Last Tuesday, 27th of September, the consortium of the MIDWOR-LIFE project held its annual meeting at the facilities of IQAC-CSIC in Barcelona. This follow-up meeting featured the presence of two members of the project’s External Advisory Board: Prof. G. Rovero from the Polytechnic University of Torino and Mr. M. Scalia from the European Apparel and Textile Confederation EURATEX.
The meeting began with a presentation of the project and consortium members, followed by updates on the progress of various project tasks. Since June 2016, the final selection of fabrics and DWOR (Durable Water Repellent) products was completed, which included two conventional long-chain DWOR products (C8 fluorocarbons) and five alternative products (short-chain C6 fluorocarbons and silicones). A technical literature review was conducted on all of these products to gather technical details and compare their performance. Laboratory tests have already begun, which will help define optimal application conditions and establish the properties of each product when applied to the selected fabrics.
A theoretical analysis has also been performed on the environmental impact of the products, and work has begun on preparing the necessary forms to collect data for conducting the study on an industrial scale.
The presence of external observers provided a fresh, critical perspective on the work completed so far and will help refocus future activities to better align with the needs of the textile industry, which currently uses these types of finishing products.
MIDWOR-LIFE is a European project co-funded by the European Community under the LIFE+ Financial Instrument within the framework of Environment Policy and Governance, under Grant Agreement n. LIFE14 ENV/ES/000670.
AEI TÈXTILS, a non-profit organization representing the Catalan technical textiles cluster, coordinates the project. The consortium is completed by five other partners: three research institutes/technological centers from Spain: LEITAT Technological Center (member of the Tecnio network), CETIM, and the Institute of Advanced Chemistry of Catalonia from CSIC, plus two technical textile clusters: POINTEX from Italy and CLUTEX from the Czech Republic.
MIDWOR-LIFE is an example of a collaborative project between clusters aimed at improving the competitiveness of their members, SMEs in the technical textiles sector.