The ECO Applicator: Less moisture,

faster drying!
Use of the ECO Applicator reduces heating and electrical energy
consumption. At the same time, the waste water contamination
during the production process decreases.

The challenge in the context of sustainability

Padding is a process employed in the textile industry for wet treatment of textiles. The
fabric or substrate is transported through a trough containing the finishing or dying
liquor. The term liquor is generally used to refer to an aqueous liquid in which textiles
are washed, bleached, dyed or impregnated. It contains all the dissolved, emulsified or
dispersed constituents such as dyestuffs, pigments or chemicals. During the further
course of the production process, the substrate is transported through rollers to remove
the excess liquor.
A liquor absorption of 70 per cent means that 100 kilograms of textile fabric has to
absorb 70 kilograms of liquor. After the impregnation process, the wetted fabric is dried
in a final step by means of a stenter. For this process, drying energy is required which in
the textile finishing industry is a major cost factor.

The status quo

Influencing factors for the energy consumption and costs of drying processes are the
initial moisture content, residual moisture content, drying temperature and relative water
vapour content of the ambient air. The degree of initial moisture is crucial for
determining how much evaporation heat is necessary for textiles, and how much energy
has to be used for drying. If the initial moisture content is reduced from the 70 per cent
mentioned at the beginning (the initial moisture content after padding the material) to 40
per cent, the required heat energy can already be demonstrably reduced by 42 per cent.
With an initial moisture of only 30 per cent, the reduction is as high as 58 per cent. For
the electrical energy, a relative initial moisture content of 40 per cent offers an energy
saving of 75 per cent, for 30 per cent the savings can be as high as 84 per cent. Apart
from a high heat and electrical energy consumption, the waste water pollution of dyeing
processes is also high.

The solution the sustainable technology / sustainable

project / sustainable service
As a general rule: Reducing the initial moisture content before the drying process

Facts:

means that less evaporation heat is needed and operating costs are automatically
lowered. This is all made possible by the new Matex ECO Applicator from A. Monforts

The concrete saving:

Textilmaschinen. The ECO Applicator is a system which permits minimum liquor

application to the fabric. The liquor is not applied to the substrate by dipping in a trough

Reduced energy costs

in the conventional way, but by a thin coating using steel rollers. The minimum liquor

More conservative use of water

application unit is thus a resource-conserving alternative to padding.

Lower waste water contamination

The ECO Applicator has a wide range of potential uses: The liquor can be applied to
one or both sides of the substrate, or different liquors can be applied to the front and
rear sides. Small liquor contents mean low residual liquor volumes. For terry cloth,

softeners can also be applied wet-in-wet. Contamination of the waste water is

eliminated.

The sustainable strengths

The Matex ECO Applicator is used in a very wide range of fields: Home textiles, smart
clothes, building textiles, medicine/hygiene and further Techtex areas. The new unit
achieves a maximum energy yield, because moisture that is not applied to the textile
fabric does not later have to be dried. The Matex ECO Applicator allows conservative
use of the resources water and energy.

The relevant BLUecoMPETENCE topic areas:

The innovation described
x

increases energy efficiency.

optimises energy production.
conserves scarce resources.

... minimises emissions.

makes mobility more sustainable.

avoids or makes use of waste materials.

reduces the life cycle costs.
creates more quality of life.