is gaining trust from those who come to them to make adjustments to their original ideas to ensure they are a success.
“It is amazing at times when a company comes to us and puts their trust in what we do,” Becher said.
“They can have a bit of reluctance at first, but I think allowing the process to be truly collaborative can help to minimise those feelings.”
Becher explained the importance of awards like the Endeavour Awards when it comes to celebrating success like the BlockTexx project.
“I think winning an award like this just raises awareness for interesting environmental projects that are out there at the moment,” he said.
“More and more organisations are going down this path and companies like ours will be required to meet these needs.
“When you look back 20 to 30 years ago you would have to go overseas for these kind of projects but now people need to know they can turn to local Australian made products,” he said.
The success of this first project has buoyed the team to continue pushing the envelope and developing what they can offer to the Australian market.
They ordered their second machine just three months after the first so it really demonstrated to us that we were capable and we will take that forward to even more projects we work on.”