Literature review on textile wastewater characterisation.
Bisschops I1, Spanjers H.
Author information Abstract In the textile industry, many different processes are used and almost all of them generate wastewater. The effluents resulting from these processes differ greatly in composition, due to differences in processes, used fabrics and machinery. Textile wastewater is usually treated as a mixed stream. For water and chemicals reuse purposes however, it is preferable to keep process streams apart and treat them separately. Characterisation of textile industry effluents is of great importance for the separate treatment of process streams. This literature review provides an overview of what is known about the wastewater of the separate processes, and the methods used for characterisation of these streams. PMID: 14733393 DOI: 10.1080/09593330309385684 [Indexed for MEDLINE]
Literature on Technical Textiles
Literature on Technical Textiles
Challenges and Opportunities facing EU companies in Technical Textiles
The world market for Technical Textiles is estimated by Gherzi at 24 million tons p.a.(2012), corresponding to an industrial sales volume beyond US$ 160 billion (including downstream value added steps like technical make-up, resin impregnation, etc.). The largest Technical Textile global enterprises like Ten Cate (NL), DuPont (USA), Ahlstrom (S), Cytec (USA), etc. � are achieving well over USD$ 1 billion in annual sales. Worldwide, Technical Textiles represents 30 % of all textiles produced. In countries like Germany, the Technical Textiles share in tonnage is already reaching about 60% of all textiles produced and is expected to reach 64% by 2015. Technical Textiles in the abovecontext include high performance composite reinforcements like glass or carbon fabrics (16% world TechTex share), nonwovens (32% world TechTex share) and other woven, knitted, braided or yarn type products (51% world TechTex share).
Fig. 1: Technical Textile Market share
Source: Gherzi research and estimates Looking at individual company performance in European Technical Textiles, it is apparent that this field has offered a fertile ground for above average returns: 12% to almost 20% EBITDA return on sales is not uncommon. The sector also allows for listing on the stock market,as demonstrated by key players Ten Cate (NL) or Low & Bonar (UK). The key critical issues which - in Gherzi�s view - this industry has to face in Europe, is to a lesser extent the import threat from ready-made products coming into Europe from Asia but more so the erosion of the European manufacturing base of key synthetic fibres needed for the production of Technical Textiles. This holds true especially for the field of Polyester industrial yarns, where China in 2012 already controlled 60% of world production and is moving up to beyond 75% by 2015. Also, China is heavily investing into the downstream conversion of these yarn capacities into fabrics, which are then to be exported to a considerable extent to the world markets including Europe. High and growing EU imports of tire cord fabrics and PET based coating substrates from China underline this trend. On the other hand, the European Technical Textiles industry can also profit from positive trends in some key technologies and markets which are growing faster than the Technical Textiles industry as a whole. Nonwovens clearly continue to be a higher than average growth industry (CAGR Europe 5.2% between 2009 and 2013) with some Non-Woven technologies � such as spunlacing (hydro-entanglement of carded webs) or spunbond (spunmelt nonwovens ex chips) � showing higher growth rates than nonwovens overall. https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTFaS6hDgoQy1Hy-M- uPmY6AYoxKyEicEmHa5LqhZ1E4UvLepAQOwhttp://www.textileworld.com/Articles/2008/May_20 08/MayxJune_2008/spunlaidprocess.jpg Fig. 2: Spunlace Technology and Spunlaid Technology Source: EDANA This is certainly due to the fact that nonwoven technologies are becoming more and more flexible, leading to nonwovens entering fields so far reserved for, e.g., wovens. The market introduction of Meta-Aramide based nonwovens for protective garments (�Protech�) � which were historically based on wovens � is one indication for this trend. Spunlace nonwovens for decorative car interiors (replacing knits) are another indication. Another above average growth area is to be found in textile reinforcements for high performance continuous filament reinforced plastics (�composites�). Historically based on glass, Para-Aramide or carbon and driven by industries like aerospace, boat-building, sports equipment and wind turbines, continuous filamentfabricbased composites are now entering the automotive sector as well as areas like high end luggage (with PP tape based wovens), Medtech (prosthesis), Medical equipment, etc. plane aircraft take-offwind powerthe high speed train picture