This year’s expert jury in the Products category awarded products that particularly contribute to sustainable transformation in one of the five fields climate, resources, nature, society, value chain. The focus was on solutions that positively influence economy and society and set new standards for sustainable products.

Pad-dry process

CHT Group’s sustainable dyeing process Pigmentura was honored in the Products category. It significantly improves resource efficiency in the textile value chain. The pad-dry process is much more efficient than conventional dyeing. Simultaneously, energy consumption, CO2 emissions, salt requirements, the rinse water consumption and wastewater treatment are significantly reduced leading to savings in clean drinking water and highly contributing to transforming one of the most resource-intensive industries.

The jury particularly praised the efficiency gains and savings potential, which not only benefit individual companies but may have a large-scale impact along international supply chains. Such advances are highly relevant for the textile and fashion industry. The jury awarded an innovation that impressively demonstrates how the further development of proven processes can lead to substantial progress in resource conservation and environmental protection in textile production.

CHT Group’s Chief Sustainability Officer Dr. Annegret Vester says:

"Developing chemical products and processes for a more sustainable textile manufacturing is very important to us. Our development and application technology have always cooperated with our customers to make energy- and water-intensive dyeing processes more sustainable. Pigmentura shows how completely new processes can be developed by rethinking existing methods: The origin was traditional pigment dyeing where the pigments are “bound” to the textile using special components. Pigmentura simplified this by adsorbing pigments on the surface. It was great to see how Pigmentura achieved much savings potential. Classic reactive textile dyeing implies very high energy and water consumption. During the development phase, numerous obstacles had to be overcome, as each step had to be developed to process maturity. The diversity of textiles has led to significant changes in dyeing behavior, but Pigmentura standardized them. Pigmentura is already being used in the fashion industry worldwide making rivers cleaner, as lower water consumption also means less wastewater. We are on the way to active environmental protection in the global textile industry.”