One step ahead
A four-year research project called Bioeconomy@Textiles (Be@t) launched in Portugal in 2022, with 56 organisations and companies taking part. It has a budget of €138 million, with €71 million provided by Portugal’s Recovery and Resilience Plan. For the project, the country’s dense network of textile mills and manufacturing facilities, along with research labs and universities have been investigating plant-based and industrial biomass resources. They have also worked on smart recycling technologies and digital traceability.
The project’s results so far were presented at Première Vision Paris in February, where some of the new processes that have come from it, sometimes literally out of the ground, were showcased.
António Braz Costa, head of the Portuguese textile and apparel research institute CITEVE, tells Sportstextiles that the starting point was to ask if the textile industry could create bio-based circular supply chains and, if so, to examine what the possible consequences would be. Would it become possible to shift the supply of textile raw materials back to Europe? Would the safety and traceability of textile products increase? What if it could also foster cooperation between diverse value chains and create local synergies? What if it could build a truly circular and sustainable textile and clothing industry?
The main aim of this multidisciplinary programme is to create an industrial symbiosis promoting better practices and solving some of the industry’s hot spots, notably in the dyeing and finishing of textiles. “Our goal is to achieve proof of concept through pilot plants and real operations. A future large scale lyocell plant is just one example,” says Mr Braz Costa, referring to the projected AeoniQ facility with Portuguese cellulosic fibre and pulp producer Altri.
The programme is built on four pillars, starting with the development of biomaterials derived from natural fibres, regenerated cellulose and fermentation. “The country does not produce cotton, but can recycle it,” suggests Ana Tavares, CEO of RDD Textiles, the R&D division of apparel group Valérius. Residues from various industries can be used to make dyes, including biomass ash as Lameirinho, a maker of home textiles, has done. “It’s a small step, but very interesting in terms of sustainability, because it turns a problem into a resource,” says head of R&D Jorge Leitão.
Circularity is the second pillar of the project, investigating all possible recycling solutions, including mechanical, thermomechanical and chemical. Truth and traceability make up the third pillar. “Years ago, CITEVE launched the ‘Label of the Future’ which is strikingly close to the EU’s digital product passport,” says Mr Braz Costa, signalling that the country is on track for full digital traceability ahead of the EU’s lengthy and laborious approval and implementation process. The fourth pillar is to involve society and communicate progress. “We need to get the message out. We need to provide consumers with reliable data and information. This means being active on social media, launching an open TV channel, and our booth here at Première Vision is another example,” he notes.
Industrial symbiosis
The Portuguese programme was the subject of two panel talks at Première Vision Paris. Describing the goal of the project, and echoing Mr Braz Costa’s vision, Pedro Martins, head of sales for spinner Inovafil, says it is designed “to expand our spinning capacity and to build something that is scalable, with products that are more than niche.” He adds that the company has been trialling brewed and algae-derived fibres. “Some may be market-ready in two to three years. But often they fail to scale. Seacell has been on the market for years and remains a niche product, mostly because of its high cost. Cotton today sells for $3 a kilo; these new fibres can be around $200 a kilo,” he says. This raises the question of market adoption of these new fibres. While funding for textile start-ups may have been relatively easy a few years ago, he believes investors will increasingly focus on those that have “a clear market vision” in other words, those that are price-competitive.
The companies represented on the panel specialise mostly in cotton and manmade cellulosic fibres, as does dyehouse Tintex Textiles. “Our operations require a lot of water, salt and caustic soda. Today we can bleach cotton without caustic soda. In the future, we will be able to dye without water, by transposing a technology from a different industry,” says Tintex Textiles CEO, Ricardo Silva.
The company has been investigating natural dyes for years with a focus on using waste from other industries at a regional or European level, with cork and wine making industries particularly close to home. “Partnerships are an important part of the Be@t programme,” says Pedro Magalhães, R&D manager for Tintex. “We can learn a lot from the experience of other industries,” echoes Mr Silva.
The company has been making compounds for shoes, bags and accessories from cork, coffee, wine, beer and even tennis ball waste. One telling example is a resin derived from a wine maker located some 50-60 km away from the Tintex facility. The two companies, who share a similar mindset, notes Mr Magalhães, are working together to turn grape residue into a material that Tintex can use.
Processing biomass waste is not as simple as it sounds and implies adapting the harvesting process, an additional pressing stage to remove excess humidity was found to be helpful. “Variability is another issue as we need to stabilise the residues to achieve reproducibility. Every year, we will need to analyse the harvest to identify the best processes,” he says. The grape-derived resin is currently combined with a polyurethane binder, not an ideal bio-solution. Tintex is now working on developing a bio-based alternative. It has acquired a pilot-scale reactor to experiment with various types of biomass residues, that also include rice husks and almond shells. These are ground into a fine powder, and their chemical make-up analysed for potential use as a binder. This research also involves universities and labs. “We hope not only to reuse a waste product, but also find added value compounds,” he says.
Smarter recycling
Speaking at one of the panel talks, Ana Tavares, at RDD Textiles, questions why we need to make a shirt from an old shirt. “Making a hoodie is smarter,” she says. “Jeans are made from relatively thick yarns that can be a good option for socks.” She also heads a new division, threesixty, dedicated to recycling. The Valérius group has been recycling its own industrial waste for years, and is now integrating post-consumer textiles. The vertically integrated group can then spin the recycled fibres into yarns, knit them into fabrics and make garments. To ensure traceability, a key concern in recycled goods, a tracer is embedded in the yarns. The advantage of having all operations in house is that data can be collected at all stages of the processes to feed future digital product passports. The division can call on a variety of other ‘circular’ services such as overdyeing, printing or remaking unsold garments. “These solutions address the issue of overstock,” says Ms Tavares.
Threesixty also offers a novel solution to colour management, she continues. From a given volume of waste textiles, the recycling department can create materials in various nuances, depending on available resources. While the most common colours for recycled yarns are greys and blues, she says that if a brand wants a specific shade of red, the yarns can be dyed. But brands should not expect Pantone-aligned shades. “Buyers will need to adapt their demands to the type of waste that is being recycled,” she notes.
Waterless colouring
Colour was a big topic in the panel talks, as brands’ expectations are often difficult to meet, and at times, it was suggested, mainly subjective. Colour and textile finishing is the specialty of Acatel, part of the vertically integrated Impetus Group. It has recently formed a joint venture with UK company Alchemie Technology to adapt its waterless colouring process to knit fabrics. Two machines, a pilot-scale Discovery and commercial-scale Endeavour model, have been installed at Acatel. “Many people believe this technology is comparable to spray dyeing, it is not. Alchemie calls it jet-precision dyeing,” Helder Rosendo, Acatel general manager tells Sportstextiles. “It projects 10-micron droplets, at a rate of 1.2 billion per linear metre of fabric, on both sides of the fabric. This achieves a homogenous penetration of inks. It is very impressive on woven fabrics. It is also very fast, operating at 16 to 20 metres per minute,” he says. The process leads to significant savings in water, energy and chemicals usage, potentially leading to 50% lower production costs. “We are now working on achieving these performances on knitted fabrics. We will start with cotton and cellulosics before investigating polyamide and polyester knits,” he says. Another advantage that he notes is that there are no limitations in dyestuffs: “we can use reactive or acid dyes”. He expects to launch tests rapidly and present the first results in the next few months.
On the topic of natural dyes, also a key focus for Acatel, Mr Rosendo notes that the colour palette is expanding. “We are no longer only offering pastels. Dark shades, especially black and brown are in the works,” he says. The development of natural dyes goes hand in hand with the company’s focus on cotton and cellulosic fibres. “We specialise in natural materials, and it makes sense to offer fossil-free colour. In the world of cotton, MMCFs are the fibres of the future. But they need to deliver the performance of synthetics,” he points out.
To shift away from petrochemicals is the underlying goal of the Portuguese textile industry’s efforts to create a bioeconomy. As António Braz Costa says: “The future is to continue these dynamics to build a truly sustainable bioeconomy infrastructure for our industry.”
CITEVE launched a Label of the Future project years before the European Union’s proposal that brands provide consumers with a digital product passport for garments sold in the bloc. CREDIT: CITEVE
