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Content archived on 2024-04-30

Minimization of wastewater pollution in European textile printing using natural thickeners and additives

Objective



In reactive printing usually sodium alginates or mixtures with carboxymethylated polysaccharides are used as thickening agent, but in some cases (using Viscose and bifunctional reactive dyes) reaction takes place resulting in unacceptable fabric handle. To prevent this, it is necessary to use synthetic thickeners (polyacrylic acids, polymaleic acids), which do not react with reactive dyes. Using these polymers two big problems occur: the outline sharpness is bad and also the biodegradability of the synthetic thickener is not given, leading to persistence in the effluent. Printing trials with natural thickeners have shown, that different additives can prevent the disaster of fabric stiffness.
Therefore the use of additives and biodegradable natural thickeners will lead to an environmental-friendly printing process with reduced wastewater pollution. Since the effluents of more than one-hundred European printing houses are still polluted with a total of 450.000 t of washed out paste in every year, the benefits of non persistent thickeners to the European water quality become obvious.
The aim of the proposed project is the research and development of environmental-friendly additives for their use in reactive printing in an innovative way. Wastewater might become minimized and presumably reduced at least twice by the common application of natural and biodegradable thickeners with additives.
The R&D-work will start with the investigation of additives with different chemical structure. It should be possible to classify the compounds in a list of efficiency according to their chemical structure by analytical methods. Based on this screening/results new and more effective chemical compounds have to be synthesized and tested. The most effective compounds should be used for further investigations and applications in pastes with respect to wastewater pollution. The next step is the application of the additives with different natural thickeners and variable mixtures, because most of the printers want to mix thickeners. This work will result in concrete values for additives depending on substitution degree of the thickeners. The rheology of these pastehave to be measured including the influence on printing quality, fixation rate and coloration. In addition to this fastness and wastewater depollution has to be determined. After these basic tests in laboratory printing trials will be done in pilot plants and bulk production to improve paste recipes and to show the application spectrum of these basic compounds. Project results will be profitable for textile auxiliary producers and thickener manufacturer as well as for end-users like printing houses in every country of Europe.Particularly the European water quality will benefit most.

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Coordinator

DEUTSCHES INSTITUT FUER TEXTIL- UND FASERFORSCHUNG STUTTGART
EU contribution
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Address
26,Koerschtalstrasse 26
73770 DENKENDORF (WUERTT)
Germany

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Total cost

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Participants (2)

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