Our technology enables dyeing to be performed in areas with poor availability of water
UK-based Alchemie Technology develops clean-tech textile manufacturing processes using advanced digital technology. Alchemie is delivering breakthrough digital dyeing and finishing technologies Endeavour and Novara, which deliver a dramatic reduction in energy consumption and eliminate contaminated wastewater emissions. Managing Director Simon Kew talks about transforming the textiles industry with clean-tech digital manufacturing solutions that significantly reduce environmental impact and enable digital transformation in the supply chains.
How big is the textile dyeing industry? At what rate is it growing?
The global market for textile dyeing and finishing equipment is in excess of $20 billion and growing at over 5 per cent CAGR.
What does digital fluid consist of and how is it applied?
Endeavour utilises an advanced digital colourant application and fixation technology to deliver high colour fastness in single pass roll-to-roll process. The Endeavour digital dye applicator applies liquid colorants to fabrics using a unique non-contact high-energy jetting of nanodroplets, delivering exceptionally homogeneous distribution and penetration. The colourants are fixed to achieve high levels of colour fastness using a proprietary digitally controlled process.
Novara, using a similar fluid application technology to Endeavour, applies a typically colourless finish to the fabric followed by optional drying and/or curing to impart a specific property to the material. Finishes of great interest are anti-viral, water-repellent and flame-retardant. The digital Novara process enables finishes to be applied only where required (e.g., single-sided coating and/or 2D patterning) and can also deliver multi-functional finishes for the creation of high-performance textile fabrics.
Both Endeavour and Novara systems are open platform, and any approved commercial chemistry can be used in the systems. The Endeavour system can be used with dispersed, pigment, reactive, acid dyes, vat dyes, and a range of specialty colourants to enable digital dyeing with a wide range of substrate types. We have demonstrated our Novara system with a wide range of different finishes, including anti-viral, water-repellent, flame-retardant and anti-odour. It can be also used to apply post-treatment for the dyeing industry, e.g., softener. Our Endeavour and Novara systems are flexible and can be integrated for a complete digital dyeing and finishing process.
What are the applications of digital powder patterning? Who are some of your top customers in this niche?
Digital powder patterning enables innovative 3D texture patterns to be created using thermally fusable powders and digitally controlled technology. Textile manufacturers can create surface textures and impact resistant coatings to fabrics for brands that want to innovate with structural surface patterning and textural effects, for sportswear, apparel, home furnishing and more.
What is digital dyeing and finishing all about? How does it score above traditional methods of dyeing and finishing?
Textile dyeing and finishing is responsible for over 20 per cent of global water pollution (World Bank Report) and 3 per cent of global CO2 emissions. Digital dyeing and finishing processes eliminate wastewater from textile dyeing and reduce energy by over 85 per cent, significantly reducing environmental impact, operating costs and enabling dyeing operations to be located in water-poor areas.
What research work went inside developing your own digital dyeing and finishing process? What are some of its limitations as such?
We have developed the Endeavor and Novara technologies over the last five years, combining our expertise in chemistry, machine design and digital manufacturing to develop breakthrough manufacturing solutions that transform the sustainability of these processes.
Our technologies and approach are broadly applicable to a wide range of fabrics, colourants and finishes. The colourants and finishes can be applied both single-sided or double-sided, drastically reducing the amount of waste associated with textile dyeing and finishing. We have also demonstrated multi-functional finishes, with different finishes applied to different sides of the fabric.
Which are your major markets?
There is a rapidly increasing demand from textile manufacturers and brands across apparel, sportswear and home furnishing who want waterless methods of manufacturing to operate more sustainably, at lower cost and with a significantly reduced carbon footprint.
Our Novara solution enables low water, low energy, technical textiles to be manufactured using specialist coatings ranging from anti-viral to water-repellent chemistries. We have demand for anti-viral finishing in medical and upholstery applications where it is vital to reduce the contact with surfaces contaminated with viruses, eg, for fabrics used in communal areas such as plane and train seats. These markets also benefit from additional finishes such as water-repellent and flame-retardant. Those finishes can be applied as multi-functional coatings on the same fabric, broadening the market for Novara.
What are the innovative products and solutions your team is currently working on?
We are developing our Endeavour process to provide waterless, low energy, digital dyeing for cotton, nylon, polycotton and other blends, to extend the cost saving, production capacity and environmental benefits to the widest possible range of textile fabrics.
Could you share some examples how garment manufacturers in water-poor regions have benefitted after installing the Endeavour system?
Alchemie's digital manufacturing solutions for dyeing and finishing are crucial for manufacturers in water-poor regions, dramatically reducing water use by 95 per cent, or more. As a result, the Endeavour process delivers a significant reduction in environmental impact, and operating costs: eliminating wastewater emissions and reducing energy consumption by more than 85 per cent. Ultimately, these benefits positively impact profitability resulting in a reduced cost base by more than 50 per cent, while providing a more flexible production and increased dyeing capacity. Our technology enables dyeing to be performed in areas with poor availability of water, often areas that also manufacture garments.
How much of an output can the on-demand dyeing process of Endeavour handle per day?
Endeavour's on-demand dyeing processes significantly increase production speed and capacity, operating at throughputs of >2000 sq m per hour and are suitable for high throughput industrial production environments. Endeavour also provides the flexibility of fast colour changes and short run manufacturing at much lower cost.
What were the key topics presented by you at the World Congress on Textile Coating recently?
We focused on explaining our breakthrough Endeavour Waterless Smart Dyeing technology for solid colour dyeing and our Novara digital textile finishing technology for delivering multi-functional 2D patterned finishes. The elimination of wastewater in combination with 85 per cent energy reduction delivered by these technologies, we believe will be a true game-changer for the textiles industry in 2021. We also presented our low-energy Novara finishing solution for anti-viral fabrics, developed in response to the covid-19 pandemic, which can be used to deliver HeiQ Viroblock more sustainably and at lower cost than using traditional finishing methods.
What are your future plans as a company?
We are currently aggressively rolling out our commercial Endeavour and Novara solutions to the global textiles industry. We plan to have a significant number of global installations completed by the end of 2021. We have experienced huge interest in our technology in recent months, which is driving our expansion. We are also establishing a global distribution network, which will ensure that our customers are fully supported anywhere in the world.
Published on: 14/04/2021
DISCLAIMER: All views and opinions expressed in this column are solely of the interviewee, and they do not reflect in any way the opinion of Fibre2Fashion.com.
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