From the Sector

With its current position paper, the Industrievereinigung Chemiefaser e.V. takes a stand on the intense discussions about an embargo against Russian natural gas supplies. The association believes that Germany's economic and global political future can only be secured with a strong industrial base and therefore, weighing up all positions and influencing factors and assessing the consequences for labour and the market economy, cannot support a short-term natural gas embargo on Russia.

An interruption of the continuous supply of natural gas would result in immense losses for the chemical fibre companies, which could even lead to the destruction of the industry in Germany. The losses are made up of technical damage caused by an uncoordinated shutdown of plants on the one hand and market-related consequential damage caused by lost production and a lack of product sales on the other.

Depending on the location and size of the plants, a short-term outage due to a lack of natural gas would result in average losses of EUR 5 million/plant. In addition, an ongoing daily loss would have to be expected which could be in the order of e.g. 250 000 EUR/day/plant, depending on the location. Furthermore, restarting the plants is questionable if supply chains could no longer be serviced and customers globally look for other suppliers in the meantime. Thus, entire sites would be at risk. With China's global market share in man-made fiber production already exceeding 70 %, a scenario is more than realistic that China will also take over these supply chains, thus leading to an even greater dependence on China.

The vast majority of power plants used for the production of man-made fibers, especially the highly efficient combined gas-and-steam power plants based on the principle of cogeneration with efficiencies of 90 %, are designed exclusively for the use of natural gas. Quite often, there are no technical facilities for operating gas turbines or steam boilers with fuels other than natural gas. Only in exceptional cases could a switch be made to mineral oil. However, even in these cases, the necessary stockpiling of mineral oil is designed only for a short-term failure of the gas burners. A change to base-load supply with mineral oil could take a time window of between 3 and 56 months, depending on the type of plant and taking into account licensing requirements. The use of hydrogen as an energy source is only possible in the very long term. In the few cases where natural gas can be substituted, investment costs of EUR 250 million/plant can be incurred, depending on the emission level of the converted plant.

A natural gas embargo imposed by the European Union on the Russian Federation would not only mean the cessation of production and the end for man-made fiber producers, but also for other industries such as basic chemicals, paper, metal production and glass and ceramics manufacturing, as well as their related sectors. As the German economic institute Institut der Deutschen Wirtschaft Köln e. V. (IW Köln) concluded in its summary report 40/2022 of April 2022: "No one can accurately predict what future these businesses would then still have in Germany. That would be an unprecedented development."

• Long-awaited metal-free* and halogen-free* NYLOSAN® S NAVY and BLACK COLORS for Sportwear
• Iconic black and navy polyamides of major sportswear brands can finally be perfectly matched with safer dyestuffs
• Significant resource savings when dyeing with Archroma new signature CONSCIOUSLY DEEP system

Archroma, a global leader in specialty chemicals towards sustainable solutions, today announced the addition of two new metal-free* and halogen-free* acid dyes in its Nylosan® S range.

Dark shades represent approximately 80% of the outdoor and sportswear textile market, which is also under pressure to offer more sustainable articles. In this context, the new Nylosan® Navy S-3R and Black S-3N, especially developed by Archroma for polyamides and blends, meet four long-standing market demands for blacks and navies.

• First, the Nylosan® S range offers metal-free* alternatives to dyestuff generally used to dye polyamide and nylon and which usually contain metals. The new Nylosan® Navy S-3R and Black S-3N are taking the industry standard one step further by offering a halogen-free* option to those manufacturers, brands and retailers who are looking to offer the safest grade available.
• Second, the Nylosan® S range now comprises a wide gamut of colors, with these new dyes targeting the color matching and fastness specifications of the iconic blacks and navies of major sportswear brands. In order to support this color matching process, Archroma makes available the colorimetric dye primaries for the mills in order to (re)match the color standards.
• Third, the new navy and black dyes display the same color constancy as the dyes used in many leading color standards, which means the navy and black colors created with Nylosan® S range will be non-metameric to the color standard under multiple light sources, whether artificial or natural, indoor or outdoor.
• And fourth, the introduction of the new Nylosan® Black S-3N makes dyeing a metal-free* black on polyamide finally possible – something that was not available before.

Both dyes display the other usual features allowed of the Nylosan® S range, i.e., high fastness and buildup, and a wide shading gamut for industry-leading metal-free* acid dyes. They are REACH registered and bluesign® approved.

In addition, with the new Nylosan® Navy S-3R and Black S-3N at the core of its new CONSCIOUSLY DEEP system, Archroma is offering another very welcome benefit in the production of polyamide articles: resource saving. As most sportswear manufacturers and brands know, creating durable dark colors on nylon is a complex process that uses massive amounts of water and energy. Archroma therefore designed the new CONSCIOUSLY DEEP system to allow a highly efficient scour dyeing process reduced from 6 to 2 baths. This results into reducing the process time by up to 36%, water consumption by up to 64%, energy by up to 46%, and CO2 emissions by up to 41% compared to conventional benchmark process.

• A springboard for entrepreneurs in the composites industry

In a few years, JEC Composites Startup Booster has became a reference for entrepreneurship in the composites industry worldwide. Each year before JEC World, among the startups that submitted their application, 20 of them are selected. 20 finalists from all over the world who will join the leading composites trade show to pitch their project on stage before a panel of expert judges.

This competition is a unique opportunity to network and shine a light on what will be the future of the composites industry so save the date: the two pitches sessions will happen on May 3rd, and the winners will be named on May, 4th at 2.45 pm at JEC World 2022 in Paris as well as online on JEC World Connect platform. This year’s competition is sponsored by Airbus & Mercedes-Benz (Main Innovation Partners) as well as Magna Exteriors (Innovation Partner).

Launched in 2017, Startup Booster has been organized in three different regions (Europe, USA and Asia) and has already fostered the emergence of 500+ innovative projects from 50+ countries, 80 finalists and 30 winners, including Arevo, Continuous Composites, ComPair, Fortify and Vartega…
This challenge not only represents an opportunity to the winners of the trophy but to all the parts involved: participants, jury, official partners and the worldwide audience of JEC World. It brings the entire composites value chain together, creating future business opportunities.

The 20 finalists are divided into two categories:
• Process, Manufacturing & Equipment
• Materials & Products

The jury includes representatives from major manufacturers and investors:
Jelle BLOEMHOF, Head of Manufacturing Technologies of Composite, Airbus
Karl-Heinz FULLER, Head of Future Outside & Materials Mercedes-Benz AG
Florent ILLAT, Head of Safran Corporate Ventures, Safran
Brian KRULL, Global Director of Innovation, Magna Exteriors
Tim VORAGE, Founder and Manager Growth Garage Accelerator , Mitsubishi Chemicals Advanced Materials

Two pitch sessions of 10 presentations each will be held in the Agora stage (Hall 5), on Tuesday, May 3, from 10am to 11.25am (Category: Products & Materials) and from 4.30pm to 5.55pm (Category: Process, Manufacturing & Equipment). Three winners will be chosen by the jury and one winner for the sustainable aspects of the project. The awards ceremony will be held on Wednesday, May, 4th at 2.45 pm.

Category “Products & Materials”
o Blackleaf (France)
o Dongnam Realize (South Korea)
o FibreCoat (Germany)
o FVMat (Israel)
o Ora Graphene Audio (Canada)
o Pangolin Defense (France)
o Phononic Vibes (Italy)
o Revolve (Germany)
o Smart Resilin (Israel)
o Space Walker (Japan)

Category “Process, Manufacturing & Equipment”
o Antefil Composite Tech (Switzerland)
o ANYBRID (Germany)
o Atomic-6 (USA)
o Carbon-Drive (Germany)
o Continuum (Denmark)
o Fibraworks (Germany)
o Herone (Germany)
o RVmagnetics (Slovakia)
o Touch Sensity (France)
o XARION Laser Acoustics (Austria)

Lenzing presented at FILO its sustainable approach and on a selection of key innovations such as TENCEL™-branded specialty fibers.

As part of the space dedicated to Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto and Fashion B.E.S.T., the first Italian collective of responsible fashion designers, a selection of TENCEL™’s key technologies were under the spotlight:

• TENCEL™ x REFIBRA™, using cotton textile waste and wood pulp as the feedstock for cellulosic fibers, creating a circular solution;
• TENCEL™ x Indigo Color, infusing pigment into fibers directly during the spinning process;
• TENCEL™ Luxe, providing superior aesthetics, performance and comfort to be the perfect partner of other noble fibers such as silk, cashmere or wool;
• TENCEL™ Carbon Zero, offering carbon-zero CarbonNeutral®-certified products by Natural Capital Partners;
• TENCEL™ x Eco Clean, bringing totally chlorine-free-bleached TENCEL™ Modal fibers to the textile industry.

Lenzing's priority has been to produce fibers for many sectors (fashion, beauty care, cleaning, hygiene and home textiles) in a sustainable way. Each Lenzing product is made of cellulose from wood, a renewable natural resource, coming only from certified sustainable sources.
The Lenzing Group operates two commercial-scale biorefineries with 100% wood utilization, which ensure that the totality of wood constituents are used to produce fibers, biobased chemicals, and bioenergy, thus maximizing value creation from an economic and environmental perspective. This concept was illustrated by Carlo Covini, Lenzing Business Development Manager Italy & Switzerland, in his presentation “Lenzing’s biorefinery concept”.

• Circular economy at Kelheim Fibres: Examples of innovation from raw material, product design and all the way to “end of life”

Kelheim Fibres, the world's first viscose fibre manufacturer with an EMAS-certified environmental management system, is continuously working on optimising its special fibres. These can be functionalised as needed - in many cases to save further processing steps (such as dyeing or coating) and thus energy, water and chemicals - and are completely biodegradable at the end of their product life in a short time (according to OECD Test 301 B).

Currently, the specialists in Kelheim are working on the development of alternative raw materials for the production of viscose fibres, such as recycled cellulose as well as other cellulose-containing starting materials. One approach to closing the product cycle in the textile sector is the use of pulp produced from recycled post-consumer waste materials.

In production, Kelheim Fibres focuses on resource conservation by minimising emissions and waste through closed-loop recovery systems, as well as through highly efficient energy generation and the corresponding operation of the plants.

Dr. Roland Scholz, Project Manager Fibre and Application Development at Kelheim Fibres, will present details of this on Wednesday, 15 September, at 5.50 p.m., in Hall B of the 60th Dornbirn GFC WEBINAR WEEK.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

The textile industry is constantly searching for new, sustainable, and circular materials. Following thorough research and testing, Spinnova and KT Trading have developed a natural leather fabric made from leather waste without harmful chemicals.

"Leather is an amazing high-quality material with unique properties. With this new textile, we have taken yet another step towards completing the circular economy for leather," says Kristian Geert Jensen, CEO of KT Trading, who now has a joint venture with Spinnova.

Spinnova CEO: Sustainable innovation
Together with KT Trading, ECCO’s key leather provider, Spinnova has established the Respin company - a new joint venture. The partners are already constructing a leather fibre production pilot plant in Finland.

ECCO’s Applied Research division and Spinnova have been in a R&D collaboration since 2018 and have made successful trials with spinning the protein biomass into fibre. Processing leather raw material does not require further technology development from Spinnova. The company already has proof of concept from using the method on wood-based raw material.

Devan Chemicals recently added two more products to its range of bio-based textile finishes. One being a softener, the other one a quick-dry finish. Both are derived from vegetable oils and are in line with the company’s latest innovations on bio-based chemistry.

Due to the Covid-pandemic, serving as an accelerator for a worldwide green economy, the textile industry is increasingly seeking more sustainable and products fit-for-circular programs. According to McKinsey & Company, the textile industry will experience innovation surrounding sustainably sourced raw materials and bio-based chemical additives to accommodate increasing consumer demand.

Devan launched its first bio-based technology in 2019 and is fully committed to making bio-based versions of their existing textile finishes. ‘We have put ourselves on a mission to be able to extend our Bio-Based range further”, says Sven Ghyselinck, CEO of Devan. “We wanted to make an even bigger impact on circularity than before, therefore we looked into what fabric producers use a lot: softeners and moisture management systems. Only by focusing more on the large volume products, can we support the industry to have a bigger impact on sustainability. After the growing success of our natural antimicrobial BI-OME NTL, we are proud to now introduce our new natural Passerelle line”.

Passerelle Soft NTL is a durable softness technology based on vegetable ingredients. The technology is wash durable and can be used with natural fibres like hemp, cotton, but is also fit for synthetic fibres like rPES, PA. The bio content of the technology is above 85% (ASTM D6866-20).

Passerelle Quick-Dry NTL is a moisture management technology also based on vegetable ingredients. This bio-based finish enables high wicking and evaporation capability which helps to evaporate water/sweat easier and faster. The technology is also > 60% (28 days) biodegradable according to OECD 301B.