Dyeing

Portugal’s University of Coimbra (UC) is developing innovative technologies to make textile dyeing more cost-effective and sustainable and a just launched project—DyeLoop—uses unique circular economy technologies to reuse dyes and significantly reduce water and energy consumption.

Pili has a mission—it produces decarbonised alternatives based on renewable resources for sustainable industrial applications. Pili President Jérémie Blache explains how Pili uses hybrid processes combining industrial fermentation and organic chemistry to manufacture sustainable, high-performance colour ranges for the textiles industry.

The UK Fashion and Textile Association (UKFT) has come out with a report that aims to encourage innovators, brands, retailers and manufacturers to work together so that the industry can collectively achieve environmental impact reduction goals.

Almost nothing has changed in the production of indigo for over a century. But now, French biotech innovator Synovance is producing dyes from microorganisms using industrial waste as raw material. Co-Founder and COO Efi Lioliou explains how the company has been able to produce sustainable dyes using biochemical methods.

Researchers in Denmark have engineered a dyeing method that eliminates the need for harsh chemicals which can enable largescale production and application of indican, a molecule derived from the same plant that bears indigo.

Sparxell, a UK-based startup creating the next generation of colours and effects with vibrant, metal-like pigments, all from plant-based cellulose has been awarded the 2023 Ray of Hope Prize.

Scientists have used a tiny nanofilament to break down two common dye pollutants under the visible light spectrum. The team used x-ray diffraction to characterise the arrangement of atoms in the nanomaterial. 

Deakin University in collaboration with innovation company Xefco has come up with a manufacturing solution that utilises an advanced plasma coating process which is completely water-free, producing no water discharge.

Outdoor brand Patagonia and trim supplier YKK have, at one of their production sites, replaced a commonly used dye chemical with a lower impact version from the stable of the Italian innovation-driven chemical group ERCA SPA.

Inspired from marine life, researchers at UAE’s Khalifa University have used mussels to develop a new nano material that can rid textile dyes among several other pollutants from wastewater.