From the Sector

• More than 30 leading pioneers of the chemical and material sector welcome the latest political papers from Brussels, Berlin and Düsseldorf

The political situation for renewable carbon from biomass, CO2 and recycling for the defossilisation of the chemical and materials industry has begun to shift fundamentally in Europe. For the first time, important policy papers from Brussels and Germany take into consideration that the term decarbonisation alone is not sufficient, and that there are important industrial sectors with a permanent and even growing carbon demand. Finally, the need for a sustainable coverage of this carbon demand and the realisation of sustainable carbon cycles have been identified on the political stage. They are elemental to the realisation of a sustainable chemical and derived materials industry.

The goal is to create sustainable carbon cycles. This requires comprehensive carbon management of renewable sources, which includes carbon from biomass, carbon from Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU) – the industrial use of CO2 as an integral part – as well as mechanical and chemical recycling. And only the use of all alternative carbon streams enables a true decoupling of the chemical and materials sector from additional fossil carbon from the ground. Only in this way can the chemical industry stay the backbone of modern society and transform into a sustainable sector that enables the achievement of global climate goals. The Renewable Carbon Initiative’s (RCI) major aim is to support the smart transition from fossil to renewable carbon: utilising carbon from biomass, CO2 and recycling instead of additional fossil carbon from the ground. This is crucial because 72% of the human-made greenhouse gas emissions are directly linked to additional fossil carbon. The RCI supports all renewable carbon sources available, but the political support is fragmented and differs between carbon from biomass, recycling or carbon capture and utilisation (CCU). Especially CCU has so far not been a strategic objective in the Green Deal and Fit-for-55.

This will change fundamentally with the European Commission's communication paper on “Sustainable Carbon Cycles” published on 15 December. The position in the paper represents an essential step forward that shows embedded carbon has reached the political mainstream – supported by recent opinions from members of the European parliament and also, apparently, by the upcoming IPCC assessment report 6. Now, CCU becomes a recognised and credible solution for sustainable carbon cycles and a potentially sustainable option for the chemical and  material industries. Also, in the political discussions in Brussels, the term “defossilation” is appearing more and more often, complementing or replacing the term decarbonisation in those areas where carbon is indispensable. MEP Maria da Graça Carvahlo is among a number of politicians in Brussels who perceive CCU as an important future industry, putting it on the political map and creating momentum for CCU. This includes the integration of CCU into the new Carbon Removal Regime and the Emission Trading System (ETS).

As the new policy documents are fully in line with the strategy of the RCI, the more than 30 member companies of the initiative are highly supportive of this new development and are ready to support policy-maker with data and detailed suggestions for active support and the realisation of sustainable carbon cycles and a sound carbon management. The recent political papers of relevance are highlighted in the following.

Brussels: Communication paper on “Sustainable Carbon Cycles”
On 15 December, the European Commission has published the communication paper “Sustainable Carbon Cycles” . For the first time, the importance of carbon in different industrial sectors is clearly stated. One of the key statements in the paper is the full recognition of CCU for the first time as a solution for the circular economy, which includes CCU-based fuels as well. The communication paper distinguishes between bio-based CO2, fossil CO2 and CO2 from direct air capture when addressing carbon removal and it also announces detailed monitoring of the different CO2 streams. Not only CCU, but also carbon from the bioeconomy is registered as an important pillar for the future. Here, the term carbon farming has been newly introduced, which refers to improved land management practices that result in an increase of carbon sequestration in living biomass, dead organic matter or soils by enhancing carbon capture or reducing the release of carbon. Even though the list of nature-based carbon storage technologies is non-exhaustive in our view, we strongly support the paper’s idea to deem sustainable land and forest management as a basis for the bioeconomy more important than solely considering land use as a carbon sink. Surprisingly, chemical recycling, which is also an alternative carbon source that substitutes additional fossil carbon from the ground (i.e. carbon from crude oil, natural gas or from coal), is completely absent from the communication paper.

Berlin: Coalition paper of the new German Government: “Dare more progress – alliance for freedom, justice and sustainability”
The whole of Europe is waiting to see how the new German government of Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals will shape the German climate policy. The new reform agenda focuses in particular on solar and wind energy as well as especially hydrogen. Solar energy is to be expanded to 200 GW by 2030 and two percent of the country's land is to be designated for onshore wind energy. A hydrogen grid infrastructure is to be created for green hydrogen, which will form the backbone of the energy system of the future – and is also needed for e-fuels and sustainable chemical industry, a clear commitment to CCU. There is a further focus on the topic of circular economy and recycling. A higher recycling quota and a product-specific minimum quota for the use of recyclates and secondary raw materials should be established at European level. In the coalition paper, there is also a clear commitment to chemical recycling to be found. A significant change for the industry is planned to occur in regards to the so-called “plastic tax” of 80 cents per kilogram of non-recycled plastic packaging. This tax has been implemented by the EU, but most countries are not passing on this tax to the manufacturers and distributors, or only to a limited extent. The new German government now plans to fully transfer this tax over to the industry.

Düsseldorf: Carbon can protect the climate – Carbon Management Strategy North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW)
Lastly, the RCI highly welcomes North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW, Germany) as the first region worldwide to adopt a comprehensive carbon management strategy, a foundation for the transformation from using additional fossil carbon from the ground to the utilisation of renewable carbon from biomass, CO2 and recycling. For all three alternative carbon streams, separate detailed strategies are being developed to achieve the defossilisation of the industry. This is all the more remarkable as North Rhine-Westphalia is the federal state with the strongest industry in Germany, in particular the chemical industry. And it is here, of all places, that a first master plan for the conversion of industry from fossil carbon to biomass, CO2 and recycling is implemented. If successful, NRW could become a global leader in sustainable carbon
management and the region could become a blueprint for many industrial regions.

As the demand for recycled plastics grows, so does the size of the machines. This applies to the processing of polyolefins as well as to PET recycling. With its unique dimensions and production capacity, this new size of plant features a screw diameter of 280 mm, implemented for the first time in a VACUREMA® Basic 2628 T large-scale project for producing rPET pellets. EREMA has just shipped the plant to a customer in Brazil.

Up to 40,000 tonnes per year of rPET meeting the highest quality standards can now be produced. "For this purpose, we installed a screw with a length of ten meters, a diameter of 280 millimetres and a weight of 3.5 tonnes, which is the largest ever used in one of our recycling machines," explains Managing Director Michael Heitzinger. The screw was manufactured by 3S, a subsidiary of EREMA GmbH. No less impressive is the reactor of this recycling system, which, with a height of around 10 metres, is also unique and almost reaches the roof of the new production hall. 500 tonnes of input material were recycled during the test phase, which was subject to strict quality control. "The entire project was a great team effort," Heitzinger said, thanking everyone involved.

EREMA as a partner for large-scale projects
Just four years ago, the largest extrusion line supplied by EREMA was designed for a throughput of 15,000 tonnes per year. This size of plant was ordered by customers once or twice a year. In the meantime, machines like this leave the production site in Ansfelden every month. As early as 2020, EREMA proved to be a pioneer and reliable partner for implementing unique large-scale projects. That was when the food and beverage packaging manufacturer Envases Universales Mexico commissioned two VACUREMA® Basic 2625 T machines, each with a screw diameter of 250 mm and a capacity of 30,000 tonnes per year.

Fully integrated production lines from single source suppliers have increasingly become the norm in the textile industry and make complete sense in meeting today’s complex supply chain needs, according to TMAS – the Swedish Textile Machinery Association.

“Over the past few decades, textile mills have transitioned from consisting of collections of individual machines serviced and maintained largely by in-house mechanics as well as separate supplier companies for each part of the production line,” says TMAS Secretary General Therese Premler-Andersson. “Those in-house engineering service teams have diminished over the years, while the introduction of electronic drive systems in the 1980s and 90s also put an increased emphasis on the need for third party electrical engineers, operating separately to the machine builders.

“Subsequently, mechanical machines and electronic drive systems became much more integrated, and more recently, with the advent of digitalisation, entire production lines are becoming centrally controlled with remote, instantaneous connections to their suppliers for service and maintenance.

“In this context, the integration of machinery and automation specialists as single-source suppliers makes perfect sense, while partnerships between machine builders and their customers have never been more important.”

The recent acquisition of Nowo textile machinery from its previous owner, Brandstones Ab Oy, by TMAS member ACG Kinna, she adds, is a good example of this general trend.

Nowo, headquartered in Turku, Finland, designs, manufactures and exports high-end textile production machinery mainly for the fibre processing industry. At the end of the 1980s it introduced the highly successful Nowo Vac pillow filling system, which has been its best-selling system, alongside the Noworoll ball fibre machine, introduced in the 1990s.

Nowo’s machine range covers the entire production process from bale opening to weighing and filling, and complete production lines are tailored to the specific needs of customers. The company can also deliver individual machines such as bale openers, cards, cross-lappers, pickers, mixing devices, material silos, sucking devices, anti-static units etc. Seven patents cover the company’s technologies.

Founded in 1977, ACG Kinna Automatic, based in Skene in Sweden, specialises in customised and cost-efficient solutions for the production of pillows and quilts. All of its design, manufacturing and final line testing is carried out in Sweden and the reliability and longevity of its machines has earned it the trust of the world’s largest furniture and home decoration retailers and Europe’s largest manufacturer of pillows and duvets, among many customers.

• Marchi & Fildi Group presents the selection of metalloplastic yarns with GRS certification of its Gleaming line, coming from 100% post-consumer recycled polyester

With the goal to expand the offer of yarns coming from recycled raw materials for a textile more attentive to the consumption of resources, the MFT division of the Marchi & Fildi Group completes the range of metalloplastic yarns of its Gleaming collection with the insertion of 100% recycled polyester yarns coming from post-consumer material and with the GRS (Global Recycle Standard) certification.
Starting from recycled polyester with traceable origin, in compliance with environmental and social criteria extended to all the phases of the supply chain, metalloplastic yarns are obtained with the same esthetic features and performance, compared to similar products based on virgin raw materials.

“Thanks to our commitment in the research of materials, we are able to propose metalloplastic yarns produced with 100% recycled material; the film used for the production of flat yarns, too, is in recycled polyester, with a quality level that is suitable for cutting – the Company explains -. Till now it was possible to find in the market only metalloplastic yarns with not recycled polyester flat yarn, twisted with certified fibers. This represents an important step forward to implement a circular economy possibility for this kind of products too”.

The Gleaming yarns GRS certified can be supplied in gold and silver, colors and transparent, in various counts, widths and types; they are suitable for use in flat and circular knitting, weaving, hosiery and as a component in fancy yarns.

The Gleaming line, with a wide selection of yarns in stock service, represents a completion of the offer of the Marchi & Fildi Group. The Gleaming yarns are offered in different thicknesses, widths and types with both metallized and transparent, iridescent, refracting and phosphorescent effects. The collection also includes items with special features of resistance to chemical and dyeing treatments. The Gleaming metalloplastic yarns find application in the world of fashion and furniture, for creative and fancy yarns and fabrics, accessories and decorations. Products with refractive features are also used in technical items like uniforms and workwear, sport garments and accessories, external ribbons and labels.

•  14 million for the Rhenish coal region

Shaping economic change in the Rhenish textile and coal region together with artificial intelligence (AI) - this is the goal of the WIRKsam competence centre launched at the beginning of November. The joint project, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, is researching innovative forms of work to secure employment, create attractive jobs and strengthen regional companies.
 

With a focus on the strengths of the Rhenish mining area, WIRKsam is to establish itself as a central point of contact and align various scientific institutions and their research specifically to the challenges of the regional working world. Funded by the BMBF with 14 million euros over five years, the project is fundamentally about transferring scientific findings into company practice and into the wider society. After the funding phase, the centre of excellence will continue to work independently.

Prospects: Attractive jobs in the lignite mining region
The region on the left bank of the Rhine is not only a lignite mining area, but also a historically grown textile region where technical textiles are produced today, for example for medical technology or plant and vehicle construction. This offers valuable future prospects for the employees affected by the lignite phase-out.

Against this background, the aim of the WIRKsam centre of excellence is to research the extensive possibilities of artificial intelligence for shaping the future world of work and to transfer them to companies. AI applications are used to develop innovative work and process flows to create attractive workplaces and increase the competitiveness of local companies.

Together: business and science
The special feature: research institutions and companies from the Rhenish textile industry and related sectors work together in the centre of excellence. Research partners are the Institut für Textiltechnik (ITA) of RWTH Aachen University and the Institute for Mobile Autonomous Systems and Cognitive Robotics (MASCOR) of FH Aachen University of Applied Sciences, headed by ifaa - Institut für angewandte Arbeitswissenschaft e.V. (Institute for Applied Work Science).

Nine regional companies are involved so far; more will join. AI applications are being developed and exemplarily implemented for their respective needs. In this way, the diverse potentials of AI for work design are being tested and qualification requirements derived. These results will not only increase the global competitiveness of the textile industry and other sectors; they will also secure jobs and make an important contribution to overcoming structural change in the Rhenish lignite mining area.

WIRKsam is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of the funding measure "Regional Competence Centres for Labour Research" and is supervised by the Karlsruhe Project Management Agency (PTKA) (funding code: 02L19C600). The WIRKsam competence centre will be based in Hürth, Germany, on the edge of the Rhenish mining area as soon as the conversion work on the former TV studios on the Euronova campus is completed.

• ADNOC and Borealis confirm final investment agreement to build Borouge 4 in Ruwais, United Arab Emirates (UAE), which will produce 1.4 million tons of polyethylene per annum
• Expansion project includes construction of a 1.5 million tonnes ethane cracker, two state-of-the-art Borstar® polyethylene plants and a cross-linked polyethylene plant
• Borouge 4 will meet growing customer demand across the Middle East, Africa and Asia with differentiated polyolefin solutions in energy, infrastructure, and advanced packaging
• New facility will benefit from industry-leading technologies to significantly improve energy efficiency and lower emissions, with carbon capture study underway
• Upon expansion, Borouge will be the world's largest single-site polyolefin complex and will supply feedstock to TA'ZIZ Industrial Chemicals Zone Body

ADNOC and Borealis AG signed an USD 6.2 billion investment agreement to build the fourth Borouge facility – Borouge 4 – at the polyolefin manufacturing complex in Ruwais, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The world-scale expansion confirms both partners’ commitment to the growth of Borouge and to support chemical production, and advanced manufacturing and industry in Ruwais, a key pillar of Abu Dhabi and the UAE’s technology, innovation and industrial development strategy. Borouge produces crucial industrial raw materials, which are exported to customers globally and used by local companies, boosting local industrial supply chains and enhancing In-Country Value.

Borouge 4 will capitalize on the projected growth in customer demand for polyolefins, driven by their use in manufactured products in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The facility will also enable the next phase of growth at the Ruwais Industrial Complex by supplying feedstock to the TA’ZIZ Industrial Chemicals Zone.

Borouge 4 will have an industry-leading focus on sustainability leveraging the capabilities of both shareholders. The facility will utilize Borealis’ proprietary Borstar technology, to produce a product portfolio focused on durable applications for energy, infrastructure, advanced packaging, and agriculture sectors. This unique technology, in combination with hexene co-monomer, will enable the production of advanced packaging grades with up to 50% recycled polyethylene content.

Subject to an in-depth study, a Carbon Capture unit that would reduce CO2 emissions by 80% could also be operational in time for Borouge 4’s start-up. The facility is also designed to capitalize on ADNOC’s recent initiatives on clean energy, decarbonizing its power supply through access to Abu Dhabi’s clean power sources. These initiatives are aligned with the UAE Net Zero by 2050 Strategic Initiative.

The first Borouge facility, producing 450,000 tons of polyethylene per annum was commissioned in 2001. Borouge 2 and Borouge 3 took capacity to 2 million tons and 4.5 million tons of polyethylene and polypropylene per annum in 2010 and 2014 respectively.  Borouge 4 will boost the company’s annual polyolefin production to 6.4 million tons, making Borouge one of the world’s largest single-site polyolefin facilities.

The new Borouge 4 facility will comprise:

• An ethane cracker, with 1.5 million tons ethylene output per annum, which will be the fourth cracker in Borouge’s integrated petrochemical complex in Ruwais
• Two additional Borstar® polyethylene (PE) plants, each with 700 thousand tons per annum capacity, using state-of-the-art Borealis Borstar third generation (3G) technology
• A cross-linked PE (XLPE) plant of 100 thousand tons per annum capacity.
• A hexene-1 unit, which will produce co-monomers for certain grades of polyethylene.

The Chairman of the Walter Reiners-Stiftung foundation of the VDMA Textile Machinery Association, Peter D. Dornier has awarded prizes to three successful young engineers. The award-winning works provide practical solutions on the topic of circular economy. For example, the recycling of carbon fibres, which are used to produce lightweight components for the automotive industry. Or the environmentally friendly production of yarns from crab shells. Another topic was medical applications: The processing of ultra-fine yarns into stents for aortic repair. The award ceremony took place online on 9 November as part of the Aachen-Dresden-Denkendorf International Textile Conference.  

With a creativity prize, endowed with 3,000 euros, the foundation honoured the diploma thesis of Irina Kuznik, TU Dresden. She used a creative approach to realise solutions for processing chitosan into fibre yarn.

Mr Kai-Chieh Kuo was awarded the diploma/master's thesis promotion prize of 3,500 euros. With his master's thesis, which was written at RWTH Aachen University, Mr Kuo contributes to the production of vital components used in medicine. The stents made of ultra-fine yarns are made possible by an innovative modification of the classic tube weaving process.

The Walter Reiners Foundation rewarded the doctoral thesis of Dr. Martin Hengstermann with the promotional prize in the dissertation category, endowed with 5,000 euros. The thesis deals with the production of recycled carbon fibres. These can be used to produce lightweight components for motor vehicle and aircraft construction or the wind energy sector.

New Prize Sustainability / Circular Economy
The environmental conditions of the textile industry and machine construction are changing. Topics such as climate protection and the circular economy are becoming central. From this perspective, the board of the Walter Reiners Foundation has decided to further develop the foundation's prize system.

In 2022, the foundation will for the first time offer a prize with a focus on design / sustainability. Peter D. Dornier, Chairman of the Foundation, explained: "Already in the design phase, one can set the parameters so that a textile product can be reintroduced after use into the economic cycle for a high-quality application. For example, through the appropriate use of materials and finishing. We are looking for solutions for resource-saving design, technology and manufacturing processes."   

RadiciGroup is exhibiting at the A+A trade fair, an international event focusing on safety solutions for the workplace, to be held in Dusseldorf, Germany, from 26 to 29 October. This international show gives RadiciGroup the opportunity to present its latest developments in personal protective equipment (PPE) for industrial use, including coveralls, gowns, caps, full hoods, shoe covers and boots.

This international show gives RadiciGroup the opportunity to present its latest developments in  personal protective equipment (PPE) for industrial use, including coveralls, gowns, caps, full hoods, shoe covers and boots. These products are part of a new line, Radipeople, a trade name identifying the new protective workwear sold by RadiciGroup: end products of a traceable supply chain, in which special attention is paid to the choice of raw materials and the quality of the final products offered the market.

At RadiciGroup, care for the health and safety of people is one of the pillars of the Group's sustainability strategy, combined with a strong commitment to safeguarding the environment. Radipeople Eco, the first protective coverall with 100% end-of-life recyclability is proof of such commitment. All parts of Radipeople Eco: the fabric, lamination, zipper and thread are made of the same material, 100% polypropylene. Furthermore, the Group’s offering includes garments made with Respunsible®, a spundbond obtained from recycled polypropylene or materials certified under the ISCC Plus scheme.

Thanks to their versatility and technical characteristics, the nonwoven solutions proposed by RadiciGroup are suitable for many industrial sectors, including oil and gas, utilities, construction, food, automotive painting and shipbuilding, maintenance, agriculture, laboratories, microprocessor manufacturing and the pharmaceutical and chemical industries.

Radipeople personal protective equipment delivers excellent protection against external agents (liquids, splashes, jets, particles and sprays), high protection against biological hazards and infectious agents, and high robustness and lightness to optimize protection, on the one hand, and comfort, on the other. All Radipeople protective equipment is made of fully traceable materials, manufactured by a totally Italian production chain involving hundreds of workers, and sold in packaging designed with an ecodesign approach, that is, fully recyclable minimized packaging.

On 21st October the Managing Director of Officina+39 Andrea Venier has joined a panel discussion in the prestigious arena of the Kingpins24 Digital Show. He contributed to the discussion with his and Officina+39’s point of view on “Water Conservation”, together with Emrah Özkorkmaz from Bregla and Taimur Malik from Stylers International, with Edward Hertzman from Sourcing Journal & Rivet as moderator.

Water crisis remains one of the top issues for humanity and 90% of the world's natural disasters are related to water. Officina+39 has been working hard to rethink the way water is used throughout the denim processes: Andrea's contribution emphasized the company’s practical and consolidated experience in this field, as in recent years their main objective has been to drastically reduce water use in line with UN SDG6.

Andrea pointed out how “fashion industry is still currently deeply rooted in a linear approach: make, use, dispose.” Accordingly to Andrea and Officina+39, the fashion world is becoming aware of this reality and is trying to reinvent itself in order to decrease the use of this precious resource and its negative impacts but there is still work to do in order to redesign a better sustainable model, where circularity should represent the new sustainability: circularity not only when it comes to the materials, but also to water.

In the textile industry water is used as the vehicle for colors and chemical auxiliaries but luckily today many technologies aim at significantly reducing water consumption. Officina+39 is really focused on this target: Andrea explained that “Officina+39 has developed the AQUALESS MISSION, a process suitable for conventional machines that leads to a 75% reduction of the water typically used in denim and garment laundry processes, using a waterless technology and saving costs for producers.”

Despite the start-up cost of investing in the development of sustainable technologies may discourage some in the industry, it is about time to realize that these actions cannot be delayed and that we will increasingly hear about water scarcity, water stress and water risk.

Andrea stated: “It is necessary to develop water management strategies and systems in any company: today there is ISO 14000 related to environmental management, but I believe that governments, brands and related organisations should think about an ISO related just to water management. In this way, every company can understand how much value can be generated in the medium-term and how much money could be saved by investing in this kind of technologies. To create new standards related to water management, we must change the approach.”

Dow and Ralph Lauren Corporation released a detailed manual on how to dye cotton more sustainably and more effectively than ever before using ECOFAST™ Pure Sustainable Textile Treatment. With this manual, Ralph Lauren and Dow are open-sourcing this improved dyeing process to encourage adoption in the textile industry and help standardize a more sustainable and efficient cotton dyeing system for positive environmental impact.  

The co-developed, step-by-step manual details how to use ECOFAST™ Pure, a cationic cotton treatment developed by Dow, with existing dyeing equipment. Ralph Lauren, the first brand to use ECOFAST™ Pure, partnered with Dow to optimize and implement the technology in its cotton dyeing operations as part of its new Color on Demand platform.

Conventional fabric dyeing processes require trillions of liters of water each year, generating roughly 20% of the world’s wastewater.^{1, 2} Pretreating fabric with ECOFAST™ Pure helps significantly reduce the amount of water, chemicals and energy needed to color cotton, by enabling up to 90% less process chemicals, 50% less water, 50% less dyes and 40% less energy without sacrificing color or quality.³

Ralph Lauren began integrating Color on Demand into its supply chain earlier this year and first launched product utilizing ECOFAST™ Pure as part of the Company’s Team USA collection for the Olympic & Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020. Designed to help address water scarcity and pollution caused by cotton dyeing, Color on Demand is a multi-phased system with a clear ambition to deliver over time the world’s first scalable zero wastewater cotton dyeing system. By 2025, the brand aims to use the Color on Demand platform to dye more than 80% of its solid cotton products.

¹ Drew, Deborah and Genevieve Yehounme. “The Apparel Industry’s Environmental Impact in 6 Graphics.” World Resources Institute, July 5, 2017. https://www.wri.org/blog/2017/07/apparel-industrys-environmental-impact-6-graphics
² Rep. A New Textiles Economy: Redesigning Fashion’s Future. Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Circular Fibres Initiative, 2017. https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/a-new-textiles-economy
³ A full third-party reviewed and validated life cycle assessment is available by request at www.dow.com/ecofast.