From the Sector

• As of 1st February, 2021, Benoit Moutault has resumed the position as Group Vice President Business Field Textile (Auxiliaries and Dyestuffs) from Ralf Kattanek.

He reports to the CEO of the CHT Group, Dr. Frank Naumann, Chairman of the Board. Benoit is a French citizen, 45 years old, and has been working at CHT since 2014. He is experienced in various leadership positions within the global market of textile chemicals.

Dr. Frank Naumann: "We are very happy to continue our successful cooperation with Benoit. He takes over a highly important and strategic role for the CHT Group."

• "Dibella up" records its first big success

Aalten, "Dibella up" is bearing its first fruits. Since the launch of the recycling concept initiated in August 2020, six tons of sorted laundry items have already been returned to Dibella and converted into new ones by the company in farsighted reuse projects. The customer who has been involved in the project from the very beginning is Lamme Textielbeheer from Nederhorst den Berg. The Dutch textile service provider sees the initiative as an important measure for more appreciation of resources.

Dibella has taken the closed-loop approach of the textile service as a model and has taken a step towards a completely closed cycle with the "Dibella up" project. The system includes unlimited reuse and recycling of the fibre raw materials bound in the textiles. To this end, the company's own textile qualities, which are selected from laundries, are taken back and passed on to selected upcycling projects. Polyester-cotton blended fabrics are processed there into high-quality bags. Pure natural fibre textiles as well as blended fabrics with at least 50 percent cotton are chemically converted into an important raw material for cellulose fibre production, while the remaining polyester is still being thermally recycled for technical reasons.

Six tons of laundry from the Netherlands

Lamme Textielbeheer was immediately enthusiastic about the "Dibella up" initiative. The committed company has been involved in various Dibella sustainability projects for many years and recognises the future-oriented character of the new project. "Our will to cooperate was immediately clear after Dibella's managing director Ralf Hellmann presented the upcycling project, because we see it as an important measure for the prudent use of resources," reports Jan Lamme, managing director of the company of the same name. "Within a very short period of time, we therefore jointly started to take back our discarded, no longer usable old textiles. In this way, we have already been able to return six tonnes of laundry for a new product cycle. This corresponds exactly to our idea of upcycling!". "Dibella provides stable, reusable cartons for shipping," says a delighted Frank David, Lamme's Assistant Operations Manager. "This makes collection much easier for us and we don't have to take any means of transport out of our laundry".

Prepared for the mega-trend of recycling management

Dibella would like to build on the initial joint success and further expand the initiative for a closed textile cycle in the industry. "The awareness of sustainability is high in the textile rental service. But the next mega-trend is already emerging. The future lies in closed-loop recycling. With "Dibella up", we are offering our customers the opportunity to get involved now and make resources usable in the long term. We are happy about every new cooperation partner who appreciates the value of textiles as much as we do".

Cooperation and business development with AMAC
As of November 1st, 2020, AMAC is pleased to announce its cooperation with company FibreCoat for the market introduction of their products and global business development. FibreCoat is a young, award-winning start-up and spin-off of the RWTH Aachen University in Germany and develops multi-filament coated yarns, fabrics and composites based on glass or basalt fibres.

Dr. Michael Effing, CEO AMAC GmbH: „FibreCoat is a very promising newcomer in the electro-magnetic shielding and composites industry and their innovations are very cost-efficient for new technologies such as e-mobility or telecommunications. I am very pleased to introduce them to relevant key players in the industry and accompany them in their growth strategy.“

Product Launch
FibreCoat develops metal-coated fibres like bi-component multi-filament yarns with basalt core and aluminum coating which can be used for EMI-shielding and heat sinks in battery casings, electric diverters in filters, reinforcement of cast aluminum parts o ras conductive yarns in smart textiles.

FibreCoat launches ALUCOAT™, an aluminum-coated glass or basalt fibre which is suitable as electro-magnetic shielding material in automotive applications such as radar, antennas or for autonomous driving as well as for mobile phones and applications in buildings. Due to its extraordinary thermal conductivity and better heat transfer compared to traditional composite material, it can be used for the manufacturing of automotive battery trays or industrial applications such as fine particulate air filters.

ALUCOAT™ is available as of January 1st 2021 as a yarn, fabric or non-woven with a wide range of possible titers and areal weight. The material will offer an electrical conductivity of 100 Ωm and a working temperature of at least 400 °C. Furthermore, it can be used for the shielding of low to high frequencies with an effectiveness of 80 to 120 dB.

• Carbon fibers combined with injection molding replace conventional steel construction
• SGL Carbon supplies innovative carbon fiber profiles
• Serial use in a future high-volume model of BMW Group
• Construction method offers great potential for use in other automotive projects

Already in August, SGL Carbon received a multi-year order from Koller Kunststofftechnik GmbH for the production of novel carbon fiber profiles for serial use in windshields for a future high-volume model of BMW Group.

The profiles are particularly flexible fiber tows, pre-impregnated with thermoplastic resin in various dimensions. They will be compiled by SGL Carbon on the basis of its own 50k carbon fiber at its site in Innkreis, Austria, and subsequently processed by the injection molding experts at Koller to form a skeletal plastic component. The composite component will replace the previous steel-based windshield. Production of the carbon fiber profiles will start in the remainder of 2020 and will then be ramped up gradually over the next few years for the BMW Group model launch.

In the vehicle, the windshield is a connecting element between the roof frames and thus has an important stabilizing function. The carbon fiber profiles add the required stiffness and crash safety to the component. At the same time, they help to significantly reduce the weight of the roof and thus also support the driving dynamics. The injection molding process also enables particularly complex and material-efficient structures. In the BMW Group model, this innovative component concept will cut weight by 40 percent compared to conventional steel designs of the component while creating important space for cable ducts and sensors.

The production of the carbon fiber profiles themselves is also particularly geared to material and process efficiency in large-scale production. The profiles consist of several smaller fiber strands, the so-called rods, and are manufactured using the modern continuous pultrusion process. During product and process development it was one key objective to ensure that material loss during production is almost completely avoided.

"At SGL Carbon, we have been working on the development of thermoplastic carbon fiber profiles for use in injection molding for some time already. This development work is now beginning to pay off. Due to the many advantages and competitive costs, we see a great potential for the technology to be used in other automotive projects too," explains Sebastian Grasser, Head of the Automotive Segment in the Business Unit Composites - Fibers & Materials at SGL Carbon.

"Innovative lightweight construction with hybrid designs has developed into a strategically conclusive concept for Koller Group's OEM customers," confirms Max Koller, CEO of Koller Group. "SGL Carbon's high level of material expertise, combined with the process know-how of KOLLER Kunststofftechnik and KOLLER Formenbau, create the basis for a promising future in innovative lightweight construction technologies. With this order, the BMW Group has confirmed its confidence in the successful cooperation between SGL and Koller; we are particularly pleased about this", said Max Koller.
 
The Koller Group is a globally operating technology company with plants in Europe and China, as well as NAFTA. The Koller Group develops and manufactures lightweight construction, tools and serial components, primarily for the automotive industry.

• Significant improvement in the third quarter after COVID-19-related slump on the fiber market
• Measures for structural earnings improvement with positive impact
• Strategic investment projects remain on track
• Hygiene Austria joint venture: Successful growth and continued focus on certified protective masks
• Lenzing wins the Austrian State Prize for Innovation with LENZING™ Web Technology

Lenzing – In the first three quarters of 2020, the Lenzing Group successfully responded to the extremely difficult market environment of increased pressure on prices and volume due to the COVID-19 crisis by implementing a broad package of measures and remains fully on track in terms of its strategy. The cooperation with partners along the value chains was intensified and Lenzing was agile and flexible in adjusting production volume to demand. In addition, Lenzing also intensified measures for structural earnings improvement to mitigate the effect of the pressure on fiber prices and demand for fibers, and reduced its operating costs significantly as a result.

Please read the attached document for more information

The Cetex Institut gGmbH, the thermoPre ENGINEERING GmbH and The FilamentFactory GmbH cooperate in the development, production and marketing of novel hybrid materials. The cooperation agreement signed on October 2, 2020 in Chemnitz takes the collaboration to a new level. "We are pleased to be able to supply the hybrid rovings to the end user not only in an application-specific manner, but also to offer the engineering for subsequent component applications, including the prototyping of the FRP components," says Sebastian Nendel, Managing Director of Cetex.

Patented process for the production of hybrid rovings
In the last 3 years the Cetex Institute has developed a plant technology for the production of hybrid rovings. By means of the patented process, different material combinations can be produced according to customer specifications. Material combinations of reinforcing fibers (glass, basalt, carbon, aramid or high-strength polymer fibers) can be combined with matrix fibers (PP, PET, PA, PPS, PEEK), but also special combinations of different reinforcing fibers or the combination of reinforcing fibers with metal fibers. Advantages of the new hybrid roving are the torsion-free and completely stretched fiber layer and the associated optimal utilization of the properties of the reinforcing fibers, as well as a very good homogeneity, whereby excellent processing can be achieved in later process steps.

Series production as next step
The next goal is clearly defined: Under the agreement, the process is to be jointly developed further by the project partners and transferred to series production. These joint activities form the basis for many years of intensive cooperation in this new field.

On Thursday, September 24, the Lenzing Group, a leading manufacturer of wood-based cellulose specialty fibers, and Hof University opened a new Nonwoven Development Center (VEZ). As a strategic partner, Lenzing has access to a state-of-the-art development line at the campus in Münchberg with immediate effect. This offers new opportunities for sustainable fiber and nonwoven innovations for a wide range of applications including hygiene, body care and medical.

In line with the sCore TEN corporate strategy, the Lenzing Group is focusing on sustainable innovations, which are agreed in an optimum manner to the needs of the value chain. „We offer our customers and partners a decisive competitive advantage: agility. The pilot plant in the VEZ allows the resource-efficient development of fiber and nonwoven innovations on a small scale”, Jürgen Eizinger, Vice President Business Unit Nonwovens at Lenzing, explains.

The VEZ was completed according to schedule in September 2020, after Lenzing and the University of Hof signed a cooperation agreement for its use in 2019. The timing is perfect. Developments at political level, such as the directive (EU) 2019/904 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment, increase demand for responsibly manufactured nonwovens. The so-called Single-Use Plastics Directive aims at building awareness and greater transparency with regard to wet wipes and feminine hygiene products.

With its VEOCEL™ branded wood-based cellulose fibers, Lenzing has been laying the foundation for many years for sustainable nonwoven applications and will test and develop innovative ideas using the new possibilities offered by the VEZ. „We are noticing increasing interest in sustainable concepts from biodegradable cellulose fibers“, Jürgen Eizinger sums up the market development of the last months and adds: „We are aware that the fibers used have an enormous influence on the final product. For this reason our commitment goes beyond fiber production.“

With the spunlace pilot plant at the VEZ, Lenzing will support customers and partners more intensively in the development of new nonwoven applications and at the same time promote cooperation in the field of marketing. In the previous year, the company already established new certification standards for the VEOCEL™ brand. Since then certified manufacturers can only use the VEOCEL™ logo with blends of biodegradable cellulose fibers. With this measure, the VEOCEL™ brand allows consumers to make a more conscious product selection.

With its #ItsInOurHands environmental initiative, the VEOCEL™ brand also actively contributes to creating awareness. More detailed information can be obtained on itsinourhands.com.

As the first composites trade show worldwide since the Covid-19-crisis, the China Composites in Shanghai (September 2 to 4, 2020) took up its activity. The show counted about 600 exhibitors and over 20 000 visitors, mostly Chinese locals, attended the exhibition.

Chinese Reach Group under the lead of its president Daniel He represented a large portfolio of European companies and their recent developments through their cooperation with Dr. Michael Effing´s AMAC/Germany, among them Airborne (NL), Textechno (D) and Conbility (D).

Daniel He describes the situation: „The Chinese market is picking up again; a price increase of 7% for glass fibers was announced right before the China Composites Show, on August 25th 2020, which was even leading to a temporary material shortage. Today, the most booming industries in China are wind energy, building and infrastructure and innovation for electric cars. Unlike the rest of the world, where the aircraft industry undergoes a deep decline, in China it takes up by 50 %, which is very promising. Furthermore, we expect half a year for a full recovery of the industry, while the China growth of 2020 is still expected to be between 2 and 4 %.“

Michael Effing replied: “Enabling the composites business between China and Europe is the aim of our cooperation with Reach and with our customers, which are active in digital automatization, testing equipment or cost optimization software. We are very happy to have been present in China through our representant Reach and are looking forward to bridge and overcome the Covid-19-crisis with our upcoming event in Germany, the Composites for Europe in Stuttgart in November and hope to be back to full global business speed at the JEC in Paris in 2021.“

In the joint project "AeroFurnace" funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi), the consortium, consisting of the Bavarian Center for Applied Energy Research e.V. (ZAE Bayern) as joint coordinator, the furnace manufacturer FCT Systeme, and SGL Carbon has succeeded in improving the thermal insulation properties of a new composite material by up to 120 percent compared to commercially available felt-based carbon materials. This enabled the project partners to move into a new quality level of thermal insulation in high-temperature industrial applications and pave the way for more energy efficient thermal insulation.

Dr. Gudrun Reichenauer, coordinator of the joint project and head of the work group Nanomaterials at ZAE Bayern: "In this project, we have been able to make the latest findings from the world of nanomaterials accessible to the market through intensive cooperation and thus set new standards in the field of thermal insulation materials."

Dr. Thomas Kirschbaum, project manager at SGL Carbon: "In furnace simulations at the partner FCT, we have already been able to demonstrate what the new material can do: Depending on the temperature program, up to 40 percent of the required process energy can be saved with the new thermal insulation material. The potential of the new material is great." This prediction will be reviewed under real conditions in a demonstrator component in the second half of 2020 as part of the still ongoing BMWi project.

Dr. Jürgen Hennicke, project lead and head of R&D at FCT Systeme: "As a leading manufacturer of industrial vacuum or inert gas high temperature furnaces, the new generation of insulating materials enables us to create furnaces with a more favorable ratio of usable space to external dimensions, thus offering customers improved cost efficiency and productivity".

Based on laboratory samples in plate form it has already been demonstrated that the production of the new material can be represented by technically simple processes and is in principle well scalable. However, there is still a long way to go before the product is ready for serial production.

The third largest share of final energy in Germany is used for the generation of heat in industrial processes (22.6 percent). In many industries, e.g. in the steel and ceramics industry, energy-intensive high-temperature processes run above 1000°C – these alone require almost 50 percent of the industrial process heat. Suitable thermal insulation materials can significantly reduce energy demand while maintaining the same usable volume.

Following the successful commissioning of two new Monforts Montex wide-width stenter lines and additional environmental management equipment at its plant in Germany, GtA – Society for Textile Equipment GmbH – is aiming to be the first textile finishing company to become entirely CO2-neutral in the manufacture of all of its products by 2025.

GtA is a partner company to Germany’s large-format digital printing fabric leader, Georg and Otto Friedrich GmbH, which has has this year been able to considerably expand its portfolio due to the new Monforts lines.

Headquartered in Gross-Zimmern, close to Frankfurt, Georg and Otto Friedrich GmbH and its partners in Germany have an annual production of 37 million square metres of warp knits for a range of end-use applications, including garments, automotive interiors and technical textiles, but increasingly with a concentration on digital printing substrates.

Fault-free textiles

A new standard in pure white, 100% clean and fault-free textile substrates has been demanded by this market in recent years due to the rapid growth in digitally-printed banners and billboards – often referred to as ‘soft signage’.

The substrates of choice for digital printing are 100% polyester warp knits which are resilient and allow excellent take-up of inks, and vibrant colours and clear and precise images to be achieved with digital printing techniques. The knitted construction also has the advantage of elasticity, which is a plus in terms of flexibility for installers.

Critically, the warp knitted fabrics have extremely smooth surfaces which is becoming increasingly important due to the general move away from PVC coatings which were the standard in the past.

It was to finish these fabrics for Georg and Otto Friedrich GmbH as well as providing such services for many other customers, that the GtA plant in Neresheim, Baden-Württemberg, was established in 2015.

The purpose-built plant on a greenfield site was initially equipped with a fully-automated, 72 metre long Monforts installation comprising a washing machine integrated with a 3.6 metre wide, seven-chamber Montex stenter. The line quickly went from single to double shift production and then to 24/7 operation  to meet demand.

Expanded widths

Building on the success of this installation, GtA has now installed two more Montex stenter lines – both in expanded working widths of 5.6 metres and purpose-built at Montex GmbH in Austria.

A six-chamber Montex unit is combined with a washing machine to guarantee the purity of the substrates, while a five-chamber line is integrated with a wide-width coating machine. This new coating capability at GtA has led to a number of new additions to the Georg and Otto Friedrich DecoTex range for digital printing, including wide width fabrics with flame retardant, antimicrobial and non-slip finishes.

The new Montex stenter lines benefit from all of the latest innovations from Monforts, including the Smart Sensor system for the optimised maintenance planning of key mechanical wear components on the stenters. A comprehensive overview of the condition of all parts at any time is now available for operators within the highly intuitive Qualitex visualization software.

With Qualitex, all article-specific settings can be stored and the formulations for thousands of treatment processes called up again at any time. Individual operators can also personalise their dashboards with the most important machine functions and process parameters.

Environmental commitment

GtA is run by a seasoned team of textile professionals led by Managing Director Andreas Niess.

“We have received excellent service from Monforts from the outset and we were happy to place the order for these two new lines as part of our ongoing cooperation,” he says. “With all of the latest Monforts advances in technology we are fully in control of all production and quality parameters with these lines, as part of our significant commitment to innovative environmental technology.”

The GtA plant, which operates in near-cleanroom conditions, has also been equipped with proprietary technology to fully exploit the Monforts air-to-air heat recovery systems that are now standard with Montex stenters.

“Around 30 per cent of our investment volume at the site goes to energy-saving measures and we are sure that this commitment is worthwhile,” Mr Niess says. “As an example, our integrated heat recovery system fully exploits the waste heat from the process exhaust air and the burner exhaust gases of the Monforts stenters, allowing us to achieve an exhaust air temperature of  between 30 to 34°C, compared to what would conventionally be between 140 to 160°C. Another focus has been on exhaust air purification technology and here too, the latest technology has been installed with integrated heat recovery elements.”

This, he adds, saves 52% of the energy that would normally be used – equating to 5,800,000 KwH per year. The necessary audits for energy-efficient companies are also carried out annually.

In addition, GtA has purpose-designed the automatic chemical mixing and dosing systems that feed the padders for the key treatments that are carried out on the fabrics through the stenters.

The company is going further, however, in its pursuit of clean production and raw materials.

"We want to be an asset and not a burden on our immediate environment and therefore do not use any additives containing solvents," Mr Niess says. “We were the first to use fully halogen-free flame retardant chemistry, and we use bio-based, finely ground alumina products for the washing process instead of surfactants. PES polyester yarns made from recycled material are also increasingly used and the latest additions to our raw materials portfolio, the RC-Ocean products, are made from recycled sea plastic.

“We are now planning a combined heat and power plant for the production of electrical energy and heat and we will also build a photovoltaic system that converts solar radiation into electrical energy. GtA wants to be the first textile finishing company to be CO2-neutral in the manufacture of all of its products by 2025. The complete heat supply and heating for the 13,000 square metre production hall, as well as the office building and the hot water supply for the domestic water, is already energy-neutral. We are convinced that this commitment will pay off in the long term and our positive business development proves that sustainability and business profitability are perfectly compatible.”

In addition to the products for Georg and Otto Friedrich GmbH, GtA  offers its manufacturing capacities for other customers as a contract service.

All products are manufactured in accordance with Öko-Tex Standard 100, product class 1 and the company is also involved in the research and development of new sustainable manufacturing processes, in cooperation with many regional universities and funding project partners.