Swedish firm develops alternative eco-treatments

STOCKHOLM - Swedish textile firm OrganoClick has developed two new fabric finishing treatments that the company hopes will help reduce the amount of environmentally harmful and toxic chemicals used in the textile industry.

The two products are OrganoTex; a modification technology based on biodegradable constituents conferring highly water repellent properties to cellulose-based textiles (e.g. cotton, linen, and viscose) and OC-biobinder; a biopolymer-based binder used for improving mechanical properties to nonwoven and coated textiles.

The water repellent properties of OrganoTex are said to mimic natural processes occurring in plants, thereby allowing a process entirely free of substances such as fluorocarbons, isocyanates and formaldehyde, known to have either severe effect on aquatic eco-systems or being highly toxic.

The OrganoTex modification technology has been designed to enable cellulosic fibres to covalently bind to a unique bio-additive, developed by OrganoClick AB. The bio-additive is biodegradable and still confers excellent and durable water repellent properties to textile products during their normal lifetime.

OC-biobinder is a new binding system used for improving certain mechanical properties, such as stiffness or strength, to cellulose-based nonwoven or coated textiles. According to Mårten Hellberg, CEO at OrganoClick, the binders currently in use are mainly made of petroleum based substances. OC-biobinder is composed completely of renewable substances that are non-toxic for humans and are biologically degradable.

“The textile processing industry has for many years relied on chemicals that are very effective, but on the other hand are often not degradable in nature and even may cause severe effects on eco-systems or on human health,”Hellberg said.“As customers are starting to realize this problem, we believe that our new products have a tremendous potential for textile manufacturers or textile product brands desiring to combine sustainable and organic textiles with functionality.”

Founded in 2006, OrganoClick AB is a spin-off company from Stockholm University and the University of Agricultural Science in Uppsala, Sweden. OrganoClick AB develops and manufactures bio-fibre materials and chemical products with highly specialized functions using its proprietary OrganoClick technology platform for modification of bio-fibres.