AT~SEA innovative textiles boost European seaweed farming

Seaweed is an important resource for food and feed ingredients, biochemicals and the production of biofuels.

The AT~SEA team is developing advanced technical textiles to support large numbers of seaweed plants. Bio-sourced coatings on the textiles protect young seaweed and boost their growth. The textiles are placed a couple of metres below the sea’s surface. When the seaweed is fully grown, it can be harvested from the mats and placed in flexible storage tanks made from AT~SEA’s advanced textiles. It serves as renewable resource for a wide range of products, e.g. additives for cosmetics, food or feed.

Currently, larger scale demonstration (>100m2 surface) is running at 3 different locations in the North Sea.  After the project end (July 2015), the consortium plans to establish a 2 to 3 hectare large cultivation site through a commercial company to be spun off from AT~SEA. More information:  http://www.atsea-project.eu/

CENTROCOT: Searching for the high performance green textile

Greenpeace Detox campaign to help the textile supply chain to reach an eco-friendly production.

Greenpeace Detox campaign has shown that several textile products contain chemicals harmful for the environment and the human health (e.g. PFCs for repellence).
Considering the growing demand of the textile supply chain for the reduction and removal of these chemicals in production, Centrocot, through its NoToxs activity, wants to help producers to reach the green textile target. Examining measurements of performance, amount of chemicals in the goods and correlation between these properties, Centrocot will study processes modifications in order to suggest alternative technologies to produce textiles with high performance and low impact for the environment and the human health. Read more or contact ricerca@centrocot.it

CENTEXBEL: SMARTpro - From intelligent prototypes to industrial products

A few years ago, researchers were developing eye-catching ‘Smart Textiles’ demonstrators. Now, they are slowly entering the mainstream market of consumer goods.

Due to their complexity and demanding applications it is not straightforward to enter Smart Textile products in the market. The production process of textile-electronics combinations requires adaptations to allow mass production and adequate durability and reliability. A multi-disciplinary approach is essential to design, develop and produce Smart Textiles.
Therefore Centexbel, together with eight Belgian research partners with extensive expertise in textile, electronics and ICT, have recently started the project SMARTpro to assist companies in upgrading their prototypes to the production stage. This will be achieved by increasing their cross-sectorial awareness and by investigating new product design and manufacturing methods. Read more

ITM: Aachen-Dresden International Textile Conference, Register online

The Aachen-Dresden International Textile Conference held on November 27-28, 2014 is one of the most important textile meetings in Europe. It will bring together experts in the fields of textile chemistry, finishing and functionalisation, and textile machinery, manufacturing and composites. More than 700 participants attended each of the previous conferences. With this year‘s partner country South Korea, we offer a platform to explore opportunities for research co-operations and networks outside of Germany.

The 8th „Aachen-Dresden“ will comprise about 70 lectures and 100 poster presentations focusing on:

•             Composites
•             Protective Textiles
•             Textile Construction with Membranes and Textile-reinforced Concrete
•             Chemistry for Composites, Protective Textiles, and Textile Construction
•             Transfer Session „From Idea to Practice“
•             Saxomax - Textile Innovations Read more

FITEX: Comfort&Care

The main objective of the Comfort&Care project is the development of new textile fabrics geared to market needs (identified by the partners involved in the consortium). They should have more comfort, low maintenance (related with durability, washing and ironing) and be environmentally friendly.

In order to achieve the this objective, the R+D project activities are focused on:

• New yarn materials (from natural and organic fibres)
• The optimization of the knitting process in order to maximize thermal and mechanical comfort
• Finishing processes (dyeing and printing) more environmentally friendly
• The use of novel analytical tools to parameterize comfort 

Read more: www.confortcare.es and www.fitex.es