Digital Dyeing Technology Produces No Wastewater, Reduces Energy in Textile Production

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A low energy, waterless textile dyeing technology is being installed at JSRTEX Group in Taiwan to improve the sustainability of the company’s textile production and to highlight the platform’s ability to make such improvements across the industry.

The Endeavour digital dyeing platform from Alchemie Technology is being installed at fabric producer JSRTEX’s plant with the hopes that while improving the manufacturing sustainability there it will catch on throughout the textile industry. The technology produces no wastewater and reduces energy consumption by 85% compared with traditional textile dyeing and also is more cost effective, according to Alchemie.

Textile production is estimated to be responsible for up to 10% of the world’s carbon emissions and causes more than 20% of the world’s water pollution. Alchemie says the fashion industry is believed to be the second largest polluter behind agriculture but can make a big dent in carbon emissions by improving textile dyeing technology.

JSRTEX says improving sustainability in its manufacturing is an important goal at the company and using technology that maintains its quality standards while making improvements in energy efficiency and water waste will fit its production needs. The company says it is looking forward to showcasing the dyeing technology with other brands and textile producers so that they can also possibly benefit from it.

The textile and fashion industry is continually looking at ways to improve its sustainability in production.

A Planet Tracker report says that improvements in wet processing could cut water waste by 11.5% and emissions by 11% and if such upgrades were made across the industry it could lead to savings of $6.1 billion a year. In 2021, Dow and Ralph Lauren released an open-sourced manual on how to more sustainably dye cotton and to encourage the industry to adopt a standardized and efficient approach to production.

The Global Fashion Agenda also reported that the industry has the potential to be almost completely recyclable and if the sector invested $5 billion to $7 billion by 2026 it could become 80% circular. A 2020 CDP report added that there are more than $180 million in business opportunities related to reducing water pollution in the fashion, apparel, footwear, and home textiles industry.

Alchemie is backed by fashion company H&M and plans to further introduce the Endeavour machine to other locations throughout the sector in the coming months.