The Institute for Plasma Research (IPR) in Gandhinagar has signed an MoU with Man Made Textile Research Association (Mantra) of Surat for introducing in-line plasma treatment facility in the existing textile manufacturing process.

The agreement is a major step towards improving quality of textile processing in Surat, one of country’s largest textile hubs.

Mantra is a research organisation for fulfilling quality control needs of a growing textile industry in Surat and in South Gujarat.

The IPR, through its Facilitation Centre for Industrial Plasma Technologies (FCIPT) in Gandhinagar, will develop a plant that can treat synthetic textiles with plasma at the rate of 30 to 40 metres per minute. IPR officials said the facility will be developed by October 2017, or even earlier.

“IPR’s Plasma treatment facility will be 6 to 10 times cheaper than what is available in Europe or US and improve our fibre strength and colour enhancements of textiles,” Mantra director V I Bachkaniwala said.

IPR director D Bora said, “Plasma improves the fibre quality, drastically reduces shrinking of fabric and is a clean technology with no chemicals involved. Plasma will surely provide a major boost for quality improvement in textile manufacturing. In case of wool, plasma treatment nearly eliminates the prickly feel and entanglements of the fibre.”