12 March 2020

Fibersort, making closed loop textiles a reality

Today, the Fibersort consortium presents the market-ready Fibersort machine to the industry: a cutting edge automated sorting technology that revolutionises textile to textile recycling of post-consumer textiles.

Fibersort: The technology to close the loop on textiles is here- it’s time for action!

The Fibersort technology can now sort around 900 kg of textiles per hour, enabling textile-to-textile recycling. Join the collectors, sorters, recyclers, brands, and other stakeholders that made this possible in this webinar and learn more about how you can contribute to closing the textiles loop. Continue reading The market-ready Fibersort machine to the industry: A cutting edge automated sorting technology that revolutionises textile to textile recycling of post-consumer textiles. →

“We are continuously developing innovations and solution systems that help increase productivity and create value for textile manufacturers in India,” says Anjani Prasad, Head of Sales, India, Archroma. “We do that with in mind the planet and its inhabitants, in line with the objectives of “The Archroma way”: Safe, efficient, enhanced. Because it’s our nature!”

At Techtextil India 2019, Archroma offered a wide portfolio of dyes and chemicals aiming to increase sustainability and innovation along the entire value chain, from fiber to finish. The Company introduced for the first time to audiences in India Fadex® AS New, a new “super UV protector” to make automotive & transportation textiles more resistant to light, Foron® SP-WF, a range of high-performance disperse dyes for polyester sportswear, and its ground-breaking innovation, Appretan® NTR, a water-based textile coating binder that rallies renewable natural ingredients for applications such as tea bags and coffee filters or capsules.

Archroma presented various products/systems in the following markets of the technical textile sector:

Automotive & Transportation:

Archroma introduced two systems ideally suited to textile manufacturers serving the automotive & transportation market: Light Fast Car, a system designed to keep fabric colors deep, vibrant and matched day after day; Safe Seats, a halogen-free* flame retardant coating system for synthetic leather upholstery.

Outdoor & Active Wear:

Color Vibe, a system for nylon sportswear to maintain color vibrancy, time after time, wash after wash; Fast Sport, a coloration system for polyester knitted sportswear, providing the best fastness in the shortest possible time with a reduced environmental footprint; Odor Control, a system for improved material longevity, freshness and wearing comfort due to the lasting dual-action technology of Sanitized® Odoractiv 10. Odor-causing bacteria cannot adhere to the textile surface and bad smells are trapped and neutralized; and permastink cannot build-up in your sportswear; Wick Stop, an anti-wicking system to keep your feet drier in the wet, with maximum mesh sneaker durability.

Workwear & Uniforms:

Power Cotton, a system for comfortable cotton fabrics with more than 5 times higher abrasion resistance; Smooth As Iron, a non-iron finishing system that keeps fabric smooth, soft and strong, especially on collars and cuffs; Odor Control, (see above); Tough Camo, A non-infrared reflective pigment printing system for military wear, with high durability and dramatically reduced water consumption;

Non-Wovens:

Filter It Clean, a formaldehyde-free* and APEO-free bonding system that makes non-wovens strong and safe even when wet.

Interview with Mr Anjani Prasad, Managing Director, Archroma India

Interview with Mr Anjani Prasad, Managing Director, Archroma India

Anjani Prasad is Managing Director and Head of Brand Performance Textiles Specialties for Archroma India. He is a seasoned textile expert with experience gained over 30 years working in the textile industry with companies such as Century Mills and BTRA. In 1991, he joined Clariant India as a technical executive and developed his expertise through positions including Product Manager and Head of Country for the Textile, Leather, Emulsion and Paper Division, overseeing 400 employees. In 2010, he relocated to Singapore with Asia-Pacific wide responsibilities including marketing and sustainability support to retailers and customers. After Archroma came to life from Clariant’s textile, paper and emulsion businesses in 2013, Mr Prasad was appointed as Global Head of New Business Development for the textile chemicals business, and in 2015 he returned to India as Head of Sales for the Indian market.

Mr Prasad has a B.Sc (Tech) and M.Sc (Tech) in Textile Chemistry from the Institute of Chemical Technology in Mumbai, and is a Chartered Colorist. He serves as a Director at the Indian Technical Textile Association, a Board member at Dyestuffs Manufacturers Association of India and of the Indian Specialty Chemical Manufacturers’ Association. He is a member of the Editorial Board of Colourage, the magazine for textile and garment processing and the Journal of the Textile Association. Continue reading The Archroma Way: Safe, Efficient and Enhanced… →

ITMF’s International Production Cost Comparison (IPCC) is designed to trace the implications of the growing capital intensity in the primary textile industry. This publication describes manufacturing and total costs of yarn/fabric broken down into various cost elements at different stages of the textile value chain. The 2018 edition adds the segment “Finishing” to the historical cost analysis in spinning, draw texturing, weaving, and knitting. For the first time also, the geographic coverage counts Pakistan and Bangladesh besides Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Italy, Korea, Rep., Turkey, U.S.A., and Vietnam. Continue reading ITMF’s International Production Cost Comparison (IPCC) in the Textile Industry →

“I have inherited a beautiful world which was inherited by my parents by their own. There is so much beauty in the world and it cannot be lost because of ignorance or inaction by the people consuming it. We live in a world that is constantly evolving and we need to account for our compassion for the environment towards the growth factor in our lives because foregoing it will only have long term adverse effects no matter how great the shortfall gains are. Continue reading NatureTech Enviro Protection Ltd. →

Naturetech Enviro Protection Ltd., a leading Surat-based environmental solution provider, has been offering an array of latest technologies dedicated to managing and treating wastewater, and sludge handling in the most sustainable manner. The company is offering a novel biological treatment technology called IFAS (integrated fixed-film activated sludge) Cleartech to enlarge existing domestic Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTP). “With CETP, WWTP and STP as our areas of expertise, we offer state-of-the-art machinery and provide our clients with cutting edge technological solutions to win the fight against pollution,” assures the company in a statement.  Continue reading Naturetech Enviro Protection Ltd. Offering Cleartec Technology for Textile Wastewater Treatment →

Textile & Allied: Industrial Licences Issued in November 2018

Smart-Indigo™: High sustainability; Reduced health hazards; Savings in wastewater treatment and energy; Better colour consistency and performance; More ecological and economical; Easy to handle and more efficient

During one year over 15 billion meters of denim fabric are produced. Most of the production takes place in countries like China (52%), India & Pakistan (15%), Mexico & Brazil (13%), Europe & Turkey & Middle East (7%), USA & Canada (4%), rest of the world (9%).

The demand for denim continues to grow, with each of us already owning four or more denim fashion items. 66’000 tons of indigo powder is needed to produce 15 billion meters of denim fabrics to different shades of blue. The famous blue indigo is a powder which needs hazardous chemicals to make it water soluble for the dyeing process.

After dyeing, tons of wastewater containing these chemicals is discharged into the environment often without treatment. The excessive damages caused by those chemicals and heavy metals, like cadmium, chromium, mercury, lead, and copper are harmful to humans, animals and the environment.

Furthermore chemicals left on the denim fabrics after industrial washing can still effect our skin. Imagine wearing denims which are contaminated with chemicals! The denim dyeing process is one of the major pollution problems within the textile industry.

Time for a change.

Smart­Indigo™ will resolve these issues. This Swiss invention which utilises a 100­year­old discovery (A. Brochet, 1917) becomes reality. Tons of leuco­indigo can be produced without chemicals.

Smart-Indigo™: Because It Makes A Difference

“Smart Leuco­Indigo” is produced in an electrochemical process consuming considerably fewer resources than existing methods. Using only indigo pigment, caustic soda, water and electricity. This technology is the most environmentally friendly process to dye denim. Smart­Indigo™ is a global innovation and will markedly reduce the ecological footprint.

Behind this technology are experienced specialists in the dyeing and finishing industry. Located in Switzerland, represented globally, with established and innovative products selling all over the world. Time to market for this development, replacing chemicals with electricity was 5 years in the making. Two years longer than originally planned “-Nothing good comes easy- kept us awake more than once through desperate nights.” Mr. Herbert Guebeli, managing director says. This resulting clean technology now speaks for itself. It makes a difference.

Smart-Indigo™

Smart-Indigo™ stands for an industrially proven technology, which will make a difference by bringing a revolutionary change to the global denim dyeing industry. Combining benefits for the environment, the people and the producers of denim items.

Makes more from less

This revolutionary leuco-indigo process opens up a whole new range of opportunities.

• Electricity instead of chemicals
• High sustainability
• More ecological and economical
• Reduced health hazards
• Better colour consistency and performance
• Savings in wastewater treatment and energy
• Easy to handle and more efficient

The adaptive textile façade green.fACade, developed from Aachen researchers, is installed in front of a building like a second skin and can permanently reduce nitrogen oxide pollution in cities.

The researchers have achieved the reduction of harmful nitrogen oxides (NO and NO2) by coating the facade with titanium dioxide. Titanium dioxide acts as a photo catalyst and enables the oxidation of nitrogen oxides to form washable nitrate (NO3-). The green colour of the facade also contributes to the conversion of carbon dioxide into oxygen by photosynthesis. It also creates an optical resting point in the cityscape and reduces urban heat through evaporation cooling.

green.fACade is part of the innovative research project “adaptive textile facades”, which uses the special properties of textiles. Thanks to its design, textiles can let sunlight and air through, thus contributing to a modern, aesthetic building design. A new feature of the research project is that further elements such as the titanium oxide coating or sun protection elements are integrated into the textile facade and placed in front of the existing building facade. The adaptive textile facade acts independently and thus reduces energy consumption through the positive climatic effects on the building facade.

“Adaptive Textile Facade” is part of a current research series with the aim of developing innovative facade constructions that are climate-neutral and increase the comfort of local residents. The research team consists of the three RWTH fields of architecture (Faculty of Architecture, PhD student architect M.Sc. Jan Serode), medicine (University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Clinic for Ophthalmology, Prof. Dr Walter) and textile technology (Institut für Textiltechnik, Prof. Dr Gries) for applying shared expertise in the best possible way.

This summer the research team was supported for the first time by the Munich architectural office Auer Weber, represented by managing director Philipp Auer: “For us architects, developments in the field of textile outer shells are a special challenge. Here, highly developed textile materials and processing methods are combined with the lightness and grace of fabrics. Adaptive textile facade elements will increasingly turn the “building shell” into a “building skin”, a system that not only offers weather, heat and sun protection, but is in constant intelligent exchange with its environment”.

Prof. Dr Gries from the Institut für Textiltechnik sums up: “As textile researchers, we see a great opportunity to develop concrete solutions for our urban living spaces together with renowned experts from other disciplines. I’m sure we can make the urban climate more pleasant and reduce pollution.”

Mould, mildew, fungus, yeast, and bacteria (microorganisms) are part and parcel of our everyday lives. Thousand of species of microorganisms are found in the environment, on our garments and on our bodies. Substances added to fibres, such as lubricants, antistatic agents, sizing agents, thickeners etc and dirt act as a source of food for microorganisms. The microbial growth is influenced by relative humidity and temperature. The microorganism’s growth on textiles causes a range of undesirable effects, not only on the textile itself but also on the user. These effects include stains and discoloration, generation of unpleasant odor, reduction in mechanical strength, and a risk of infection to user. The microbial growth on textiles, overall decreases functional, hygienic and aesthetic value of the textiles.

Microbial attack on textile is of great concern in textile worn next to skin, such as, apparels, socks, intimate wear, aprons, uniforms etc.; Home furnishing such as carpets, shower curtains, mattress ticking and upholstery as well as for industrial fabrics that are exposed to varied or harsh weather conditions such as filter fabrics, fabrics used for awnings, screens, tents, tarpaulins, ropes, etc. Mould and mildew are major cause of damage to outdoor textile. Many antimicrobial technologies viz. Silver, Silane, Chitosan etc are available for textiles. Out of these Zinc pyrithione based product act specifically against Fungi.

Zinc pyrithione was first developed in the 1930s for its antifungal and antibacterial properties, and it is still commonly used today as a main ingredient in anti-dandruff shampoos, and as an over-the-counter treatment for seborrheic dermatitis, psoriasis, eczema, athletes’ foot, ringworm and other medical conditions. Zinc pyrithione is also used in paints, polymers and textile products to inhibit the growth of fungi as well as bacteria on susceptible surfaces.

Zinc pyrithione mediated growth inhibition is due to increased copper uptake. Zinc pyrithione in presence of copper forms copper pyrithione which is exogenous (outside microbial cell). This copper pyrithione is then transported inside cell (endogenous) which eventually targets Iron-Sulphur(Fe-S) proteins in microbial cell. Fe-S proteins play key role in microbial metabolism. Deactivation of these Fe-S protein leads to stop in microbial metabolism eventually leading to cell death.(Fig.1)

Looking at demand’s of industry for antimicrobial finish exhibiting antifungal as well antibacterial finish for indoor as well as outdoor application such as Home textile, Sport textile and Technical textile etc, Sarex has developed antimicrobial finish Zoroguard-ZP based on Zinc pyrithione chemistry.