Hohenstein offers updates on algae for textiles

The AlBioTex Project, an initiative looking at the use of alginates as a natural raw material source for textiles, will provide updates for attendees at Techtextil in Frankfurt this year. Launched at the end of 2013 in partnership with Germany’s Hohenstein Institute, BRAIN, Kelheim Fibres and rökona, the project’s focus has been the manufacture of pure alginates.

Alginates have been used for a long time in medicine for wound dressings, but since the composition of the algae varies, the quality varies, too. “By using bio-technological procedures, the use of alginates in a special textile sector has been possible for the first time in a differentiated way,” said Dr Timo Hammer, coordinator of the AlBioTex project.

Other bio-based developments in Frankfurt include organic plates made from natural fibres (TU Dresden), light sandwich or hollow structures (ITV Denkendorf) and bio-based self-reinforcing composite materials (RWTH Aachen).