The focus of the BioFibreLoop innovation project with partners from 9 countries is on the development of recyclable outdoor-, active- and workwear made from renewable bio-based materials with biomimetic functionalities. The project partners now have developed first coatings and textile patterns made from renewable and recyclable materials. The EU project receives €6.5 million (~$6.98 billion) for three and a half years from the EU in the Horizon Europe programme.
The BioFibreLoop project, funded by the EU’s Horizon Europe programme, develops recyclable outdoor and activewear from renewable bio-based materials like lignin, cellulose, and PLA.
The project focuses on creating textiles with enhanced water and oil repellency using biomimetic coatings.
The project partners aim to create eco-friendly, functional textiles.
Steinbeis Europa Zentrum supported the proposal writing process and is a project partner. It supports the coordinator, the German Institutes of Textile and Fibre Research (DITF), with administrative and financial project management. It is responsible for the communication, dissemination and exploitation of the project results.
After the first few months of the project, the DITF has managed to successfully spin the first fibres from lignin mixed with a suitable cellulose that increases suppleness and strength. The slightly brownish, fine and smooth continuous fibres show a slightly shimmering sheen in the small sample fabrics produced. In addition, the DITF was also able to produce the first films from the mixture of lignin with cellulose, which are used to coat the textiles.
In the next step, once very thin and uniform variants have been successfully produced, these films are applied to the textiles in a laminating process and bonded. Further textile samples from the textile partners in Italy, Austria and Germany made from woven, knitted and nonwoven fabrics with fibres made from cellulose and PLA have already been produced and evaluated, and some of the selected variants have already been used to produce larger samples on industrial systems, the company said in a press release.
BioFibreLoop has also made further progress in the development of the new technology for creating surfaces that repel water and oil. To this end, the researchers and employees involved intensively analysed previously known surface structures of certain plants and fish. The micro- and nanostructures on the surface are responsible for the aforementioned functional properties.
From the findings, it was possible to derive a physical thought model for a good understanding of the relationships between micro- and nanostructures and the properties of the liquids to be repelled. The major challenge now is to transfer these structures to the surfaces of the lignin coating using a novel, laser-based embossing process. In the laboratories of Centre Technologique ALPhANOV, France and the DITF, intensive research is already being carried out on metallic surfaces for transfer, special laser technologies and the many variants of the embossing technique.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RR)
