The set-up of the new production facility at the new location was completed and the production line was optimized. The main problem of altering the mixing blades and the chemical parameters such as the viscosity of the dispersion was solved, thus solving the homogeneity problem of the product. Major progress was achieved with the present lay-out, in terms of production criteria by running trial runs with the new improved reactors and checking the quality of the product. The refinement in the production line has led to significant evolution in the stability (sedimentation and turbidity) of the product. The criteria for determining the stability of the product during storage through sedimentation and turbidity analysis was finalized.
The Validation initiated at the 3 companies that wrote letters of intention, which were submitted with the project, declaring their willingness to have trials done with H2COLOR at their premises. These companies were representative of the two most important sectors of dyehouses that dyed cotton and other cellulosic fibres (Lyocell) by exhaustion processes, carried out in jet machines, where mostly were knitwear and some woven fabric, such as towels, are dyed. The companies were Perfil Cromático, TF 2000 (Italy), for knitwear, and Mundotêxtil for towels. The results in these 3 companies, are in the DELIVERABLE submitted, and beside the cost savings calculation, they include tables of a number of baths and temperatures, and photos of the washing-off baths of unfixed dye (mostly hydrolysed. We were also aware of the competitive low temperature predominantly cationic washing product used at Mundotêxtil, which had preceded us in taking advantage of the energy crisis that happened in 2022, and therefore decided to tackle this competition which showed to be a very strong competition due to lower cost than that we were able to propose.
At TF200 also, even though we only obtained the report for black, since only one visit was made at this company in Italy, but nevertheless we had the indication from the technician in charge, a graduate engineer, that the product was performing well, even though only one report on black was sent as one example.
In another 10 knitwear companies we were only given information of the classical version of the process, at higher temperatures, to compare with ours, since they weren’t using the competitive cationic product. These results of the savings for the other companies are also given in a table included in the Deliverables 2.1 with average results of 67% energy, 18% water and 22% time, and all achieved good fastness with 60ºC soaping and 40ºC for remaining wash-baths.
Ecofoot pursued several communication and dissemination activities throughout the project. This includes an upgraded website, sample material distribution, such as TDS sheets, with the updated Ecofoot logo visits to companies explaining the technology. In the last year of the project with online publications and updates to social media, mainly LinkedIn with infographics, an animation and a video which we uploaded onto the webpage, www.ecofoot.pt. The CEO Jaime Rocha Gomes delivered a presentation by invitation of the Society of Dyers and Colourists in a webinar and raised awareness about H2COLOR.
Fairs were left for after the end of the project at the end of March, since ITMA, the largest fair for dissemination of dyes, auxiliaries, pigments and inks, takes place every 4 years, and this year it will be in Milan the 8th of June. Ecofoot booked a stand where present and future applications of H2COLOR (in digital printing) will be exposed.
