PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
The textile industry is a chemical intensive sector and various chemicals are used in all steps of the supply chain to turn raw materials into final end-products. Not only do these chemicals pose risks for the work environment, but many of the chemicals also end up in freshwater systems. Brands and manufacturers seeking to ‘make fashion sustainable’ must be concerned about the amount of chemical used in production and, where possible, transition to sustainable fibre sources, and alternative natural dyes and processing methods.
OBJECTIVES
The overall objective of the LIFE TreeTex project is to scale up and demonstrate the TreToTextile (TTT) disruptive production technology in order to widen European industry’s access to innovative textile solutions.
The TTT technology is a new innovative chemical process using raw material from renewable forests and regenerating the cellulose into a textile fibre using a newly-developed wet-spinning process designed for low cost and low climate impact. The process uses fewer chemicals compared to conventional fibre technologies, and those it does use are all commodity chemicals under REACH, allowing for a more sustainable and cost-efficient process. The technology has the potential to offer affordable sustainable textile fibres in huge volumes that are world-class in terms of climate impact during production (and use).
The project aims to incorporate a more efficient pre-treatment into an already existing pilot facility, to allow the validation of the production of the components and systems of this new pre-treatment at an industrially-relevant scale (~1% of full scale) at continuous, full operating conditions.
The project’s specific objectives are to:
verify the innovative pre-treatment step and production concept at pilot scale (~1% of full scale) and full operating conditions, including processes that can lower chemical and energy consumption, and promote more efficient chemical use and lower production costs
develop and verify a standard production design concept that can be used for the construction of full-scale facilities, to ensure a competitive production cost of the textile fibres
test and validate the cellulosic fibres when used in relevant textile applications
disseminate the outcome of the project to potential stakeholders and target groups in Europe
perform a fast replication and commercialisation based upon the results of the demonstration
RESULTS
The project’s expected results are:
a production capacity of 350 kg/hour of fibres per year
a reduction of 93% of the demand for chemicals during production compared to viscose production
a production cost 20% lower than viscose per tonnes of fibres
performance data from 500 tonnes of fibres produced with various pulps in a relevant environment by 2026
the fibre tested in 3 different textile application areas
Life cycle assessment (LCA) prepared showing >60% reduction in climate impact compared to viscose
210 unique visitors to the pilot plant
12 news releases prepared
speakers at 5 conferences/events
5 new partners or customers of the technology (i.e., licencees)
