DyeRecycle
DyeRecycle is a new circular chemical technology to decolour textile fibres, and reuse the dyes to colour new fibres. The technology uses textile waste as a feedstock for dyes and colours while at the same time providing a unique decolourization method without the use of harsh chemicals, and without harming or damaging the fibres.
The decolourization of fibres improves and facilitates the fibre recyclability in recycling processes. The extracted dyes are reused in a circular process to colour new fibres which provides for the first time a new circularity aspect for the dyestuff. This is a unique process which allows the decolourization and dyeing to be reversibly sustainable and be done in a circular manner. Our team is very knowledgeable with the use of sustainable low-cost chemical solvents and their use in developing sustainable chemical technologies that can fit and integrate with the current infrastructure.
- Listing ID: 2202
- Contact: Aida Rafat Abouelela
- What are your aspirations and plans for the future?: We currently exploring our market options and how can we integrate with the existing supply chain. So far, our conversations have been more successful with the Asian market, particularly in Sri Lanaka, with key large textile manufacturers expressing great interest in the technology. However, we would like to further investigate and explore the British market more in-depth. Joining the FFF will allow us to access the British textile industry and facilitate these conversations with the right people. Since our technology was formulated in Imperial College London, it would be ideal for our team to partner with a textile manufacturer in the UK where we can conduct large scale testing, and we can also learn from their knowledge and expertise, which will further accelerate our development and market deployment.
- What types of projects are you interested in working on through Future Fashion Factory?: The projects we are interested to apply for will be PoC, which would allow us to build MVP and test our process at scale using large-scale dyeing vessels. This will also allow us to identify any potential challenges we need to focus before we further scale the technology. We would like to specifically address questions related to the recycle of mixed dyestuff, identifying the CIELab colour differences between aqueous-based dyeing and solvent-based dyeing and how would those two factors will impact economies of scale (i.e. would the technology mainly target mono-coloured fabric and what would be the solution for mixed colour or printed fabrics). We also would like to further validate our long-term value of fibre decolourization, and further verify the value proposition (decolourization vs. dyeing with recycled dye vs. selling dye). The other project that we are interested to apply for is ICP, which will provide key seed funding to scale our process with a potential partner and further develop our process understanding and product testing. These include developing the basic engineering package that is essential for pilot-plant development. The pilot plant will be key to demonstrate the full process at scale (1,000 ton/yr) using the same unit operations that will be used at industrial scale.