Escola Superior de Biotecnologia | Sala EBI-100 | Edifício de Biotecnologia / Biotechnology Building
Please join us on April 29th starting at 14:15.
No need to register - just show up in EBI -100.
Clara Sousa is our guest speaker.
Infrared spectroscopy is an analytical technique based on bond vibrations upon exposure to infrared light (near: from 10000-4000 cm-1 or mid: 4000-600 cm-1 ). Despite being a quite simple technique regarding execution, infrared spectroscopy is widely used for samples characterization of very diverse origins with different proposes. Textile industry, one of the biggest pollutant ones, is currently facing the challenge of reduce its ecological footprint. Reduction can happen as a consequence of several approaches, one of them being the introduction of new alternative fibres to produce fabrics. Pineapple, banana, nettle and hemp are gathering differentiated attention as alternative fibres and are already being used to produce fabrics (pure or mixed, mostly with cotton). Some textile companies are currently claiming fabrics productions with these alternative fibres but certification still is an issue. These new fibres are very similar to cotton and very difficult to correctly identify and quantify. Infrared spectroscopy was evaluated as a rapid and accurate technique to be used in textile industry to properly identify these recently introduced fibres.
