Making denim processing more sustainable has been a pressing need in the textile industry for some years and the Swiss-based chemical company Clariant, with its recently launched innovative advanced denim dyeing process, has been able to meet these demands.
Based on Clariant’s ‘Advanced Denim’ dyeing process, machine builder Karl Mayer’s Indig-O-Matic System is now able to offer superior efficiency, flexibility and sustainable denim for weavers. This new system is extremely efficient and reduces the number of boxes used in conventional dyeing from 12 to one.
Karl Mayer, one of the leading manufacturers of warp preparation, has also generated other environmental and ecological benefits for the production of the ubiquitous, always-in-fashion fabric. These include a massive 92% reduction in water consumption with minimal generation of wastewater, energy savings of up to 30% and up to 87% less cotton waste compared with conventional slasher dyeing processes.
During the denim production, the warp yarns are dyed separately before being woven, contributing to the unique and feel and look of the fabric. Karl Mayer’s modular Indig-O-Matic yarn preparation system is also geared towards the continuing market demands for smaller runs and rapid reaction to changing fashions in denim industry, ensuring the warp yarns are totally ready for subsequent processing.
The system is characterized by the machine manufacturer’s Vario Double modular dyeing machine which can be used for conventional, nitrogen or reactor dyeing, followed by a steamer. The yarns are then passed through a quick oxidization unit and a wash trough. The Kamcos control system and a fully automated chemical dispensing and measuring system are featured to ensure all processes are flexible, fully reproducible and highly accurate. Beam changing between the separate processes is also fully automatic.
“The Pad/Sizing Ox and Indig-O-Matic are two technologies setting the trend in the textile sector,” said Rainer Roesch, Head of Marketing & Application Development of Business Unit Textile Chemicals at Clariant. “This is a partnership which has got the chemistry and machinery just right in terms of efficiency, flexibility and ecological performance,” he added.
The Advanced Denim concept, designed to work using a mill’s existing equipment, was based on Clariant’s Denim-Ox process, which incorporates its Diresul® RDT dyes. It has been further refined by Clariant’s Pad/Sizing Ox innovation, which uses the same dyes and the recently patented sizing agent Arkofil® DEN-FIX and provides a rich variety of colors and shades and is suited to the various forms of weaving and finishing denim. In combination with the company’s full range of Diresul® RDT sulphur dyes, including non-indigo based Diresul® RDT Indicolors, Advanced Denim offers unique effects, improved fastness, better reproducibility of shades and easy application for more precise results.
