Seaweed can also be made into a garment that feels smooth and does not burn.

Seaweed can also be made into clothes! And the skin comfort on the body is 15% higher than cotton. Recently, the project “Building technology and equipment for the production of fiber and deep processing industrialization of seaweed resources” undertaken by the expert group of Qingdao University was appraised by the National Textile Industry Expert Committee. As a coastal city rich in algae resources, the emergence of seaweed fiber has made this resource more promising. How is a piece of seaweed made into a piece of clothing or a piece of medical cotton? To this end, the reporter walked into the seaweed industry company in Qingdao to reveal the mystery.

[Good News] Seaweed fiber project passed the appraisal

Recently, the project “Building Fiber and Deep Processing Industrialization Complete Technology and Equipment” by Professor Xia Yanzhi and Professor Zhu Ping from Qingdao University accepted the awards from Sun Jinliang, Jiang Shicheng, Chinese Academy of Textile Sciences and China Chemical Fiber Industry Association. Identification of the appraisal committee composed of well-known experts in the textile and textile fields and units of Tianjin Polytechnic University and Beijing Institute of Clothing Technology. After listening to the research report of the project, carefully reviewing the technical data and on-site inspection of the seaweed fiber demonstration production line. The appraisal committee unanimously passed the project appraisal and considered that the overall technology of the project has reached the international advanced level, and the textile special seaweed fiber preparation technology is at the international advanced level.

The relevant person in charge of the project said that in the research and development process for more than ten years, in-depth research and system integration have been completed in three aspects: fiber-level sodium alginate extraction key technology, spinning forming technology integration and industrialization demonstration, textile processing application demonstration. . The key industrialization technology of fiber-grade sodium alginate raw materials was overcome, and a kiloton-grade fiber-grade sodium alginate production line was built. Key technologies such as high-efficiency dissolution of raw materials and no dehydration agent were obtained, and special equipment for production of seaweed fiber for textiles was successfully developed. 800 tons / year seaweed fiber industrial production line; the development and promotion of seaweed fiber functional textiles, developed a variety of special functional textiles, biomedical dressings and other products. The project has independent intellectual property rights , authorizes 28 invention patents in China; 2 sets of group standards and industry standards; published more than 200 academic papers; formed a new team of marine biomass fiber technology innovation team, and won the Ministry of Education "Yangtze Scholars and Innovation" The team support plan "innovation team support" and won the commendation of outstanding innovation team in Shandong Province.

[Question] There are 13 procedures for seaweed to change clothes.

Qingdao Hailan Biological Products Co., Ltd., one of the seaweed fiber industrialization units, is in the company's exhibition hall. The rows of shelves are covered with white cotton yarn -like finished fibers. From the appearance, these fibers are not as smooth as some of the cotton yarns that are common in the day, and there is no difference. But the biggest difference is that these cotton yarns are not made of cotton grown in the ground, but by a variety of seaweeds in the sea. "Seaweed, giant algae, Fucus, kelp and sargasso, the brown algae that you can usually see and know, can basically be used as raw materials for algae fiber." The company's research and development personnel told reporters. A green seaweed turns into a white jade-like fiber filament. What magical changes have passed? The researcher explained that the principle is that the sodium salt of alginic acid can be dissolved in water. Therefore, after the sodium alginate is dissolved in water to prepare a spinning solution, the alginic acid fiber can be prepared by wet spinning. From a chemical point of view, the formation of alginate fibers is a process in which a water-soluble sodium alginate is converted into water-insoluble calcium alginate.

Worried that the reporter is difficult to understand, the R&D staff made a common explanation to the reporter. Pointing at a sealed cylindrical container in the production workshop, the researcher told reporters that the production of seaweed fiber and other chitosan fibers is inseparable from the large round cans. The algae is dissolved in a special way in the tank. The dissolved raw materials enter the rinsing tank through 13 steps of filtration, extraction and stretching. At the source end of the rinsing tank, there is a nozzle-like device. Tens of thousands of fiber lines. These fibers will be reprocessed and, after cooling, become the raw material for making clothes – algae fibers.

[Magic] "Seaweed clothes" will not burn

Touching the seaweed fiber hanging on the shelf, it feels very smooth. Just as everyone was amazed at the seaweed, the staff told reporters that the magic of seaweed fiber is not just that. Picking up a seaweed fiber, the staff took a lighter flame and bake it against the seaweed fiber. As a result, under the burning of the flame, the seaweed fiber in the hands of the staff only turned black with the flame and was not ignited. The staff said that this is only the charcoal reaction of seaweed fiber under high temperature burning. The staff explained to the reporter that this is because seaweed fiber is a kind of flame retardant fiber, which has its own flame retardancy. The carbonization degree of the fiber during combustion is high, and it will be extinguished when it leaves the flame, and it will not be open fire in the air. Seaweed fiber is an ideal material for flame retardant. The clothes made of the same are safer than the traditional cotton and chemical fiber clothing in the case of fire.

In addition to flame retardant, algae fiber has many powerful functions. Professor Ma Jianwei from the Textile and Apparel College of Qingdao University introduced that the macromolecules of seaweed fiber have hydrophilic groups and have excellent moisture absorption and moisturizing ability. And since the seaweed fiber is a wet-spun fiber, a large amount of micropores are present in the fiber, so that it has good water absorption and water retention. The water absorption can reach 20 times its own weight; secondly, when the alginate is in contact with the tissue exudate, the fiber is greatly expanded, and a large amount of exudate remains in the fiber in the gel structure. The "gel blocking" nature of alginate makes the dispersion of wound exudate and the impregnation of healthy tissue greatly reduced; the special internal structure of sodium alginate can combine polyvalent metal ions to form a stable complex. The adsorption of metal ions is very large and can be used to prepare electromagnetic shielding fabrics.

In addition, resources are required for the oceans, provided that they do not cause pollution, and algae fibers are biodegradable fibers, which solves the problem of possible environmental pollution.

[Application] Seaweed silk out of the sky

The powerful and diverse features mean that seaweed fiber is extremely versatile. Socks, underwear, towels, masks ... On the product display cabinet of Hailan Biological Products Co., Ltd., more than ten kinds of products are made of seaweed fiber and some chitosan fibers. The staff told reporters that clothing fabrics are one of the basic uses of seaweed fiber. In addition, the wound adheres to the wound cream and causes pain in the wound when the wound cream is torn off. Even when the dressing is changed, it sticks to the newly wounded wound and causes secondary damage to the wound. The gel blocking property of the seaweed fiber can also be used. For the production of medical cotton cloth and other medical dressings. Alginate fiber has far infrared function, anti-electromagnetic radiation and flame retardant function. It can shield electromagnetic waves well and prevent radiation. The research proves that seaweed fiber can withstand 99.7% of ultraviolet and electromagnetic waves and can be used to make radiation protection suits. The flame retardancy of alginate fibers makes them widely used in special clothing such as firefighting suits.

At present, the average profit rate of China's textile industry is only about 3.97%, but health-care textile products can meet the health needs of consumers, have certain scientific and technological content and practical value, which determines its high added value and health care function. The general profit margin of textile companies is between 15% and 50%. According to experts' prediction, the health-care functional textile industry will maintain growth of more than 20% within 3-5 years.

Thirteen years of painstaking grinding of algae fiber

According to Prof. Xia Yanzhi, a seaweed fiber expert, the research on seaweed fiber in Qing can be traced back to 2003. The research and development of seaweed fiber was listed as the Qingdao Science and Technology Talents Plan. At the beginning of the development of seaweed fiber, there are many technical problems, including: First, the fiber spinning raw material is not special, and there is no special detection and control means for the raw material alginic acid segment structure G/M, which also causes low fiber strength and fiber quality. The main reason for the change is easy. Secondly, there is no industrial production equipment for seaweed fiber, which can not truly achieve continuous production. There are many domestic laboratory research. Before the seaweed fiber production was concentrated in the pilot level, no systematic research and development in biology The application of medical and textile garments; thirdly, the preparation efficiency of seaweed fiber spinning solution is low, and the spinning solution is prepared by using the traditional wet spinning process for small and medium material tanks. This method has high efficiency for low viscosity solution treatment, but cannot It is applied to the preparation process of high viscosity solution.

In response to the above technical bottlenecks, Xia Yan led the research team to actively tackle the problem, through the independent research and development of structural testing technology, to achieve the testing, screening and control of spinning raw material structure, the development of fiber-grade sodium alginate production standards for the preparation of seaweed fiber, formulated The product specifications, requirements, test methods, inspection rules, marking, packaging, transportation and storage standards of fiber grade sodium alginate provide sufficient technical indicators and effective production references for the production of fiber grade sodium alginate.