Aus der Branche

Pulcra Chemicals and Inditex develop Sustineri Coloring, a combined pretreatment and dyeing process for cotton and polyester/cotton resulting in water, time and energy savings. This process is the result of a joint research between Pulcra Chemicals and Inditex with the goal to mitigate the impact of standard dyeing processes and to reduce the use of natural resources.

Sustineri Coloring is based on newly engineered process chemicals which allow a one bath pretreatment and dyeing process for dark, medium and light shades of cotton and polyester/cotton fabrics by exhaust method. This results in shorter processing time and less use of water and energy.

The process is already used by selected mills and it showed that Sustineri Coloring is reducing in pretreatment and dyeing the processing time by up to 60 % and the water and energy consumption by up to 80 and 60% respectively. The state-of-the-art products allow a one bath treatment which is the key in saving resources.

As part of Sappi Europe's full scale decarbonisation roadmap, Gratkorn mill is expanding the share of biomass to be used as an energy source, further driving the move away from fossil fuels as part of the mill’s contribution to the European roadmap. The project follows the recent modernisation of the power plant boiler which enabled the shift from coal to a combined approach of biomass and natural gas.

The mill is now embarking on a next step, enhancing its infrastructure and therefore capacity in order to handle the delivery, sorting and processing of increased biomass levels. This increased utilisation requires an improved biomass handling system at the mill as well as decentralised intermediate storage terminals within the surrounding regions.

"With our long-standing competent wood sourcing partner Papierholz Austria, we will continue our journey to move away from fossil fuels at Gratkorn mill and work towards a climate-neutral future”, says Peter Putz, Managing Director of Sappi Austria GmbH.

For the near term, Sappi’s decarbonisation roadmap includes close to 80 projects being carried out across its European mills by 2025.

“Our 2025 roadmap identifies the path we have embarked on towards a carbon-neutral future,” explains Sarah Price, Director Sustainability of Sappi Europe. The objective is to reduce emissions of specific greenhouse gases (Scope 1 and 2) by 25 per cent and to increase the share of renewable energy in Europe to 50 per cent by 2025 (compared to 2019). Additionally, Sappi’s 2030 science-based target is to reduce carbon emissions by 41.5% per ton of product. “We’re already making good progress towards these targets, with a large number of projects already well-underway or completed”.

Im Rahmen der diesjährigen ITMA 2023, der internationalen Textilmaschinenausstellung und Plattform für die gesamte Textilmaschinenbranche, die vom 08. bis 14. Juni 2023 in Mailand stattfand, wurde Herr Dipl.-Ing. Philipp Weigel für seine am ITM angefertigte exzellente Studienarbeit "Numerische Simulation des Struktur- und Auszugverhaltensparametrisch generierter profilierter Carbonpolymergarne" mit dem ITMA Sustainable Innovation Award in der Kategrie "Research & Innovation Excellence Award" ausgezeichnet. Er erhielt hierfür den 1. Preis, der mit 10.000 EUR dotiert ist.
 
Die Arbeit ist von großem wissenschaftlichen Interesse für die Entwicklung hochleistungsfähiger, ressourcenschonender Carbonbetonbauteile mit höchster Materialeffizienz und Nachhaltigkeit sowie für die simulative Beschreibung und digitale Auslegung der Bewehrungsstruktur.

CEMATEX-Präsident Ernesto Maurer überreichte das Preisgeld und Urkunde an die glücklichen Gewinner:nnen während der ITMA 2023 in Mailand, Italien.

Der 2. und 3. Preis ging an Absolventen des Instituts für Textiltechnik der RWTH Aachen.

Der ITMA Sustainable Innovation Award wurde von CEMATEX ins Leben gerufen, um die gemeinsamen Anstrengungen der globalen Textilindustrie zur Förderung der Nachhaltigkeit von Unternehmen durch innovative Lösungen und zur Förderung herausragender branchenspezifischer Forschung zu würdigen.
Der Preis umfasst zwei Kategorien: einen Industry Excellence Award für Textil- und Bekleidungshersteller und einen Research & Innovation Excellence Award, der für Master-Studenten offen ist.

Nylon 6, nylon 6,6, polypropylene, PET and calcium carbonate are available through the company’s proprietary carpet recycling process

Circular Polymers by Ascend, a market-leading recycler of post-consumer carpet, today the launch of Cerene™, a line of recycled polymers and materials made from the company’s proprietary carpet reclaiming technology. Cerene is available as polyamide 6 and 66, PET, polypropylene and calcium carbonate as a consistent,
sustainable feedstock for many applications, including molding and compounding.
Recycling experts from Circular Polymers will be showcasing Cerene at Compounding World Expo on June 14-15 at the Messe Essen in Germany.

Ascend Performance Materials, a fully integrated producer of durable high-performance materials and the majority owner of Circular Polymers by Ascend, is known for its innovations in nylon 6,6. Cerene will continue that legacy with offerings in nylon 6,6 while also bringing to market recycled polymers such as nylon 6, PET and PP.

“Customers around the globe are seeking consistent and reliable post-consumer recycled materials,” said Maria Field, business director of Circular Polymers by Ascend. “Cerene is mechanically recycled using a process that minimizes our carbon footprint and environmental impact.”

Circular Polymers by Ascend converts post-consumer carpet into fiber and pellets. The company uses a proprietary process in its California-based facilities to achieve high efficiency in recycling, successfully providing a new life for virtually every component of the carpet and backing. The company has redirected 85 million pounds of carpet from landfills into new goods since 2018.

Sustainable Chemistry for the Textile Industry (SCTI™) and Together for Sustainability (TfS) are teaming up to support and accelerate the leather and textile industry's sustainability journey through sustainable chemistry. Together they will collaborate in driving convergence in standards and methodologies and inspire industry action for a better future.

SCTI is an alliance of leading chemical companies that strives to empower the textile and leather industries to apply sustainable, state-of-the-art chemistry solutions that protect factory workers, local communities, consumers and the environment.

TfS is a member-driven initiative, raising Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) standards throughout the chemical industry. TfS members are chemical companies committed to making sustainability improvements within their own – and their suppliers’ – operations. TfS has also launched a comprehensive program to foster defossilization of chemical value chains, providing standardization tools to enable effective Scope 3 management based on primary data and launching the TfS Guideline to determine Product Carbon Footprint (PCF).

Both TfS and SCTI share the mission to drive transformational change, and intend to collaborate on advancing the industry’s sustainability goals, leveraging the TfS Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) program.

• Project from the Global Organic Textile Standard, European Space Agency and Marple will use AI and satellite imagery to detect organic versus non-organic cotton fields
• Innovative demonstrator project explores the potential of remote monitoring to strengthen integrity and development of organic cotton cultivation
• Project will run across India with first results expected by the end of 2023

In a world first, the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), European Space Agency (ESA) and AI company Marple have today launched a new demonstrator project that aims to show the potential for remote satellite monitoring of organic cotton cultivation systems.

The project, to be carried out under ESA’s Business Applications and Space Solutions (BASS) programme, will train artificial intelligence (AI) to use ESA satellite data to detect cotton fields across India and automatically classify them according to their cultivation standard. By integrating standardised yield metrics, this innovative approach will also enable GOTS to generate realistic estimates of organic cotton yields in specific areas.

Integrated with existing GOTS measures, this project will enable GOTS to further enhance the integrity of organic cotton by developing advanced risk assessment technology for organic certification and preventing fraud from the beginning of the supply chain. “It is an honour and very exciting to be a partner in this ESA Demonstration Project, and it is living up to our claim to be pioneers serving the sustainable textile sector to enable continuous improvement. Technologies like this will be a game changer regarding the integrity and promotion opportunities of organic cotton.” says Claudia Kersten, Managing Director of GOTS.

The project's anticipated impact extends beyond identifying certified organic cotton fields. It is expected to also empower GOTS to recognise cotton fields that have not yet obtained organic certification but possess the potential for a seamless transition to organic cultivation, thanks to their utilisation of traditional and ecologically friendly farming practices. This would enable GOTS to bring a greater number of farmers – particularly those of a smaller size – into the certified organic sector and supply chains, creating new economic opportunities for small-scale farmers and their communities while also helping the textile sector to meet growing consumer demand for organic cotton. Guillaume Prigent, Business Development and Partnerships Officer at the European Space Agency, adds: “This project highlights how space solutions can have a positive impact on the world and is the kind of innovation that ESA supports through its Business Applications and Space Solutions programme.”

The project will run across the distinct cotton growing regions in India, with first results expected by the end of 2023.

India project builds on successful Uzbekistan feasibility pilot
The project is co-financed by GOTS and ESA, in collaboration with Marple GmbH, a German software development firm that developed the CoCuRA (Cotton Cultivation Remote Assessment) software with ESA BASS and successfully piloted it in a feasibility project in 2021 in Uzbekistan.

That venture showed how the trained AI was able to accurately differentiate cotton fields from other crops using only satellite images and sensor data, as well as whether the cotton fields were cultivated organically.

This spurred considerable interest from GOTS, which has committed to the development of cutting-edge technologies that can improve the integrity of the organic textile sector, especially cotton. Dr David Scherf, co-founder of Marple, said: “All our projects strive to leverage advanced technology for a positive impact on the environment and society. We are therefore delighted that our CoCuRA technology, which emerged from a moonshot research project, is being applied in a practical and impactful way. We are excited about the opportunity to work with the exceptional team at GOTS and further strengthen our successful partnership with ESA.”

Carbios will receive grants totaling €54 million from French State via France 2030 and Grand-Est Region to finance construction of world’s first PET biorecycling plant and accelerate R&D activities

Carbios announces that its project has been selected by the French State for funding of €30 million from the French State as part of the investment plan France 2030, and €12.5 million from the Grand-Est Region.  The implementation of this funding is conditional to the European Commission’s approval of the corresponding state aid scheme, followed by the conclusion of national aid agreements. As part of the national call for projects on “Plastics Recycling” operated by ADEME^[1], Carbios’ project to finalize the industrialization of its unique PET biorecycling process has been selected. The reference plant in Longlaville in the Grand-Est region will be the world’s first PET biorecycling plant and is due for commissioning in 2025. This plant will make it possible to relocate to France the production of the two basic components of PET, PTA and MEG^[2], both derived from the Carbios process.

Carbios also announces that it has been granted total funding of €11.4 million from the French State as part of France 2030, of which €8.2 million directly for Carbios (€5 million in repayable advances) and €3.2 million for its academic partners INRAE^[3], INSA^[4] and CNRS^[5] via the TWB^[6] and TBI^[7] joint service and research units. This funding will enable to continue its research into the optimization and continuous improvement of Carbios’ enzymatic technologies.

The plant will secure the sales of the first volumes of recycled PET produced with Carbios’ technology, and to offer its partners recycled PET of the same quality as virgin PET. Once the necessary permits have been obtained, which should be granted by the end of 2023, in line with the announced start of construction before the end of the year, the plant is scheduled to be commissioned in 2025. This will be followed by a period of ramp-up to full capacity. The plant will have a nominal processing capacity of 50,000 tonnes of PET waste per year, equivalent to 2 billion bottles or 2.5 billion food trays.

Selection for funding by the French State through France 2030 and the Grand-Est Region complements the recent announcement of an exclusive, long-term partnership with Novozymes^[8], a leader in enzyme production, one of the main aims is to ensure the supply of enzymes to Carbios’ Longlaville plant and future licensed plants. In addition, Carbios recently secured a first supply source for its future plant by winning part of the CITEO tender for the biorecycling of multilayer trays^[9].

^[1] The French Agency for Ecological Transition
^[2] PTA = purified terephthalic acid; MEG = monoethylene glycol
^[3] French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment
^[4] French National Institute of Applied Sciences
^[5] French National Center for Scientific Research
^[6] Toulouse White Biotechnology – UMS INRAE 1337 / UAR CNRS 3582
^[7] Toulouse Biotechnology Institute – UMR INSA/CNRS 5504 / UMR INSA/INRAE 792
^[8] Cf. press release dated 12 January 2023
^[9] Cf. press release published by Citeo dated 26 April 2023

Wie sieht eine zukunftssichere, kreislauforientierte und nachhaltige Kunststoffwirtschaft aus? Die Antwort darauf ist eine Balance zwischen Plastikreduktion und einem nachhaltigen Umgang mit recyclingfähigen Kunststoffen. Denn die steigende Nachfrage nach Kunststoffen in hochwertigen Anwendungen wie Lebensmittelverpackungen, Autoteilen oder synthetischen Textilien erfordert einen ganzheitlichen Wandel. Mit vier strategischen Ansätzen geben Forschende des Fraunhofer UMSICHT und des niederländischen Instituts TNO in ihrem aktuell erschienenen Whitepaper »From #plasticfree to future-proof plastics« nun Einblicke, wie diese Balance in Zukunft aussehen kann. Beide Organisationen starten zudem eine praktische Plattform für Kunststoffe in einer Kreislaufwirtschaft: European Circular Plastics Platform - CPP, die darauf abzielt, bestehende Hindernisse zu beseitigen und vielversprechende Lösungen auszutauschen.

Vielseitige und preiswerte Materialien mit geringem Gewicht und sehr guten Barriereeigenschaften: Das sind Kunststoffe. Neben den praktischen Vorteilen geht mit den Materialien aber auch ein erheblicher Anteil an den Treibhausgasemissionen der Menschheit einher. Herstellung und Verwendung von Kunststoffen verursachen Plastikmüll und Mikroplastik, erschöpfen fossile Ressourcen und führen zur Abhängigkeit von Importen. Gleichzeitig können Alternativen – wie z. B. Glas als Verpackung - zum Teil noch stärker die Umwelt belasten oder besitzen schlechtere Produkteigenschaften.

Forschende des Fraunhofer UMSICHT und TNO haben daher ein Whitepaper erarbeitet, das eine Grundlage für die Umgestaltung der Kunststoffproduktion und -verwendung bietet. Dafür berücksichtigen sie die Integration der Perspektiven aller Beteiligten und ihrer Werte und das Potenzial aktueller und künftiger Technologien. Außerdem sind die funktionalen Eigenschaften des Zielprodukts, der Vergleich mit alternativen Produkten ohne Kunststoffe sowie ihre Auswirkungen in einer Vielzahl von ökologischen, sozialen und wirtschaftlichen Kategorien über den gesamten Lebenszyklus entscheidend. So gelingt eine systematische Bewertung und schließlich eine systematische Entscheidung, wo wir Kunststoffe verwenden, ablehnen oder ersetzen können.

Strategien für die Circular Economy
Als Ergebnis beschreiben die Forschenden vier strategische Felder, um die heute noch weitgehend lineare Kunststoffwirtschaft in eine vollständig kreislauforientierte Zukunft zu überführen: Verengung des Kreislaufs (Narrowing the Loop), Betrieb des Kreislaufs (Operating the Loop), Verlangsamung des Kreislaufs (Slowing the Loop) und Schließung des Kreislaufs (Closing the Loop). Mit der Verengung des Kreislaufs empfehlen die Forschenden in einem ersten Schritt, die Menge der in einer Kreislaufwirtschaft mobilisierten Materialien zu reduzieren. Operating the Loop bezieht sich auf die Nutzung erneuerbarer Energien, die Minimierung von Materialverlusten sowie die nachhaltige Beschaffung von Rohstoffen. Um den Kreislauf zu verlangsamen, braucht es Maßnahmen zur Verlängerung der Nutzungsdauer. Für eine Schließung des Kreislaufs müssen Kunststoffe schließlich gesammelt, sortiert und hochwertig recycelt werden.

Unter die vier Felder fallen jeweils einzelne Strategien. Während solche, die unter Operating the Loop fallen (O-Strategien), laut den Forschenden parallel und möglichst vollständig angewendet werden sollen, setzt die Entscheidung für die weiteren Strategien in den anderen Feldern (R-Strategien) einen komplexen Prozess voraus: »In der Regel kommen für ein bestimmtes Produkt oder eine bestimmte Dienstleistung mehr als eine R-Strategie in Frage. Diese müssen hinsichtlich ihrer Durchführbarkeit und ihrer Auswirkungen im Zusammenhang mit dem Status quo und den zu erwartenden Veränderungen sorgfältig miteinander verglichen werden«, erklärt Jürgen Bertling vom Fraunhofer UMSICHT. Die Projektpartner haben daher ein Leitprinzip zur Priorisierung entwickelt, das sich an der Idee der Abfallhierarchie orientiert.

Hands-on-Plattform für sektorenübergreifende Zusammenarbeit
»Ein ganzheitlicher Wandel, wie wir ihn uns vorstellen, kann nur gelingen, wenn Wissenschaft, Industrie, Politik und Bürger sektorenübergreifend zusammenarbeiten. Dies erfordert mehrere, teilweise recht drastische Veränderungen auf vier Ebenen: Gesetzgebung und Politik, Zusammenarbeit in der Kreislaufwirtschaft, Design und Entwicklung sowie Bildung und Information. Zu den Innovationen in Design und Entwicklung gehört beispielsweise die Umgestaltung von Polymeren in sauerstoffreichere Polymere auf der Grundlage von Biomasse und CO2-Nutzung. Die derzeitigen Recyclingtechnologien müssen für ein quantitativ und qualitativ hochwertiges Recycling verbessert werden", erklärt Jan Harm Urbanus von TNO.

»Daher bauen TNO und das Fraunhofer UMSICHT in einem nächsten Schritt eine Hands-on-Plattform für Kunststoffe in einer Kreislaufwirtschaft (European Circular Plastics Platform – CPP) auf«, erklärt Esther van den Beuken, Principal Consultant bei TNO. Sie wird Unternehmen, Verbänden und Nichtregierungsorganisationen die Möglichkeit geben, sich zu vernetzen und gemeinsam an bestehenden Hindernissen und vielversprechenden Lösungen für eine Kreislaufwirtschaft der Kunststoffe zu arbeiten. Außerdem wird die Plattform ihren Mitgliedern regelmäßige praktische Workshops zu Kunststoffthemen, Diskussionsrunden zu aktuellen Fragen und die Teilnahme an Multi-Client-Studien zu drängenden technischen Herausforderungen anbieten. Regelmäßige Treffen werden in der grenzüberschreitenden Region Deutschland/Niederlande sowie online stattfinden. Ziel ist, den Wandel in die Öffentlichkeit und die Industrie zu tragen.

Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL) and Carbios, a biotech company developing and industrializing biological solutions to reinvent the life cycle of plastic and textiles, announce the signing of a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to form a Joint Venture for the construction of the world’s first PET biorecycling plant in France.  

Based on and subject to the comprehensive terms set out in the MOU, Indorama Ventures plans to mobilize about €110 million for the Joint Venture in equity and non-convertible loan financing , pending final engineering documentation and final economic feasibility studies. Both parties have acknowledged their mutual support for the implementation of the project and their intent to finalize contract documentation before end 2023.

Subject to the successful performance of this first plant in France, Indorama Ventures confirms its intention to potentially expand the technology to other PET sites for future developments.

Under the agreement signed June 1, Carbios, which filed for plant permitting in December 2022, should acquire 13ha land from Indorama Ventures’ existing PET plant at Longlaville and expects to be granted permits by Q3 2023, allowing start of construction by end of 2023 and targeted commissioning in 2025.  The land surface offers the possibility to double capacity. Pursuant to this MOU, Indorama Ventures shall ensure 100% of output repolymerization and both partners shall collaborate to secure feedstock supply.

The total capital investment for the new plant is re-estimated to be around €230 million, taking into account recent impact from inflation. Project costs shall be financed by the sums mobilized by Indorama Ventures, the French State and Grand-Est Region subsidies available for the project , and by equity capitalization of the Joint Venture by Carbios. Part of Carbios’ equity injection into the Joint Venture shall be financed by a portion of Carbios’ current cash position (i.e. €86 million as of 30 April 2023). Carbios is actively examining the best options to finance its remaining equity injection into the Joint Venture and will choose the most appropriate solution and timeline based on market conditions.

The project is part of Indorama Ventures’ Vision 2030 ambition to build on its leadership as a global sustainable chemical company. The company’s ESG commitments include spending $1.5 billion to increase its recycling capacity to 50 billion PET bottles per year by 2025 and 100 billion bottles per year by 2030. To meet these goals, Indorama Ventures, the world’s largest producer of recycled PET resin used in beverage bottles, is investing in new recycling technologies, including advanced recycling, in addition to expanding its global footprint of mechanical recycling sites, including two in France.

Carbios has developed a disruptive enzymatic depolymerization technology that enables efficient and solvent-free recycling of PET plastic and textile waste into virgin-like products with an aim to achieve true circularity. Carbios has ambitious plans to become a leading technology provider in advanced recycling of PET by 2035. After successful ongoing operations in its demonstration plant in Clermont-Ferrand in France, Carbios has been collaborating with Indorama Ventures for over a year to assess the commercial and technical feasibility of the technology. The world’s first industrial-scale enzymatic PET recycling plant at Longlaville will have a capacity to process about 50,000 tons of post-consumer PET waste per year, including waste that is not recyclable mechanically, equivalent to 2 billion PET colored bottles or 2.5 billion PET trays.

wet-green GmbH announced today that it has earned the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Certified Biobased Product Label for wet-green® OBE 1 tanning agent for Olivenleder®.

wet-green® OBE 1 is made of 100% biobased raw materials coming from by-products of olive growing, covered by a global patent. wet-green® OBE 1 is applied as a pre-tanning agent and replaces standard tanning technologies e.g. Chromium, Glutaraldehyde, Zeolites etc., is non-corrosive, metal-free, free of synthetic reactive tanning chemicals, formaldehyde-free, glutaraldehyde-free, bisphenol-free, syntan free, viscous, pumpable and pleasant smelling. wet-green® OBE 1 is the next generation vegetable tanning agent suitable for a wide range of leather articles and applied since many years in areas e.g. automotive, upholstery, garments, shoes and accessories.

The wet-green® tanning agent for Olivenleder® can now display a USDA label that highlights its percentage of biobased content. Third-party verification for a product's biobased content is administered through the USDA BioPreferred® Program, which strives to increase the development, purchase, and use of biobased
products.

Biobased products help address climate change by offering renewable alternatives to petroleum-based products; sequester carbon dioxide, lowering the concentration of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere that contribute to climate change; create and expand markets; are generally safer for people and the environment than their petroleum-based counterparts; and represent incredible technological advances and innovations.