CAMBRIDGE, England — March 7, 2022 — The new Novara™ precision digital finishing solution from Alchemie Technology may help European textile manufacturers save 1 million euros a year and return to profitability — as energy prices surge across the continent.
Novara uses high velocity jetting technology to apply nano droplets of functional finishes, only where needed, on fabrics, using 85-percent-less energy and up to 50-percent-less chemistry compared to traditional methods.
Traditional textile finishing is an energy intensive process which applies liquid finishes by immersing the whole fabric in a chemical bath, adding approximately 80 percent water by mass to the fabric which then needs to be dried.
EU gas prices soared throughout 2021 — and have risen even more sharply due to the conflict in Ukraine, which has sparked fresh concerns about global energy supplies. The European gas price has risen from 16 euros a year ago to more than 115 euros per megawatt hour (MWh) on March 1 — peaking at 142 euros per MWh.
It requires more than 2 kWh per kilogram (kg) of material to dry fabrics which have been through a padding bath. Alchemie estimates that spiraling gas costs have therefore increased the annual energy costs for a typical EU textile finishing operation by over 1 million euros a year.
Novara precision digital finishing is a low energy, single sided application system which enables functional finishes to be applied at up to 20x the concentration of traditional processes — with a more even application and higher quality. This results in energy savings of up to 85 per cent.
For an average European textile finisher, adopting Novara this would lead to an annual cost saving of 1 million euros a year.
There is also a significant sustainability benefit to the Novara system. The energy savings correspond to roughly 1 kg CO2/kg in reduced carbon emissions. The EU alone produces approximately 130,000 tonnes of technical textiles fabric per year. Switching to Novara technology would deliver a reduction of >100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.
Dr. Simon Kew, managing director of Alchemie Technology, said: “Energy costs are crippling the EU technical textiles industry — and the situation is getting rapidly worse. European gas prices have risen dramatically over the last year with those costs accelerating again and hitting EU manufacturers particularly hard. Many textile manufacturers are now struggling to survive because their supply contracts have now increased to reflect the recent energy price rises.
“Our Novara precision digital finishing technology can reduce energy costs by up to 85 percent which can help technical textile finishing companies to return to profitability.
“The reduction in energy and chemistry consumption also has environmental benefits. As more EU manufacturers switch to Novara we can help to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of the textile sector and contribute to reaching net zero across the industry.”
Posted: March 7, 2022
Source: Alchemie Technology
