VARESE – A new washing system for digitally printed fabrics that can recycle wastewater and then re-use it to remove colorants, reactants and finishing agents drew interest from retailers and textile mills at the recent ITMA thanks to considerable savings in water, energy and waste.
For the first time, the new batch fabric washing system from Italian textile machine supplier Cibitex was fitted with a unique recycling unit that recovers wastewater, cools it, and then re-introduces it back into the process, without the need for it to be discharged until the batch is completed.
“This can be used for washing reactive and acid colorants of cotton and polyester digitally printed fabrics rolled on to a beam,” Massimo Colombo, R&D product engineer at the company told Ecotextile News. “This unit can wash out both the excess colorant and pre-treatment chemicals, cooled, stored, and then recycled to wash-down fabrics until the cycle is completed.”
In continuous washing systems, water needs to be discharged straight after washing since if it cannot be continually recycled and because its high temperature would lead to further unwanted reactions – especially when washing cotton fabrics.
