Waterless Systems for Textile Dyeing

Bench-top System with Color Matching

Applied Separations and eCO₂Dye have developed a waterless textile dyeing process and equipment for dyeing. The process uses carbon dioxide as the solvent for dyeing as opposed to water as the medium in conventional dyeing.

In addition to the supercritical fluid systems for waterless textile dyeing, the Applied Separations / eCO₂Dye team has also developed additional technology to support your dyeing operations:

• 60 - 90 minute dyeing cycle depending on color
• Selection of disperse dyes that work well in our process. Create a palette of colors with these dyes.
• Color database for your use
• Use color match capability
• Dyed polyester meets AATCC tests

Visit the textile dyeing section of the Applied Separations site, and the eCO₂Dye site for more information.

Pre-Process Textiles for Dyeing with Supercritical Fluids

scCO₂ for Scouring : Cleaning of yarns and fabrics done prior to dyeing or printing

Production of yarns and converting these into fabrics by weaving or knitting processes requires use of various oils, waxes, lubricants and other additives to facilitate in the fabrication steps.  The processing aids are removed from the textile to obtain high quality dyeing or printing on the textile. Processing aids are used for all textile materials – natural and man-made, though they may differ chemically depending on the material.

To learn more about using supercritical fluids to process textiles, visit the eCO2Dye site.

What is a Supercritical Fluid?

A supercritical fluid (SCF) is any substance above its critical temperature and pressure; the fluid has the properties of both gas and liquid while not exhibiting a distinct liquid or gaseous phase. Thus, an SCF is,

• Dense like a liquid to dissolve materials

• Has low viscosity, high diffusivity, no surface tension like a gas

Carbon dioxide is the most commonly used supercritical fluid and becomes supercritical at 31^oC and 74 BAR. There are many applications for scCO₂, including decaffeination of coffee, extraction of natural products, and waterless textile dyeing.

Carbon dioxide is environmentally friendly, non-toxic and in our case most of the CO₂ is internally recycled with very little vented to the atmosphere. scCO₂ based operations represent a very “green” technology.

Visit our site for more information.

Waterless Textile Dyeing with CO2

It's 2015 and the technology works!

eCO₂Dye, in conjunction with Applied Separations, Dingo Ltd, and Halide Group Inc, has developed a waterless textile dyeing process and equipment for dyeing. The process uses carbon dioxide as the solvent for dyeing as opposed to water as the medium in conventional dyeing.
Our Process for dyeing polyester offers the following advantages versus conventional dyeing in water

• CO₂ replaces water as the dye solvent
• Saves energy
• Uses fewer and less chemicals
• Generates practically no waste streams
• Carbon dioxide is recycled and not vented
• Reduces the number of process steps
• Simplifies dyeing chemistry
• Reduces plant footprint
• Flexibility in site location

For more information, visit eCO2Dye.com

Natural Products Extracts Without Hexane

Hexane is a commonly used solvent in natural products and essential oil extractions, but hexane has been categorized as a hazardous air pollutant by the US EPA, and is included on their list of toxic chemicals.

Despite best efforts, facilities using hexane may leak up to 6,000 pounds of hexane a day into the atmosphere. In addition, extracts will contain undesirable hexane residue. The solution: Supercritical Fluid extractions.

• No hazardous waste
• No chemical residue
• No health hazard
• Environmentally friendly

View the Applied Separations website for information about natural products extractions and supercritical fluids.

It All Starts with Coffee

Supercritical... Coffee?

After its discovery, the first large scale use of supercritical fluids in extracting natural products was the decaffeination of coffee. Since then, many industries have made the switch to supercritical fluid. Producers of essential oils are finding supercritical fluids to be an excellent replacement for traditional methods that use hazardous chemicals.

Solvent Free extracts created with supercritical fluids are found in foods, fragrances, herbal extracts, natural medicines, aromatherapy… and the list goes on.

For more information about how supercritical fluid can improve YOUR process, visit the  Essentials Oils section of the Applied Separations website.

Chemical-free Fragrance Extraction at Low Temperatures

Whether you’re extracting fragrances for perfumes or foods, you want the highest quality extract with the least chemical residue. Using supercritical fluid to extract your fragrances is the way to accomplish this with no hazardous chemicals.

© Raymond Kasprzak
Dreamstime Stock Photos

 Fragrance compounds are volatile molecules that have an odor or aroma. They are low molecular weight compounds and are found in food, wine, spices, flowers and many natural products. These volatile essential oils are composed of esters, terpenes, cyclic terpenes, aromatics, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones and lactones. All of these compounds are readily soluble in supercritical CO₂ at low temperatures and low pressures.

Visit the Applied Separations website for more information about Supercritical Fragrance Extraction and Supercritical Fluids.

Essential Oil Extracts with No Solvent Residue or Health Hazard

Supercritical Carbon Dioxide extracts essential oils more efficiently than petroleum based solvents. More importantly, upon returning to an ambient state, the CO₂ becomes a gas, leaving no residue. Flavors and fragrances are left in their unadulterated states. Essential oils extracted with supercritical fluids leave no solvent taste or smell.

Sometimes supercritical CO₂ is used in conjunction with more traditional methods such as soaking perfume feedstocks in an organic solvent for a period of time. The organic solvents containing the extracted the perfumes (essential oils) and accompanying waxes are then decanted and evaporated, leaving a concrete. The essential oils can easily be separated from the wax with supercritical CO₂. Because of the low temperature, the process gives high recoveries.

View the video and visit the Applied Separations website for more information.

Applied Separations and the "12 Principles of Green Chemistry" Week 1: Prevention

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published their “12 Principles of Green Chemistry” originally published by Paul Anastas and John Warner in Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice (Oxford University Press: New York, 1998) http://www.epa.gov/gcc/pubs/principles.html

Applied Separations’ supercritical fluid extraction systems fall in line with these 12 principles. In the coming weeks, we will be briefly addressing each of these points.

Green Chemistry Principle
Prevention

EPA	Applied Separations
It is better to prevent waste than to treat or clean up waste after it has been created.	Applied Separations SCF systems prevent waste by using supercritical CO2. The use of supercritical CO2 greatly reduces (if not eliminates) the use of hazardous chemicals. If fewer chemicals are used, there are less hazardous waste disposal concerns.

For more information, view the What is Supercritical Fluid? presentation on the Applied Separations website.

http://appliedseparations.com/ASInteractive/Overviews/SCF/What_is_SFE/player.html