GREEN CHEMICALS AND TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE WOOD-TO-TEXTILE VALUE CHAIN
GRETE aims to improve the existing textile value chain by developing novel and better solutions for wood pulp modification, cellulose dissolution and fibre quality generation with improved technical properties, complying market needs and sustainability requirements, and demonstrating the reduction in emissions and energy saving from a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach.
NOVEL RAW MATERIAL BASE FOR THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY
GRETE will enhance the utilization of wood biomass from sustainable European sources for the textile value chain. This will be done by developing novel solvents, as well as chemical and enzymatic modification procedures for cellulose dissolution and regeneration to textile fibres. The novel solvents and modification procedures developed in GRETE, will enable the use of raw materials which until now, have had very limited use in the textile industry, such as paper grade pulp. The use of paper grade pulps will result in lower environmental impact and lower costs in the textile value chain.
NOVEL SOLVENTS FOR CELLULOSE DISSOLUTION AND REGENERATION
The target is to develop novel organic superbase ionic liquids (ILs) that are hydrolytically stable and recyclable, but still possess good dissolution capability for cellulose. Moreover, they need to possess low toxicity and should be readily separable from the spinning bath solution.
HIGH QUALITY FIBRES WITH TAILORED PROPERTIES
The GRETE green technologies and chemicals will generate high-quality textile fibres with tailored properties that will also enable water-scarce post-treatments, giving possibility to radically decrease the environmental footprint of the textile value chain.