Going green in a supercritical way
30 Jan 2001
Researchers at the Union Chemical Laboratories (UCL) at the Taiwanese Industrial Technology Research Institute have developed a water-saving and energy-saving supercritical fluid dyeing technology that can save energy and minimise waste. They believe that it could play a critical role in the future of dyeing and finishing industry.
Taiwan produces more than two million tons of polyester fibre each year. But the conventional means of dyeing polyester fibre and fabrics uses a lot of energy, and has a number of environmental drawbacks. To develop a better process, the Energy Commission of the Ministry of Economic Affairs in Taiwan called upon UCL to develop an advanced energy-saving, low-pollution, and high efficiency supercritical fluid dyeing technology.
The new technology UCL developed uses carbon dioxide in a supercritical state instead of water as the dyeing medium. Since no water is required in the dyeing process, the problem of wastewater treatment is eliminated and the drying of fibres becomes unnecessary. The developers say that the energy consumed by the new process is two thirds of that used in the conventional process.
What's more, there's no need to add various dispersing agents and additives in the dyestuff to save on production costs. And the time that is required for the dyeing cycle has been cut by half.
For more information, please contact Dr. Wen-Fa Lin Tel: 886-3-5732401 email: wenfalin@itri.org.tw.
