Low carbon waterless digital textile dyeing - enabling UK textile manufacturing

纺织业是地球上污染最严重的行业之一。它占全球二氧化碳排放量的近10%，是化学污染的第二大来源;主要是由于染料和工艺化学品的排放。纺织工业的能源消耗主要是由于商业染色工艺中使用了大量的热水，自发明以来的70年里，这些工艺几乎没有变化。这导致纺织品染色约占全球二氧化碳排放量的3%-与航空业相似。随着消费者和政府认识到这些问题，纺织行业面临着巨大而紧迫的压力，要求其改变制造方法，以实现更可持续的发展。制造方法已经过时，制造业位于低成本国家，这些国家多年来一直容忍能源密集、污染严重的工艺。严峻的成本压力导致对制造技术的投资很少，对当地和全球环境的影响考虑不足。随着各国政府认识到气候变化和化学污染对公民的影响，纺织行业正在发生变化。消费者也意识到了这一问题，并要求品牌采取行动，变得更具可持续性，并解决“快时尚”对整体消费的加速影响。各大品牌现在都在关注可持续发展，并迫切寻求新的方法来制造其产品，这些方法的碳密集度较低，并减少对环境的整体影响。为了满足这一需求，Alchemie Technology开发了一种突破性的纺织品染色工艺- Endeavour -旨在通过消除废水来彻底改变纺织品染色工艺，因此，降低染色所需能量85%以上。这将对全球产生重大影响;由于纺织品染色目前约占全球二氧化碳排放量的3%，因此Endeavour工艺的实施将对全球二氧化碳排放量产生重大影响。从长远来看，Endeavour技术也有可能产生更大的影响;由于消费量的增加，预计到2050年，纺织品的碳足迹将增加到全球总量的25%。如果到2050年在全球范围内实施，Endeavour将减少约8%的全球排放量-相当于减少欧洲的排放量。Stretchline是世界上最大的窄幅弹性织物生产商，也是可持续纺织品制造的领导者。Stretchline总部位于英国，是一家全球性集团，在全球范围内制造纺织品，包括在英国的先进制造业务。通过实施Alchemie的Endeavour技术，该公司有可能通过一个更具可持续性和灵活性的制造平台来彻底改变其运营。该项目的目的是证明Endeavour无水智能染色工艺可以提供符合Stretchline要求的染色织物。这将使突破性的低碳染色技术得以实施，从而以卓越的灵活性提供市场上的制造能力。该项目还将使英国的高价值纺织品制造业成为可能，包括用于COVID-19口罩的医用纺织品。

The textile industry is one of the most polluting on the planet. It is responsible for almost 10% of global carbon dioxide emissions and is the \#2 source of chemical pollution; mainly due to the emission of dyestuffs and process chemicals. The energy consumption of the textile industry is attributable to the large volumes of heated water used in commercial dyeing processes, which have changed little in the 70 years since they were invented. This results in textile dyeing contributing to approximately 3% of global CO2 emissions - similar to aviation.As consumers and governments have recognised these issues, there is now significant and urgent pressure on the textile industry to change manufacturing methods to become more sustainable. Manufacturing methods are out-dated, with manufacturing located in low-cost countries, where energy intensive, polluting processes have been tolerated for many years. Severe cost pressure has ensured minimal investment in manufacturing technology and insufficient consideration of the local and global environmental impact.The textile industry is changing, as governments recognise the impact on their citizens of both climate change and chemical pollution. Consumers are also recognising the issue and demanding that brands take action to become more sustainable and address the accelerating effect that "Fast Fashion" has had on overall consumption. Major brands are now focusing on sustainability and urgently seeking new methods to manufacture their products that are less carbon intensive and reduce overall impact on the environment.To address this need, Alchemie Technology has developed a breakthrough textile dyeing process - Endeavour - which is aiming to revolutionise the process of textile dyeing by eliminating waste water and as a result, reducing the energy required for dyeing by over 85%. This will make a significant global impact; since textile dyeing currently accounts for around 3% of global CO2 emissions, implementation of the Endeavour process will have a significant effect on global CO2 emissions. The Endeavour technology also has the potential to make even more impact in the long term; the carbon footprint of textiles is expected to increase to 25% of the global total by 2050 due to increasing consumption. Endeavour, if implemented worldwide by 2050, would eliminate ~8% of the global total - comparable to eliminating the emissions of Europe.Stretchline is the world's \#1 producer of narrow-web elasticated fabric and a leader in sustainable textile manufacturing. Headquartered in the UK, Stretchline is a global group that manufactures textile products worldwide, including advanced manufacturing operations in the UK. Implementing Alchemie's Endeavour technology has the potential to revolutionise its operations with a dramatically more sustainable, flexible manufacturing platform.The aim of this project is to demonstrate that the Endeavour Waterless Smart Dyeing process can deliver dyed fabrics that meet Stretchline's requirements. This will enable the implementation of a breakthrough low carbon dyeing technology that can deliver in-market manufacturing capability with exceptional flexibility. This project will also enable manufacturing in the UK of high value textile products, including medical textiles for COVID-19 facemasks.