The starting meeting of the European Midwor-Life project took place in Terrassa (Barcelona, Spain) on the 30th September. The aim of the Project is to mitigate the environmental, health and safety impacts of current and future Durable Water and Oil Repellents (DWOR) alternatives by analyzing their environmental impact and technical performances in order to assess manufacturers on the best available technologies to provide hydro- and oleo-repellency in textile materials. Midwor-Life is cofounded by the European Community under the Life+ Financial Instrument, it will last 36 months with a total budget of 931.850 €.
Aei Tèxtils, a non-profit organization representing the Catalan technical textiles cluster is the coordinator of the project. The consortium is completed by other five partners: three research institutes/technological centers from Spain (Leitat, member of Tecnio network; Cetim and the Institute of Advanced Chemistry of Catalonia from CSIC) and two technical textile clusters, Pointex from Italy and Clutex from the Czech Republic.
Midwor-Life will consist of a comprehensive analysis of the environmental impact of the best available technologies that are currently being developed as an alternative to toxic DWOR. The project will involve a complete screening of the best alternative technologies to current toxic DWOR. Alternative chemicals will be selected according to their functionality and the requirements of the particular market. Demonstration activities at industrial installations will guarantee the technical, economic and environmental feasibility of the selected chemicals. A full and detailed analysis of the best (i.e. non toxic and functional) technologies will be disseminated in order to inform society and define the best non toxic technologies in which research should focus in the near future.
