It takes a lot of water to create the brilliant colors we expect in clothes and textiles, but a waterless dying technique may be the wave of the future.
Photo By Ji-Elle via Wikimedia Commons
Transcript of the Audio Podcast:
Dyeing fabric without water… on this CurrentCast.
Traditional dyeing uses a lot of clean water and creates a lot of dirty wastewater. But a new technique called critical carbon dioxide dyeing is making waves.
The process heats and pressurizes carbon dioxide until it exhibits traits of both liquid and gas. It can then be used to pre-treat, dye, and finish textiles.
Filarowski: “And that is almost a completely waterless system.”
That’s Andrew Filarowski of the Society of Dyes and Colorists. He says the machine’s cost has prevented widespread adoption, but two companies are now using the process – creating more awareness within the industry about the benefits of investing in new technologies.
Filarowski: “Which I don’t think was there to this extent before.”
Support for CurrentCast comes from the Mitsubishi Corporation Foundation for the Americas. Learn more online at http://www.currentcast.org.
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