Recycling dyes and fibres from textile waste

时装和纺织业通过染色作业和纺织废物积累，在其供应链的两端造成极端污染。纺织品回收需要清洁和同质的投入，纺织品染色需要更具可持续性。有效的纺织品回收的障碍之一是纺织品废物中存在染料。染料使纺织品废物异质化，这意味着机械回收商必须智能地混合颜色，化学回收商必须在处理之前对材料进行脱色。在供应链的另一端，染色工艺占全球废水污染的20%，超过99%的染料来自化石燃料。DyeRecycle是一种新的化学技术，为纺织废料提供脱色预处理，同时还可以从废纤维中回收染料-这是一种创新的循环染色概念。该工艺吸收有色纺织废料，并将染料提取到一种对环境无害的溶剂中。这样可以去除废物中的颜色，而不会使材料降解，从而产生更容易回收的均匀脱色纤维。然后将富含染料的溶剂用作染色浴，用回收的染料对新材料进行染色。该项目旨在推进技术进步：从小块织物染色的实验室规模工艺，到能够有效染色全尺寸服装的中试规模工艺。将以25升规模进行放大试验，处理由英国纺织品制造商提供的消费前纺织品废物。这些试验将展示纺织废物脱色和随后的全尺寸服装染色。将评估脱色材料、新染色材料以及多个放大工艺参数的几个关键指标。将评估脱色材料的机械和化学特性，并测试其可回收性。新染色的材料将根据其色牢度以及批次内和批次间染色的一致性进行表征。工艺放大的结果将帮助我们验证我们的价值主张和未来试点工厂的设计，以及加强工艺业务案例，并进一步发展可持续时尚领域的合作伙伴关系。该项目还旨在开发基于实验室的原型和处理客户样品，以展示使用纺织废料和织物投入的技术。这将为DyeRecycle创造收入流，并通过展示明确的市场拉动力和切实的客户吸引力来提高我们的投资准备水平。

Fashion and textile industries are causing extreme pollution at both ends of their supply chain through dyeing operations and textile waste accumulation. Textile recycling requires clean and homogenous inputs and textile dyeing needs to be more sustainable. One of the barriers to effective textile recycling is the presence of dyes in textile waste.Dyes make textile waste heterogeneous, meaning mechanical recyclers must intelligently blend colours, and chemical recyclers must decolour the material prior processing. At the other end of the supply chain, dyeing processes accounts for 20% of global wastewater pollution, and over 99% of dyes used are derived from fossil fuels. DyeRecycle is a new chemical technology creating decolorization pretreatment for textile waste while also enabling dye recycling from waste fibres -- an innovative circular dyeing concept. The process takes in colored textile waste, and extracts the dyes into an environmentally benign solvent. This removes the colour from the waste without degrading the material, producing homogeneous decoloured fibres that are more easily recycled. The dye-rich solvent is then used as a dyeing bath to dye new material with the recycled dyes. This project aims to progress the technology: from a bench-scale process dyeing small pieces of fabric, to a pilot-scale process able to efficiently dye full-size garments. Scale-up trials will be conducted at a 25-L scale, processing pre-consumer textile waste provided by UK-based textile manufacturer. These trials will demonstrate textile waste decolourization and subsequent dyeing of full-size garments. Several key metrics will be assessed for the decolored material, newly dyed material, as well as multiple scaled-up process parameters. Decolored materials will be assessed for their mechanical and chemical properties and to test their recyclability. Newly dyed material will be characterised in terms of its colour fastness as well as the consistency of dyeing within and across batches. Findings from process scale-up will help us validate our value proposition and design of a future pilot plant, as well as to strengthen the process business case and further develop partnerships within the sustainable fashion space. The project also aims to develop lab-based prototypes and process customers samples for to demonstrate the technology using their textile waste and fabric inputs. This will create a revenue stream for DyeRecycle and improve our investment readiness level by demonstrating a clear market pull and tangible customer traction.