ENVITEXTILE approach is characterised by the use of renewable materials and by providing fully eco-efficient transformation processes of natural fibres to obtain new textile products for upholstery with enhanced colour fastness and stability as well as increased life cycle. Products will retain characteristic natural properties of raw materials. The project innovation resides in the integration of new eco-efficient plasma processes for natural textiles surface functionalisation in order to obtain enhancement of the dye-ability of these fabrics, and additionally, develop innovative dyeing processes. The product innovation is found in the specific nieche high quality products which can be laballed as natural textiles [such as Global Organic Textile Standards ]. These products would provide an excellent solutions to the market needs for bio-based products, deriving from natural materials.These innovations will be developed complying with regulations and to enhance product competitive positioning. In order to evaluate the environmental burden caused by the dyeing enhancement processes LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) will be carried out comparing traditional –wet techniques- to ‘dry’- innovative plasma techniques. The LCA analysis will be based on ISO 140040/44 standard.
More precisely, this translates into the following main objectives:
- To perform a thorough screening to identify how and to what extent plasma treatment can bring the largest benefit (WP1).
- Obtain natural fibre fabrics with enhanced dye-ability properties by improving the existing dyeing process, via plasma pre-treatment addition to existing processes (WP2, WP3, WP4).
- Obtain new dyed textiles using innovative techniques that replace existing dyeing processes with more sustainable ones (consuming less water and energy, using natural dyes), maintaining and improving the current performance levels (WP2, WP3, WP4).
- To evaluate the possibility of adding dyes via plasma treatment (WP2, WP3, WP4).
- To carry out LCA of the introduced processes to show their sustainable character compared to traditional processes (WP5).
- To demonstrate the technical and economical feasibility of the designed products obtained from the innovative plasma processes (WP5).
