Page 32 - New Cloth Market November 2022 Digital Edition

Strategies for Removing Chemical Finishes from Post-Consumer Outdoor Fabrics

- find new methods to avoid hazard-
ous materials in recycled acrylic
goods.

The goals of REACT project are:
- To reach a removal rate of 90-95%
of hazardous chemicals that pre-
vent fibre recycling;
- To obtain a final textile product with
yarn coming from 100% recycled
fibre, mixing regenerated fibres from
card, winding opened thread and
waste material collected fibre, each
up to 33%;

- To treat up to 99% of all sewage
impurities obtained from removal
steps;
- To reuse the acrylic textiles as raw
material for other production cycles,
to reach 30% of waste prevented
from disposal (3.600 tonnes total/
year) for the outdoor sector (awnings
and furnishing).
The long-term purposes of REACT project
REACT project activities were focused
on the removal of contaminants from REACT project activities were focused on the removal of contaminants from
acrylic fibres. acrylic fibres. The global acrylic fibre market is projected to reach a market
Due to their unmatchable performance value of about US$ 5.2 billion by 2027 end, registering a CAGR of 2.65%.
(combination of weatherability and
mechanical strength), it is the mainly
used fibre (>90%) in awnings and out-
door furnishing:
- 11’000 tonnes/year of outdoor acryl-
ic textiles;
- 2.5 million awnings installed in Eu-
rope;
- 7’700 tonnes/year of acrylic textile
waste are disposed of by landfill or
incineration.

For outdoor applications, the commonly used synthetic fabrics are finished
with specific chemicals to increase their resistance to atmospheric agents and
make them long-lasting water-resistant.

Melamine-formaldehyde, acrylic and
fluorocarbon resins are among the

most commonly used finishes for this

purpose.

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