From the Sector

Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited, one of the world’s largest producers of recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) resin, announced the completion of the expansion of its recycling facility in Brazil, supported by a ‘Blue Loan’ from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank.

The recycling facility, located in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil, is increasing its production capacity from 9 thousand tons to 25 thousand tons per year of PET made from post-consumer recycled (PET-PCR) material. The project is part of Indorama Ventures’ Vision 2030 ambition to continue building a sustainable global company, including spending $1.5 billion to increase its recycling capacity to 50 billion PET bottles per year by 2025.

PET is a unique and widely used plastic for water and soda bottles and the most recycled plastic in the world. Indorama Ventures, the world’s largest provider of recycled PET resin used to make beverage bottles, invested US$20 million to optimize its Brazil facility’s processes and acquire new equipment such as washing machines to help remove labels, grind bottles in water and reduce water consumption by 70%.

In November 2020, the IFC provided $300 million in Blue Loan funding to Indorama Ventures with the objective of increasing recycling capacity and diverting plastic waste from landfills and oceans in Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, India, and Brazil—countries which are grappling with mismanaged waste and serious plastic waste in the environment. Blue Loan funds are certified and tracked for projects that support sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods and jobs, and ocean ecosystem health. Indorama Ventures has secured a total US$2.4 billion in long-term sustainable financing from various financial institutions between 2018–2022 to support sustainability projects.

The KARL MAYER GROUP and the Südwolle Group have joined forces in a project to explore the possibilities of merino wool for warp knitting technology. The project was triggered by the increasing demand for textiles made from sustainable and environmentally friendly materials. The cooperation was to develop innovative fabrics from renewable raw materials for use in underwear and functional sportswear. The focus of the work was on the use of wool as a material with excellent comfort properties and the look and feel of lightweight single jersey goods. The natural fiber fabric qualities are not typical for warp knitting processing, so the challenges during the project work were diverse.

Merino wool yarns with good running properties
Regarding the choice of material, the product development team of Südwolle Group recommended the Hidalgo yarn from their product portfolio. The yarn was created using the in-house developed Betaspun technology, in which a filament was twisted around a merino core. When natural fibres such as wool, cotton or silk are combined with sustainable fibres such as biodegradable polyamide as the filament, the spinning process can create durable, lightweight yarns that disintegrate completely without residue after use. The yarns made from the two components also have good running properties for use in warp knitting. "The polyamide content of the yarn increases its tenacity, reduces hairiness and makes it an excellent choice for warp knitting technology," confirmed Gabriela Schellner from KARL MAYER's Textile Product Development Department.

Shape stability paired with single jersey "look and feel"
The Hidalgo yarn, which is made from merino wool, was processed on a warp knitting machine using a carefully thought-out lapping selection to produce a light, soft fabric which, above all, retains its shape. The textile specialists at KARL MAYER had experimented with two different single bar fabric qualities beforehand and had thus adopted a new approach for jersey machines.

The first results are promising. Now more trials are needed to perfect the technique. Development partners are needed, including fabric producers, brands, and garment manufacturers, with whom the fabric qualities, machine equipment and orientation to the end applications can be refined. The KARL MAYER GROUP and the Südwolle Group are also unanimous in their desire to push the boundaries of what is possible with merino wool and knitting technology and to develop new solutions for the textile industry through further project work.

MAS Holdings, a global apparel & textile manufacturing and tech conglomerate, headquartered in Sri Lanka, secures a stake in HeiQ AeoniQ™ as part of its Plan for Change initiative to support the development of next-generation cellulosic filament fibers to replace polyester and nylon.

HeiQ from Switzerland and MAS Holdings entered a partnership for MAS to secure a stake in HeiQ AeoniQ GmbH, a subsidiary of HeiQ Group that will produce HeiQ AeoniQ™, a climate-positive cellulosic yarn.

With this investment, MAS Holdings becomes the first manufacturer to partner with HeiQ AeoniQ™ in their efforts to provide a sustainable alternative to polyester and nylon. The investment to be made by MAS Holdings is part of the group’s strategy to drive a positive environmental impact. The MAS Plan for Change aims to generate 50% of the company’s revenue through sustainable products by 2025, revolutionizing the textile industry with a focus on innovation, sustainable sourcing, and pioneering circularity at scale.

With the closing of this deal, HeiQ and MAS agreed to a 5-year Offtake Agreement for 3,000 tons of HeiQ AeoniQ™ yarn in 2025 and 5,000 tons per year from 2026 to 2029, valued by HeiQ in the aggregate to US$ 100 million. MAS will finalize this commitment within a stipulated time period after achieving milestone 1, and a mutual plan for commercialization. HeiQ and MAS firmly believe that rapid scaling is key to facilitating the fast adoption of sustainable, circular technologies such as HeiQ AeoniQ™.

The HeiQ AeoniQ™ pilot plant in Austria is manufacturing this revolutionary continuous cellulosic filament yarn since Q3 2022, with up to a 100 tons capacity to be upscaled up to 300 tons by the end of 2023.

The HeiQ AeoniQ™ production scale-up is planned to have its definitive boost by early 2026 with the construction of an entirely new gigafactory capable of a 30,000-ton output per year, in a 250M USD estimated investment.

Polyester and nylon, two oil-based fibers, virtually non-recyclable, account for about 70% of all the global textile production, they take between 350 to 1000 years to degrade in nature, are currently close loop recycled at less than 1%, and are at the origin of 35% of the microplastics that can be found in today's oceans. HeiQ AeoniQ™ was innovated and is being hyper-scaled up to change this course of action.

Climate change is causing temperatures to rise and storms to increase. Especially in inner cities, summers are becoming a burden for people. While densification makes use of existing infrastructure and avoids urban sprawl, it increases the amount of sealed surfaces. This has a negative impact on the environment and climate. Green facades bring more green into cities. If textile storage structures are used, they can even actively contribute to flood protection. The German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research (DITF) have developed a corresponding "Living Wall".

The plants on the green facades are supplied with water and nutrients via an automatic irrigation system. The "Living Walls" operate largely autonomously. Sensory yarns detect the water and nutrient content. The effort for care and maintenance is low.

Innovative hydraulic textile structures regulate water flow. The rock wool plant substrate on which the plants grow has a large volume in a small space thanks to its structure. Depending on how heavy the precipitation is, the rainwater is stored in a textile structure and later used to irrigate the plants. In the event of heavy rainfall, the excess water is discharged into the sewage system with a time delay. In this way, the "Living Walls" developed at the DITF help to make efficient use of water as a resource in post-densified urban areas.

The research project also scientifically investigated the cooling performance of a green facade. Modern textile technology in the substrate promotes the "transpiration" of the plants. This creates evaporative cooling and lowers temperatures in the surrounding area.

The work of the Denkendorf research team also included a cost-benefit calculation and a life-cycle analysis. Based on the laboratory and outdoor studies, a "green value" was defined that can be used to evaluate and compare the effect of greening buildings as a whole.

Archroma, a leader in specialty chemicals towards sustainable solutions, is teaming up with COLOURizd™, an innovator specializing in sustainable textile dyeing technologies, to set a new standard for the eco-friendlier production of sustainable textiles.

The new collaboration will enable fabric mills and brands to combine Archroma pigment coloration solutions with the COLOURizd™ QuantumCOLOUR™ yarn-coloring technology to produce high-quality, high-performance textiles with maximum consumer appeal and minimal environmental impact.

Conventional fiber-reactive methods of dyeing cellulosic and synthetic yarns are multi-step resource-intensive processes that use up to 95 liters of water per kilograms of colored yarn and discharge approximately 94 liters of effluent.

In contrast, the innovative QuantumCOLOUR™ process injects pigment and a binder directly into the yarn, using only 0.95 liters of water per kilograms of colored yarn while producing zero effluent. This represents an unprecedented reduction of 98% in water consumption alongside zero wastewater discharge, zero discharge of harmful chemicals, 73% decrease in carbon footprint and 50% reduction in energy use.*

With Archroma, textile manufacturers and apparel brands can add further value to the QuantumCOLOUR™ process with tailor-made system solutions, including JUST COLOR. This formaldehyde-free** pigment coloration system is based on Archroma’s revolutionary Printofix® pigment dispersions and Helizarin® binders to deliver exceptionally soft fabrics with high fastness and durability, while also enabling energy and chemical savings and higher productivity.

* As tested by Peterson Control Union
** Below limits of detection according to industry standard test methods

• 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.”

Fibre Extrusion Technology Ltd (FET) of Leeds, UK has strengthened its technical team with the appointment of Dr Jonny Hunter as Research & Development Manager. Hunter brings a wealth of academic credentials to the department, including a Master’s in Medicinal and Biological Chemistry and a PhD in Sustainable Chemistry. This academic background is complemented by over 10 years’ R&D experience in industry, including FMCG and, in particular, medical devices, which encompasses wound care, the medical device manufacturing process and regulatory environment.

FET designs, develops and manufactures extrusion equipment for a wide range of high value textile material applications, so the above research and industrial sectors have great relevance to the company’s focus on the international stage. A significant market for FET’s meltspinning equipment is medical devices, so in-house expertise in this area is a vital commodity. FET is also at the forefront of innovation to promote and develop sustainable fibres, so technical knowhow in sustainability is also essential. In this, Jonny Hunter has considerable experience and has in the past lead a number of innovation projects in sustainable chemistry and management.

This fresh input of knowledge and experience will benefit FET’s customers in their own drive for sustainable innovation in fibre technology. Mark Smith, the previous R&D Manager, is taking a short sabbatical and will be returning in a more strategic role as FET’s Director of Technology, so his continued presence will further contribute to FET’s breadth of technical expertise.

FET has also expanded in a number of other departments to reflect the rapid growth in sales over recent years. Mike Urey is the new Sales Engineer, bringing a wide industrial experience and strengthening all aspects of business development. Three new mechanical and electronic engineers and a new appointment in the design department all combine to take the company forward and sustain growth.

• Spunbond, meltblown and composite structures for new market opportunities

RadiciGroup is participating with its Advanced Textile Solutions business area at Index in Geneva from 18 to 21 April 2023. Among the Group’s products showcased are spunbond and meltblown for different application sectors, such as roofing, construction, automotive, HO.RE.CA. and filtration.

“The key message we are bringing to the fair is sustainability,” noted Enrico Buriani, CEO of the Nonwovens division of RadiciGroup Advanced Textile Solutions. “Those who already know us know that, for many years, the Group has been focused on proposing low environmental impact products and processes where sustainability is scientifically measured or certified by independent third parties. Our company is dedicated to nonwovens, which, by the way, are produced using 100% renewable energy. We have expanded our portfolio of innovative solutions for customers interested in realizing projects with sustainability as an essential requirement.”

Respunsible® is a spunbond brand manufactured from recycled polypropylene. A preliminary Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study was carried out by RadiciGroup to demonstrate the correlation between the reduction in environmental impact and the percentage increase in recycled material. The final results demonstrate that a variable percentage of from 50 to 70% recycled material leads to a reduction in CO2 emissions of from 30 to 40%, compared to a fabric made of 100% virgin material, without comprising high technical performance.

Additionally, since RadiciGroup has achieved ISCC PLUS certification (International Sustainability and Carbon Certification), it can offer bio, biocircular or circular polypropylene spunbond and meltblown nonwovens, in which the sustainable polypropylene is biomass balanced. This certification signifies traceability along the supply chain and verifies that the certified companies meet high environmental and social standards.

“Since 2020, we have had a technologically advanced meltblown production line,” Mr. Buriani concluded. “This allows us to make composite structures, sold under the brand name Radimelt®. Now our goal is to expand our filtration applications, diversifying and developing new business, for instance vacuum cleaner bags or HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) system filters, where we can meet the high efficiency and mechanical resistance demanded, thanks to our latest generation technology.”

On the sidelines of the Intertextile Shanghai fair, the Swedish textile-to-textile recycling innovator Renewcell and the leading Chinese viscose manufacturer Tangshan Sanyou announced the next step in their partnership to make fashion circular that stretches back to 2018.

The two companies’ new shared ambition is to offer manufacturers and brands Circulose® viscose fibers made from 100% recycled textiles in commercial quantities starting in 2024. The collaboration has been facilitated by Ekman Group, Renewcell’s exclusive global trading partner.

“I am very happy to announce this acceleration of our long-standing partnership with Tangshan Sanyou. They were the first commercial producer of Circulose®-based fibers in the world, and the first to commit to sourcing significant volumes from us. Now, they aim to also be the first to commercialize 100% Circulose® content fibers” said Patrik Lundström, CEO of Renewcell, adding "I applaud Tangshan Sanyou’s vision and support to scaling next gen raw materials like Circulose®.”

The announcement, which follows the recent start of deliveries of 100% recycled textile Circulose® pulp from Renewcell’s newly opened Renewcell 1 recycling plant, is the result of successful validation of Circulose®’s quality in production at Tangshan Sanyou’s commercial-scale manufacturing lines. Tangshan Sanyou would strive to finish the mission of producing commercial volumes of 50% Circulose® content fibers during 2023 and work towards achieving the delivery of 100% Circulose® content branded viscose fibers to selected fashion brands and manufacturers starting in 2024. The two companies will cooperate to market the fibers globally using Renewcell’s Circulose® ingredient brand name.

Mr. Zhang Dongbin, Executive Vice General Manager of Tangshan Sanyou Chemical Fiber, says, "Through the collaboration with Renewcell, we have achieved to use Circulose® made from recycled cotton in the production of our viscose fibers, which is great beneficial to improving resource utilization efficiency and lowering carbon footprint of the industry. It has brought a huge impact in the sustainable fashion industry. We will continue putting efforts in forming good interaction between consumers, brands and enterprises, convey the concept of circular sustainable fashion, promote the greening of textile industry, and ensure a more sustainable way to ensure the sustainable development of the textile industry. Protecting the global ecological environment by applying sustainable solutions is our common goal."

• Revenue rose to EUR 2.57 bn, while EBITDA declined to EUR 241.9 mn
• Implementation of EUR 70 mn cost reduction program proceeding according to plan
• Largest investment program in the company’s history including the lyocell plant in Thailand and the pulp mill in Brazil implemented on time and within budget
• Outlook: Lenzing expects EBITDA in 2023 to be in a range of EUR 320 mn to EUR 420 mn

The Lenzing Group was increasingly affected by extreme developments on the global energy and raw material markets in the 2022 financial year, in tandem with most of manufacturing industry in Europe. The market environment also deteriorated significantly in the third and fourth quarters, while worsening consumer sentiment placed an additional burden on Lenzing’s business growth.

In the year under review, revenue increased by 16.9 percent year-on-year to reach EUR 2.57 bn, primarily as a result of higher fiber prices. The quantity of fiber sold decreased, while the quantity of pulp sold rose. In addition to lower demand, the earnings trend particularly reflects the increase in energy and raw material costs. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) decreased by 33.3 percent year-on-year to EUR 241.9 mn in 2022. The net result for the year was minus EUR 37.2 mn (compared with EUR 127.7 mn in the 2021 financial year), while earnings per share stood at minus EUR 2.75 (compared with EUR 4.16 in the 2021 financial year).

Outlook
The war in Ukraine and the tighter monetary policy pursued by many central banks to combat inflation will continue to exert pressure on the global economy. The easing of China’s zero-Covid policy could lead to an unexpectedly rapid recovery. However, the IMF has warned that risks remain high overall and projects growth of 2.9 percent in 2023. Exchange rate volatility looks set to continue in regions that are important to Lenzing.

These challenging market conditions are also continuing to weigh on consumer confidence and sentiment in the sectors relevant to Lenzing. The outlook has improved slightly of late, with inventory levels returning to normal across the value chain. Nonetheless, subdued demand remains a source of concern for market players.

Inventories in the bellwether cotton market have diminished recently, although they remain above pre-pandemic levels. A decline in crops is foreseeable in the current 2022/2023 harvest season. The sharp rise in prices on the energy and raw material markets will continue to pose significant challenges for the market.

Overall, earnings visibility remains restricted.

In structural terms, Lenzing expects a continued rise in demand for environmentally friendly fibers in the textile and clothing industry, as well as in the hygiene and medical sectors. Thus, with its “Better Growth” strategy, Lenzing is very well positioned and will continue to drive growth in specialty products, while pursuing its sustainability targets including the transformation from a linear to a circular economy model.

In light of these factors and assuming a further market recovery in the current financial year, the Lenzing Group expects EBITDA in 2023 to be in a range of EUR 320 mn to EUR 420 mn.