REACT’s achievements on hazardous finishes removal were presented at the AUTEX World Textile Conference’s 20th edition.

Brecht Tomme, from REACT partner Ghent University, held a presentation on the event’s 3rd day (Tuesday, September 7, 2021), talking about the project’s research on removal of hazardous finishes from waste acrylic fabrics to enable their mechanical recycling, which is the result of the joint effort of several consortium members.

From the abstract submitted to the conference:
“For ecological, economic, and health reasons, it is important to mechanically recycle waste acrylic fabrics originating from outdoor applications. These are not currently recycled due to the presence of harmful finishes on the waste fabrics, that interfere with the recycling process, reduce the quality of the recycled product, and pose health risks. Through a combination of confidential washing, hydrolysis and physical treatments, all the finishing chemicals on waste, outdoor acrylic fabrics can be removed by at least 90%, thus enabling the mechanical recycling process.”

Autex2021 Conference, bringing together various universities, research, technological centers and companies, is being organized by the University of Minho (through 2C2T — Centre of Textile Science and Technology) and is focused on the latest scientific and technical advances in textiles and clothing.

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