Crosfield Textile Chemicals has developed Macrosorb, a synthetic clay that dramatically reduces residual dyestuffs, pesticides, and mothproofing chemicals in effluent streams. Macrosorb features a clay like layered structure dominated by metals. The metal atoms give a positive charge whose magnitude can be controlled by varying the nature and proportions of the different metals. Crosfield's waste treatment involves combining the Macrosorb particles and residual organics into a flocculant that can be removed in a lamellar plate setter. Macrosorb removes Permethrin and cyfluthrin, mothproofing chemicals typically used by the wool industry, as well as residual pesticides from sheep dipping and dyestuffs. In trials of reactive cotton dyeing, which normally leaves 30 percnet of the dyestuff behind in the effluent, color removal using Macrosorb averaged 97 percent over all the samples tested. The capital investment for the Macrosorb treatment process depends on effluent volumes and dyehouse automation requirements.