Flame Retardants
Globally, fires account for 4 in 1,000 persons who die each year, making them the 4th largest cause of accidental death. Flame retardants are used in a wide variety of common materials including plastics, textiles, wood, paper, and surface coatings. In the textiles industry, flame retardants are a particularly important requirement for certain fabrics, where the risk of fire or the financial and human cost is perceived to be high.

However, traditional fabric flame retardant treatments based on organohalogen compounds or based on materials which evolve formaldehyde have attracted considerable concern in the industry for their safety and environmental impact.

green chemicals plc has invested in the development of chemical treatments which resist the spread of flame on certain substrates without using organobromines or formaldehyde generating materials. These treatments modify the chemistry of the substrate in such a way that a protective char is formed when the article is exposed to flame. The initial targets for the new process are certain textiles and paper where the fibres can be chemically modified using conventional equipment. For the textile market the treatments are targeted at fabrics that may be machine washed during their lifetime.

Wool Treatments
Wool is a quality natural fibre with a fine soft feel which is capable of adapting its properties to provide all year round performance. The chemical treatment of wool is carried out at various stages of production to confer end user properties or to enable subsequent processing. A common treatment in the industry uses chlorine or hypochlorite which can cause organochlorine byproducts. These have attracted considerable criticism for their potential health effects and are tightly controlled in many countries.

green chemicals plc has developed wool treatments which do not use chlorine or hypochlorite for use in a number of applications. These include the shrink proofing of wool and the treatment of wool prior to subsequent treatments such as dyeing and printing.

Hair Care
The use of chemical treatments to change the colour and appearance of human hair is a vital part of the growing cosmetics industry, encompassing many household brand names.

Hair bleaching formulations usually operate at a high pH which, if not properly contained, can cause skin irritation and damage. Also, persulphates are common ingredients in bleaching products and these compounds have been associated with skin sensitisation and industrial asthma. One of the most common types of hair dyes use aromatic amine components which have attracted considerable concern over the potential for severe allergic reactions and links that have been drawn with certain types of cancer.

green chemicals plc has researched for new bleaching and dyeing chemicals that do not employ persulphates and aromatic amines. The bleaching composition operates at pH 5-7, which is much less corrosive to skin than the more caustic pH commonly in use today.