Textination Newsline

In a new study, North Carolina State University researchers found they could separate blended cotton and polyester fabric using enzymes – nature’s tools for speeding chemical reactions. Ultimately, they hope their findings will lead to a more efficient way to recycle the fabric’s component materials, thereby reducing textile waste. However, they also found the process need more steps if the blended fabric was dyed or treated with chemicals that increase wrinkle resistance.

“We can separate all of the cotton out of a cotton-polyester blend, meaning now we have clean polyester that can be recycled,” said the study’s corresponding author Sonja Salmon, associate professor of textile engineering, chemistry and science at NC State. “In a landfill, the polyester is not going to degrade, and the cotton might take several months or more to break down. Using our method, we can separate the cotton from polyester in less than 48 hours.”
 
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, consumers throw approximately 11 million tons of textile waste into U.S. landfills each year. Researchers wanted to develop a method of separating the cotton from the polyester so each component material could be recycled.

In the study, researchers used a “cocktail” of enzymes in a mildly acidic solution to chop up cellulose in cotton. Cellulose is the material that gives structure to plants’ cell walls. The idea is to chop up the cellulose so it will “fall out” out of the blended woven structure, leaving some tiny cotton fiber fragments remaining, along with glucose. Glucose is the biodegradable byproduct of degraded cellulose. Then, their process involves washing away the glucose and filtering out the cotton fiber fragments, leaving clean polyester.
 
“This is a mild process – the treatment is slightly acidic, like using vinegar,” Salmon said. “We also ran it at 50 degrees Celsius, which is like the temperature of a hot washing machine.
“It’s quite promising that we can separate the polyester to a clean level,” Salmon added. “We still have some more work to do to characterize the polyester’s properties, but we think they will be very good because the conditions are so mild. We’re just adding enzymes that ignore the polyester.”

They compared degradation of 100% cotton fabric to degradation of cotton and polyester blends, and also tested fabric that was dyed with red and blue reactive dyes and treated with durable press chemicals. In order to break down the dyed materials, the researchers had to increase the amount of time and enzymes used. For fabrics treated with durable press chemicals, they had to use a chemical pre-treatment before adding the enzymes.

“The dye that you choose has a big impact on the potential degradation of the fabric,” said the study’s lead author Jeannie Egan, a graduate student at NC State. “Also, we found the biggest obstacle so far is the wrinkle-resistant finish. The chemistry behind that creates a significant block for the enzyme to access the cellulose. Without pre-treating it, we achieved less than 10% degradation, but after, with two enzyme doses, we were able to fully degrade it, which was a really exciting result.”

Researchers said the polyester could be recycled, while the slurry of cotton fragments could be valuable as an additive for paper or useful addition to composite materials. They’re also investigating whether the glucose could be used to make biofuels.

“The slurry is made of residual cotton fragments that resist a very powerful enzymatic degradation,” Salmon said. “It has potential value as a strengthening agent. For the glucose syrup, we’re collaborating on a project to see if we can feed it into an anaerobic digester to make biofuel. We’d be taking waste and turning it into bioenergy, which would be much better than throwing it into a landfill.”

The study, “Enzymatic textile fiber separation for sustainable waste processing,” was published in Resources, Environment and Sustainability. Co-authors included Siyan Wang, Jialong Shen, Oliver Baars and Geoffrey Moxley. Funding was provided by the Environmental Research and Education Foundation, Kaneka Corporation and the Department of Textile Engineering, Chemistry and Science at NC State.

• Clothing exports are declining 

New Delhi (GTAI) - Structural weaknesses and fiscal reforms are affecting the Indian textile industry. Modernization and diversification are necessary. For this where support measures will come into force.

In the 2016/17 fiscal year (April 1st to March 31st), India's government initiated a number of fundamental reforms such as the introduction of the nationwide Goods and Services Tax (GST) and a partial currency devaluation. These measures are intended to advance the economy as a whole in the medium to long term, but have led to uncertainty and difficulties in individual sectors, including the textile industry. Added to this are high cotton prices. The government is now trying to help the industry with individual measures. It remains to be seen whether these will be sufficient and lead to a sustained improvement. Finally, there are structural weaknesses which are also slowing down the growth of the Industry.

"The by the introduction of GST caused dent and monetary depreciation has now been overcome. However, the structural problems remain, so that no fundamental changes in the textile industry are to be expected", according to the assessment of a German supplier with many years of experience in India in talks with Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI).

Government launches aid measures
However, some government measures should provide relief. At the beginning of August 2018, import duties on 328 textile products, especially fabrics and nonwovens, were increased from around 5 to 10 percent to up to 20 percent. Also, at the beginning of the month, the Executive Board introduced four bills to amend the general VAT Act introduced on July 1st 2017. This should make refunds, for example of taxes on intermediate products, easier and faster. The introduction of GST and the delays in reimbursement have put particular pressure on the liquidity of small and medium-sized companies, which make up the bulk of textile companies. For example, the denim industry temporarily had to take 25 to 30 percent of its capacity out of production after the tax introduction.

 Also, the Ministry of Textiles wants to strengthen the to it entrusted weakening industry. At the beginning of August 2018, for example, it added changes to the Technology Upgradation Funds Scheme (TUFS), which has been in existence since 1999. This now expanded technology promotion program allows cooperative banks to provide financing to textile companies for technological improvements. They also become accessible for liability partnerships. Of the approximately USD 1.1 billion, that the central government budget is holding for the textile industry in the fiscal year 2018/19, one third, 14 percent more than in the previous year, are intended for the TUFS. Manufacturers of synthetic fibers and the clothing industry in particular are likely to benefit from this, according to industry sources.

The existence of an own Ministry of Textiles shows how important this industry is for India, not only as a source of foreign exchange, but also as an employer. The entire sector, from spinning mills, weaving mills to clothing and other finished goods, contributed around 14 percent to value creation in the manufacturing industry and 13 percent to foreign exchange revenues in 2017, and employs directly 40 million and indirectly 60 million workers.

As one of the world's leading producers of cotton, jute and silk, India has comparative advantages in the textile sector and can look back on a long tradition in processing. Accordingly, cotton is the main raw material in yarn and fabric production. After all, 5.7 billion tons of yarn were spun in 2016/17, achieving an annual average increase of 3.1 percent between 2011 and 2017. The weaving mills processed 63.5 billion square meters of fabric in 2016/17, after 61.7 billion in 2011. The proportion of cotton fabrics rose from 51 to 61 percent in 2011 to 2017. The remaining part is accounted for approximately equally by synthetic and blended fabrics.

 
Production and export growth come to a halt Based on the previously strong growth the government is optimistic. According to forecasts by the Ministry of Textile, India's textile and clothing industry is expected to more than double its sales between 2015 and 2021. Exports are expected to increase from USD 35 billion to USD 82 billion, after doubling in the period from 2006 to 2014 from USD 17.6 billion to USD 37.6 billion. After that, however, they stagnated and, at USD 35 billion in 2017/18 and missed the by the government set target by USD 10 billion. The production of textiles and clothing declined from 2015 to 2017. It is unlikely to improve in 2018.

¹⁾ Financial years from 1 April to 31 March; ²⁾ Provisional data for 2016/17 and 2017/18
Source: Statistical Office India
     

Clothing industry needs to modernize 
India's textile industry has cost advantages over industrialized countries and advanced emerging countries such as China. Smaller developing countries, however, have become well-known competitors in the meantime and have partly surpassed India in terms of clothing. So Bangladesh and Vietnam exported more clothing than India. In addition there is growing competition from other low-wage countries such as Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. Some of these countries have free trade agreements with the EU, while India has difficulties in negotiating them. The smaller competitors have also geared their clothing industry to exports and modernized it accordingly. After all, they do not have significant local markets. The Indian textile manufacturers are different: If there is not enough quality for export, the domestic market, which has a population of 1.3 billion inhabitants and is growing strongly, is still there, industry representatives explain to GTAI.

India's apparel industry therefore still has a considerable potential for modernization and requires new production technologies, particularly to improve operating efficiency. Other structural weaknesses include strong wage increases with insufficient productivity growth and a shortage of well-trained skilled workers. Other disadvantages are the fragmentation of the clothing industry - many companies lack size - and the lack of adaptation to global fashion trends. While the fashion world is more prone to fiber mixed fabrics, the Indian clothing is not yet following this trend. There is a lack of product diversification.

The spinning and weaving sector looks more modern. Industry experts attest to it a leading international position in terms of size, technology, productivity, quality and price. This is also evident when importing machines. India was the most important export market for German spinning machines to China in 2017 and the fifth largest market for weaving machines, according to the Textile Machinery Association of the German Engineering Federation (VDMA). In textile finishing machinery, India does not rank among the top six export markets, but its competitor Bangladesh does.

Double-digit growth in foreign direct Investment 
Foreign investments in the Indian textile industry are welcome and 100 percent foundations by foreign companies are welcome. On promotional trips to countries such as Japan, Germany, Italy and France, India is actively attracting investors and has not been unsuccessful. The inflow of foreign direct investment into the textile sector, including dyed and printed textiles, amounted to USD 2.7 billion between April 2000 and September 2017. Cumulative investments increased by an annual average of 17.3 percent between 2010 and 2017. However, the bulk of the investment is being stemmed by national Indians. Total investments in India's textile sector from June 2017 to May 2018 amounted to USD 4.2 Billion.

PLANNED ABOLITION OF EU IMPORT QUOTAS ALLOWS MORE FOREIGN COMMITMENTS

Minsk (GTAI) - The textile and clothing industry of the Republic of Belarus faces great challenges. It has to become more efficient, should produce more market-orientated and make greater use of its export potential. The sector has great hopes on the by the European Union planned abolition of quotas for Belarusian textiles and clothing products. There are then more than ever good opportunities for the subcontracting finishing process.

The textile and clothing industry has traditionally been one of the most important sectors of the manufacturing industry in the Republic of Belarus. As a result of the sharp decline of the local purchasing power and of the main export market Russia, the sector has suffered a severe setback in the years 2013 to 2015. Since the second half of 2016 it is on an upswing again. According to preliminary data, the output has risen in 2016 by 4.6% to EUR 1.41 billion compared to 2015. Produced were 146.8 million sqm. of fabrics, 40.4 million pieces of knitwear, 147.0 million pairs of stockings and 19.9 million sqm. of carpet products.

Nevertheless the textile and clothing industry continues to suffer from a weak capacity utilization, an inadequate management and marketing as well as from a considerable backlog in the technological renewal of the equipment park. The implementation of an industry support program for the period from 2016 to 2020 should provide for a remedy. The program comes from the Belarussian State Group for production and sale of goods of the light industry Bellegprom. (http://www.bellegprom.by).

Sector program shows planned projects until 2020

Under the umbrella of the State Group 17 textile, 12 knitting and 21 garment companies are active. With an output of just under USD 0.9 billion, these manufacturers were involved with nearly three-fifths of the total output of the Belarusian textile and clothing industry in 2015. The companies have exported goods for nearly USD 500 million in 2015. The main customer was Russia (USD 357 million). The investments of the Bellegprom companies are expected to reach a volume of at least EUR 250 million in the years 2017 to 2020.

The envisaged projects for this period include:

• the continuation of the comprehensive modernization of the Orschaer linen combine Orscha (production of linen yarn, -fabrics and finished products, processing of imported raw materials);
• technological renewal in the company OAO Mogotex, Mahiljou / Mogilew (spinning and textile finishing);
• the development and production of new competitive wool and wool blended fabrics in the company OAO Kamwol, Minsk;
• the expansion of the production of hosiery, including an enlargement of the assortment of medical hosiery in the company SOOO Conte Spa, Grodno;
• the commencement of production of seamless underwear in the company OAO Kupalinka, Salihorsk and
• Investment in the production of fine thread Ajour-fabrics in OAO Switanak, Shodsina.

1)  Without regard to micro- and other small enterprises; at the end of 2015 225 textile and clothing companies were active in Belarus, the average number of employees in these companies was 58,800 persons per year;
2)  in terms of the national currency of Belarussian Ruble
Source: National Committee for Statistics, calculations by Trade & Invest in Germany.

In order to create complete value chains, it is envisaged to set up joint ventures between manufacturers of fabrics as well as producers of finished products. The Bellegprom Group is keen to focus the expansion potential on the production of linen fabrics and high-quality finished linen products.

Belarus is one of the world's five largest linen producers. For 2017 a volume of 55,000 tons is expected. In the year 2016 29 companies have processed flax straw into fibers. Of the in these factories installed 54 processing lines only ten are considered to be highly productive. According to the administration of the Mahiljou region, a Chinese investor wants to set up a factory in the region for the processing of flax for semi-finished and ready made goods in the near future.

Abolition of EU quotas planed

The EU plans to abolish the since 2010 existing autonomous quotas as well as the contingents for passive finishing processing for Belarus. The restrictions currently apply to a variety of textile products, including cotton and linen yarn as well as garments made out of cotton and woolen fabrics. Market observers agree: the abolition of the quotas with the related bureaucratic procedures would provide a solid basis for stimulating foreign investments in the Belarusian textile and clothing industry.

Belarus has many advantages: geographical proximity to the EU market, a well-developed infrastructure, long-standing industrial traditions, available production capacities, skilled labor and, last but not least, favorable labor costs. In a first phase of cooperation with Belarusian partners, the interest of foreign companies is likely to focus more on subcontracting. There are already successful projects that use the favorable framework conditions for this business model.   

The German Langheinrich Vertriebs GmbH, for example, produces high-quality table cloth and bed linen for the contract area in the small West-Belarussian town of Diwin (Kobryn district, Brest region). According to the director general of Langheinrich Konfektion GmbH, Walentina Paschkewitsch, the company, founded there in 2005, employs now between 90 and 120 employees depending on the order situation. Sales in 2016 amounted to around EUR 1 million. The in the company paid wages and the additional granted social packages are the guarantor of a very low fluctuation of the workforce. Among the companies from neighboring Lithuania, which are producing textiles and clothing in Belarus, the leading Baltic manufacturer of sportswear Audimas stands out.