Creating more sustainable textile fibers with CO₂
The consortia of two research projects publicly funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) have succeeded in designing and testing a process to melt spin cardyon®-based thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU). Covestro as producer of cardyon® collaborated closely with academic process researchers and textile manufacturers to develop materials and processing methods for elastic yarns that offer a lower environmental impact without compromising on quality. The German brand FALKE is one key partner, who already processed prototypes of the novel elastic yarns in industrial knitting machines. Our partners in textile industry envision to utilize novel elastic yarns for a broad spectrum of textile applications such as socks, medical textiles (for compression), but as well technical textiles. When the melt spinning process is industrialized, elastic yarns made from cardyon®-based TPU could become a more sustainable alternative to conventional elastic yarns.
Sustainable production process
Our goal is to use CO₂ in more and more applications in a circular economy process and save fossil resources
Development partners display interest
As soon as the melt spinning process for cardyon®-based TPU filaments has been industrialized, standardized qualities of the novel elastic yarns can be validated and their utilization in textile manufacturing processes can be tested. Subsequently, this more sustainable alternative to conventional elastic yarns can be commercialized and offered at the market.
Key Benefits
- Cardyon®-based TPU yarns can be produced by means of melt spinning, a more sustainable way than by means of dry spinning
- Cardyon®-based TPU yarns have the potential to perform in many textile applications
