In the chemistry lessons of class 8, we are currently dealing with the topic of water purification. For this reason, Mr. Illig, a father at our school and the school's Head of the Board, invited the chemistry class to the company Wilhelm Textiles, of which he is the Managing Director, as he does every year.
Arriving there after a long drive, we six students and our teacher Ms. Tscherpel were first told what his company does. We learned that Wilhelm Textiles is a textile company that produces and dyes fabrics. These fabrics often have certain properties. For example, they can be water-repellent or fire retardant. The company works with many well-known brands, for example sports companies such as Adidas and Puma, as well as luxury brands such as Versace. Mr. Illig then took us along to understand on a small scale how the dyeing process works. We were then all allowed to dye a piece of fabric ourselves in a colour of our choice. After that we came to the main topic of this excursion: the water purification plant. A model was used to explain to us how this plant works, and which processes are run through to purify the water. We learned that, particularly in the textile industry, the water used in production is heavily contaminated and must be purified before it can be fed back into the system. Mr. Illig then took us to the laboratory, where the manufactured fabrics are tested for their functions and colours are checked. Machines are used to simulate possible problems and check that the materials meet their specific requirements.
After visiting the laboratory, we entered the huge factory hall, where Mr. Illig explained the function of each of the many machines that together produce 80,000 meters of fabric every day. After walking through the working equipment, we were taken to the water purification plant where the water used for dyeing is cleaned again. It was interesting that what we had previously only seen on a worksheet was now in front of us in real life. Unfortunately, our trip to Wilhelm Textiles was over very quickly, but we learned a lot. Mr Illig fascinated us to such an extend that some of us could imagine to do their internship in his company or to even work there later on.
Yohaan
