Tizayuca Textil Vuva SA de CV, a vertically integrated producer of textiles located at Tizayuca, Mexico , has installed a Monforts Montex 6500 stenter equipped with a heat recovery system, and has been running a direct energy usage comparison with the Montex 5000 stenter that the company had installed a decade earlier, which is still in continuous use but which has no heat recovery system.

The comparison charts reveal that the heat recovery system is saving the company up to 20 % on gas consumption.

Both of the machines are equipped with the Monforts Exxotherm indirect gas heating system, heating technology that avoids any yellowing of the fabric, which had proved so effective on the first installation that it was the reason for Tizayuca Textil to install the second Monforts stenter.

The company, which was founded in 1973, is part of the Diltex group, which was established in 1949 and is dedicated to the design, production and marketing of products for women, including lingerie and garments under the trademark ‘Ilusion’, and other brands such as Vanity Fair, Vassarette, Curvation, Fruit of the Loom, Fiorentina and Bestform.

Diltex has a dominating presence throughout Mexico, in department stores, boutiques and supermarkets, and direct sales in Mexico, Central America, South America and the United States. The bulk of Tizayuca Textil’s output therefore goes direct to Mexico.

“About 80 % of our production here is for the domestic market,” says Tizayuca Textil co-owner Salomon Romano, “and we produce everything including knitting, nylon, cotton and polycotton.

“We have five stenters, of which the two most recent installations are Monforts machines. We were very happy with the first Monforts machine, the Exxotherm system being especially advantageous, and the good results encouraged us to invest in the 6500 with Exxotherm.

“This second installation has the integrated heat recovery system, and so we have been able to compare like-on-like gas energy usage between the two machines.

“We have found that the new Monforts installation is giving us a direct saving of 20 % on our gas usage.

“Our supplies are natural gas from the public utility supplier, and so we can see very clearly the savings we are making whilst using the same production process. We are now giving serious consideration to the possibility of installing a heat recovery system on the first Monforts stenter.”

Mr Romano explains that the Monforts 6500 unit is also equipped with a Compactomat 6000 system for the control of over-feeding and cloth weight integrated within the machine.

The Exxotherm indirect gas heating system incorporates a gas-fired heat exchanger that eliminates the negative effects of combustion gases on fabrics, and thereby removes combustion related problems such as ‘yellowing’ or colour changes.

This is particularly the case in the treatment of polyamide and elastane based fabrics, which form a large part of Tizayuca Textil’s output.

Hot combustion air is fed from the gas burner through an isolated heat exchanger and passed into the stack via the independent exhaust duct, to ensure that no combustion gases come into contact with the fabric.

“Quality control is very much more precise with the Exxotherm, and given the diverse range of materials that are passing through the machine, we find we are more comfortable and confident with our textile finishes,” says Mr Romano.

“The designers feel they can experiment more, and use newer fabrics with confidence.

“For us here on the production line, and highly sensitive to any technical difficulties, we find that the indirect gas heater is functioning as reliably and as problem-free as a direct gas heating system.

“We are so happy with the results that we recommended the Monforts stenter line to an associated joint venture company from the United States, and they have subsequently installed two Monforts units.”

All of the Monforts machinery is supplied and installed via Sattex-Mexico, the Monforts representative for Mexico. Sattex also supplies training and full technical support.