Amphitex: The world’s first fully circular and carbon-negative waterproof breathable textile

防水透气服装通常由多层结构组成，包括耐用的防水涂层外壳纺织品、防水透气膜和衬里材料。这些面料粘合在一起形成多层结构，用面料片缝制成服装。为了防止接缝处漏水，它们用胶带密封。这种方法提供了高性能的服装，但受到以下限制：* **使用对环境有害的化学品。**高性能膜通常由膨胀聚四氟乙烯（ePTFE; Gore-Tex）制成，防水，防风，化学惰性。然而，75%的防水织物含有有毒的全氟化合物（全氟/多氟化学品）；“永久”的化学物质持续存在并生物积累，导致严重的健康问题，包括癌症和出生缺陷（Guardian\_2022,OECD\_2013）。各大品牌正面临消费者和政府越来越大的压力，要求它们去除全氟化合物。最近的英国REACH政策限制了全氟化合物（HM\_GOV\_2021），五个欧盟国家希望在2022年中期禁止全氟化合物（Chemistry\_World\_2021），阿迪达斯承诺不含全氟化合物（ECHA\_2019）。** *没有可持续的报废解决方案。**多材料纺织品不能分离，在使用寿命结束时面临填埋或焚烧，由于服装利用率不足和缺乏回收利用，全球每年损失4000亿英镑的价值（Ellen\_MacArthur\_Foundation\_2017）。在垃圾填埋场，塑料随着时间的推移会分解产生有害的微塑料，这些微塑料会持续存在于环境中（OECD\_2013）。在焚烧过程中，防水透气纺织品（wbt）中使用的聚四氟乙烯膜会产生剧毒的氢氟酸，在典型的市政焚烧炉中转化为萤石（Aleksandrov\_et\_al\_2019）。Amphibio是一家位于伦敦的微型中小企业，由设计师和材料科学家Jun Kamei于2018年11月创立，他正在开发超疏水多孔膜的商业应用。在InnovateUK的支持下，我们将开发一种创新的WBT，实现三重底线：* **人**。我们的WBT将与市场领先纺织品的性能相匹配，为最终用户提供可靠的防水和透气性。我们的WBT将使最终用户能够实现自己的可持续发展目标，通过回收原料生产的服装，最重要的是，在使用寿命结束时可以回收（而其他WBT则不能）。* * * * *。我们的单材料WBT将是100%可回收的，不含pfc，并且使用可回收的植物性原料，而不是石油衍生的原生聚合物，使其成为世界上第一个循环和负碳的WBT。我们的全循环纺织品意味着在生产过程中浪费的面料（c20%,EPRS\_2019）和报废的服装可以用于新纺织品，而不是进入垃圾填埋场。鉴于我们的新型膜和层压工艺，我们的WBT将比竞争对手的WBT减少20%的微塑料。* * * * *获利。与领先的服装品牌合作，我们的创新材料将帮助组织实现其可持续发展目标，支持服装行业减少对环境的影响。

Waterproof breathable garments typically consist of multi-layer construction, comprising a durable water-repellent-coated outer shell textile, a waterproof breathable membrane, and lining material. These fabrics are bonded together to form the multi-layer structure, with pieces of fabric sewn to produce garments. To prevent leaks along seams, they are sealed with tape. This approach delivers high-performance apparel, but is limited by:* **Use of environmentally damaging chemicals.** High-performance membranes are typically manufactured from expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE; Gore-Tex), which is waterproof, windproof, and chemically inert. However, 75% of waterproof fabrics contain toxic PFCs (per-/poly-fluorinated chemicals); "forever" chemicals that persist and bioaccumulate, causing serious health problems including cancer and birth defects(Guardian\_2022,OECD\_2013). Brands are under increasing consumer and government pressure to remove PFCs. Recent UK REACH policy is restricting PFCs(HM\_GOV\_2021), five EU countries are looking to ban PFCs by mid-2022(Chemistry\_World\_2021), and Adidas has committed to being PFC-free(ECHA\_2019).* **No sustainable end-of-life solutions.** Multi-material textiles cannot be separated and face either landfill or incineration at end-of-life, c£400 billion/year in value is lost globally from clothing underutilisation and lack of recycling(Ellen\_MacArthur\_Foundation\_2017). In landfill, plastics break down over time to produce microplastics, which are harmful and persist in the environment(OECD\_2013). During incineration, PTFE membranes used in Waterproof Breathable Textiles(WBTs) produce highly toxic hydrofluoric acid, which is converted to fluorspar in typical municipal incinerators(Aleksandrov\_et\_al\_2019).Amphibio is a London-based micro-SME founded in November 2018 by Jun Kamei, a designer and material scientist developing commercial applications for superhydrophobic porous membranes. With InnovateUK support, we will develop an innovative WBT that delivers on the triple bottom line:* **People**. Our WBT will match the performance of market leading textiles, enabling reliable waterproofing and breathability for end-users. Our WBT will enable end-users to meet their own sustainability goals, through garments that are produced from recycled feedstocks and, crucially, can be recycled at end-of-life (whereas other WBTs cannot).* **Planet**. Our mono-material WBT will be 100% recyclable and PFC-free, as well as utilising recycled and plant-based feedstocks rather than oil-derived virgin polymers, making it the world's first circular and carbon-negative WBT. Our fully-circular textile means fabric wasted during production (c20%,EPRS\_2019) and garments at end-of-life can be used for new textile rather than heading to landfill. Given our novel membrane and lamination process, our WBT will shed 20% fewer microplastics than competitor WBTs.* **Profit**. Working with leading clothing brands, our innovative material will help organisations deliver on their sustainability targets, supporting the clothing industry to reduce its environmental footprint.