From the Sector

• 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.

• Carbios has succeeded in producing a 100% enzymatically recycled white PET fiber from colored textile waste
• At the same time, the company has produced the first 100% recycled PET bottles, that have successfully passed the food contact validation tests, from the same textile waste.
• Carbios received €827,200 for the validation of this final technical stage of the project co-funded by ADEME

Carbios announced the validation of the 3^rd and final technical step of the CE-PET research project, co-funded by ADEME3 (France’s Environment and Energy Management Agency), for which Carbios is the lead partner alongside its academic partner TWB. This achievement confirms, once again, the full potential and breadth of Carbios’ enzymatic recycling process, C-ZYME™. This breakthrough innovation makes it possible to produce a wide variety of products of equivalent quality to those of petro-sourced origin from any PET waste, including textiles.
 
The first white PET fiber recycled enzymatically from colored textile waste
Worldwide, around 90 million tons of PET are produced each year, more than 2/3 of which are used to manufacture fibers. However, only 13% of textile waste is currently recycled, mainly for downcycling, i.e. for lower quality applications (such as padding, insulators or rags). By successfully manufacturing at pilot scale a white PET fiber that is 100% enzymatically recycled from colored textile waste, Carbios is paving the way for the circular economy in the textile industry.  C-ZYME™ is now on the doorstep of industrialization and will soon enable the biggest brands to move closer to their sustainability goals.
 
Emmanuel Ladent, Chief Executive Officer of Carbios: « Thanks to our breakthrough process, it will soon be possible to manufacture, on a large scale, t-shirts or bottles using polyester textile waste as raw material. This is a major breakthrough that gives value to waste that currently has little or no value. It is a concrete solution that opens up a global market of 60 million tons per year of potential raw materials and will help to reduce the use of fossil resources. »
 
Separate collection of textile waste soon to be mandatory in Europe
From 1 January 2025 the separate collection of textile waste, which is already in place in some countries, will be mandatory for all EU Member States (European Directive 2018/851 on waste).  Carbios’ process will enable this waste to be sustainably recovered and included in a true circular economy model.
 
These technological validations were carried out as part of the CE-PET research project, co-funded by ADEME3. In particular, the project aimed to develop Carbios’ enzymatic PET recycling process on textile waste. The C-ZYME™ technology is complementary to thermomechanical recycling and will make it possible to process plastic and textile waste deposits that are currently not or poorly recovered. For the validation of this stage of the project, Carbios received €827,200 (€206,800 in grants and €620,400 in repayable advances).

• The adidas TERREX HS1 is the first product created in partnership with textile material company, Spinnova
• Part of the hoodie’s fabric is made from wood-based fibres
• The adidas TERREX HS1 is a step on adidas’ journey to create nine out of 10 articles with a more sustainable technology, materials, design or manufacturing method by 2025

Eight months after adidas announced its partnership with Finnish textile material company Spinnova, the brand has unveiled its first product made in part with Spinnova fibres.

Composed of a minimum of 25% wood-based fibres and 75% organic cotton, the adidas TERREX HS1 is a mid-layer for hikers that sees adidas exploring a more sustainable textile solution.

adidas is committed to helping end plastic waste via a three-loop strategy that consists of using recycled materials, materials that can be remade into entirely new products, and, in the case of Made with Nature, products created in part with natural ingredients, such as the adidas TERREX HS1. Its outdoor brand, adidas TERREX , is leading the innovation of technical materials with the aim of helping drive better product solutions for adventurers in nature while ensuring there is no compromise on style or performance .

By 2025, nine out of 10 adidas articles will carry a more sustainable technology, material, design, or method of manufacturing and adidas’ partnership with Spinnova is a major part of this journey.

Over 400 employees work hard every day to improve the environmental performance of Radici Yarn’s site. Through teamwork and continuous improvement in energy efficiency, Radici Yarn has obtained ISO 50001 Energy Management Systems certification, which attests to the organization’s commitment to contain and progressively reduce energy consumption.

Radici Yarn, one of the companies in the RadiciGroup Advanced Textile Solutions Business Area, is engaged in the production and sale of polyamide 6 polymer, PA6 and PA66 continuous filament and staple yarn, and other synthetic fibres, including products made of recycled or bio-based materials.

All the processes - polymerization and spinning (Villa d'Ogna plant), as well as warping and draw-warping (Ardesio plant) - are run under constant monitoring with the goal of achieving maximum energy efficiency and lower consumption. Both sites are powered by two hydroelectric power plants owned by Geogreen, a RadiciGroup partner and energy supplier. The share of energy consumption from renewable sources and reduced environmental impact (natural gas) sources  is constantly increasing.

The energy issue has always been a priority for Radici Yarn, whose products serve numerous sectors, including automotive, clothing and furnishings.

"Already at the beginning of the 1990s, Radici Yarn started investing in cogeneration, the simultaneous production of electricity and steam,” pointed out Laura Ravasio, energy manager of Radici Yarn SpA. “We have recently started up an advanced trigeneration plant – a highly efficient system that produces not only electricity and steam, but also chilled water for our production processes. One of the first results recorded in 2021 was a 30% reduction in water consumption. Thus, ISO 50001 certification seemed like the next logical step to take in formalizing a long-term approach to energy.”

The ISO 50001 certification, which is voluntary and valid for a period of three years, was added to the ISO 14001 Environmental and ISO 9001 Quality Management system certifications previously achieved by Radici Yarn.

Building a strong future. B.I.G. Yarns reveals significant investment in its next-generation Polyamide (PA) technology to help global carpet tile manufacturers meet the demands of the contract market. In addition to this key investment, the company also announces its decision to become a new producer of polyester (PET) yarns for the automotive industry.

The two announcements reinforce the business’ leadership in yarn innovation and commitment to being at the forefront of supporting changing end-market needs.

B.I.G Yarns is stepping up its focus on developing and producing one-step 3Ply PA yarns using next-generation technology to answer needs for flexibility and broader design options in the carpet tile segment. Total production capacity for one-step 3Ply yarns will increase by > 20% through new lines installed at the plant in France, creating higher output and greater supply security by serving customers from all three of its global plants.

The new lines use B.I.G. Yarns’ cutting-edge PA yarn technology which expands design, contrast and colour freedoms for carpet tile manufacturers, and increases flexibility in lot sizes. These advances enable customers to respond quickly to developments in the contract market. In addition, the new technology features a higher level of automation which improves ergonomics for B.I.G. Yarns’ employees. Importantly, it also optimizes energy use which contributes in energy savings at the French site specifically. The new production lines will be deployed from mid-2022.

To enhance support for a future of more sustainable automotive interiors, B.I.G. Yarns will enter into PET yarn production for the first time and offer a portfolio of PET yarns by the third quarter of 2022. These will be available for automotive applications alongside its EqoCycle® recycled-based PA6 yarns.

The AVK – Industrievereinigung Verstärkte Kunststoffe – has once again presented its Innovation Awards to companies, institutes and their partners. Three composites innovations were recognised in each of the three categories – “Innovative Products/Applications”, “Innovative Processes” and “Research and Science” – at the new event JEC Forum DACH on 23 November 2021, the first edition of which was held in Frankfurt.

“As usual, the submissions included a lot of very interesting and promising products and processes this year. The Innovation Awards highlight the outstanding efficiency, cost-effectiveness and sustainability of fibre-reinforced plastics as well as the companies and institutes operating in the sector,” explains Dr. Elmar Witten, Managing Director of the AVK. The jury of leading experts from the industry honoured the following innovations this year:

Category “Research and Science”
First place in the “Research and Science” category was awarded to the German Aerospace Center (DLR) for its Bondline Control Technology (BCT). This innovative process is used for quality control and assurance of bonded joints. The core element is a porous fabric which is applied to a joining surface using an epoxy adhesive or matrix resin. Peeling away the fabric creates a chemically reactive and undercut surface and can also be used as a test to check adhesion to the substrate. BCT has potential in a variety of possible applications. For example, peel ply can be replaced by BCT fabric to produce composite components with an optimised joining surface. The cost-effective BCT peel test is suitable for coupon testing and process control. In addition, the combined adhesion test and surface pre-treatment can be used for quality assurance of bonded repairs on fibre composite structures.

Second place was taken by the Institute of Textile Technology (ITA) at RWTH Aachen University and its partners AEROVIDE GmbH, Altropol Kunststoff GmbH, Basamentwerke Böcke GmbH, TechnoCarbon Technologies GbR with “StoneBlade – Lightweight construction with granite for the wind industry”. This innovation enables manufacturers to reduce the amount of non-recyclable materials used in rotor blade construction. At the same time, it reduces the weight of these components and improves the mechanical properties relating to the stability of wind turbines. The innovative approach replaces glass-fibre reinforced plastic in the blade components with hard rock – a natural, cost-effective and recyclable lightweight material. The slabs of rock are cut and ground to a thickness of just a few millimetres and embedded in a fibre composite laminate with carbon fibre, which stabilises them for alternating load cases. The pre-stressed material is pressure-stable in the composite and can absorb tensile forces in the event of continuously alternating loads without any loss of stiffness.

Third place went to the Dresden University of Technology – Institute for Lightweight Construction and Plastics Technology (ILK) with its partner Mercedes Benz AG for the interdisciplinary development of a highly integrated inductive charging module for electric vehicles. The ultra-thin charging module was designed to make optimum use of space in the vehicle underbody without reducing ground clearance. An interdisciplinary approach was adopted for the development process. This involved the electrical, mechanical and process characterisation of high-frequency Litz wires, ferromagnetic foil and metal wire cloth as well as the creation of a simulation model. The result is a demonstrator for a charging system with a structural height of 15 mm and a total weight of 8 kg. It achieves a transmission efficiency of up to 92 percent at 7.2 kW nominal power and active air cooling. The hardware demonstrator was fabricated in a 3-step process using RTM and VARI techniques.

Overview of all the winners in the three categories:
Category “Innovative Products/Applications”
1st Place: “Traffic signs from Nabasco (N-BMC)” – Nabasco Products BV and Lorenz Kunststofftechnik GmbH, partners: Pol Heteren BV and NPSP BV
2nd Place: “Novel, ultratough vinyl ester resin for the construction of large marine vessels” Evonik Operations GmbH
3rd Place: “Air intake housing with a multi-material design for gas turbines” – MAN Energy Solutions SE, Leichtbau-Zentrum Sachsen GmbH and Leichtbau-Systemtechnologien KORROPOL GmbH.
Category “Innovative Processes”
1st Place: “In-mould wrapping” off-tool, film-coated, fibre composite components for exterior applications – BMW Group, Partner: Renolit SE
2nd Place: “Adaptive automated repair of composite structural components in the aviation sector” – Lufthansa Technik AG, Partner: iSAM AG
3rd Place: “Automated surface pre-treatment using VUV excimer lamps” – CTC GmbH
Category “Research and Science”
1st Place: “Bondline Control Technology (BCT)” – German Aerospace Center (DLR)
2nd Place: “StoneBlade – Lightweight construction with granite for the wind industry” – Institute of Textile Technology at RWTH Aachen University, Partners: AEROVIDE GmbH, Altropol Kunststoff GmbH, Basamentwerke Böcke GmbH, TechnoCarbon Technologies GbR
3rd Place: “Interdisciplinary development of a highly integrated inductive charging module for electric vehicles” – Dresden University of Technology – Institute for Lightweight Construction and Plastics Technology (ILK), Partner: Mercedes Benz AG

Submissions for the next Innovation Award can be made from the end of January 2022.

The Indorama Mobility Group, a manufacturer of industrial fibers, cords and fabrics, - like other companies - is confronted with significant inflation since the beginning of the year. The global economy has gradually recovered in 2021 from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, but is still experiencing very volatile market conditions: The global freight remains unreliable and expensive, cost for energy and global commodities is increasing, and the increasing focus on sustainability and environmental impact is driving compliance cost upward in most part of the world.

In detail:

• Utilities: gas price has tripled in the past few months in Europe (from a level of 15 EUR/MWh in Q4’20 to 45 EUR/MWh recently), while increasing by 50% in USA
• CO₂ emissions and compliance cost: prices for CO₂ certificates in Europe have almost doubled, approaching 60 EUR/ton from 30 EUR/ton at the end of last year, while regulations continue to expand the need for CO2 compensation
• Chemicals and additives (spinfinish, dip chemicals, coating & laminating chemicals): cost have increased by 5%
• Packaging: prices for standard packaging materials have increased by more than 30%
• Logistic: despite our local manufacturing footprint which is not fully affected by global freight issues, the regional logistic costs are also increasing up to 20% (road transport)

Despite constant efforts to optimise the cost structure through comprehensive initiatives to improve operations, cost increases have now reached a level, the group said, that can no longer be offset and must be passed on to the market. This is a necessary step to be able to continue supplying high-quality products and services of the broad product portfolio, it said.

• Ramping Up Production of American-Made Polyester Tipped Swabs

The Biden Administration has awarded a contract for $6.5 million to U.S. Cotton LLC, the largest manufacturer of cotton swabs in the United States, to increase domestic production capability for polyester tipped swabs for home testing kits and mass testing applications to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.  Since the beginning of the pandemic, U.S. Cotton has retooled operations to produce over 400 million COVID testing kit swabs.

The Department of Defense (DOD), in coordination with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), announced the award today as part of the administration’s broader effort to increase domestic production capability for essential medical supplies.

U.S. Cotton, based in Cleveland, Ohio, said the company will increase its production capacity from 92 million polyester swab tips per month to approximately 371 million polyester swab tips per month by May 2022 to support domestic COVID-19 testing. The DOD contract award was funded through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to support the domestic industry base expansion for critical medical resources.

John Nims, President of U.S. Cotton said, “We are proud to be involved in a national effort to help deploy these testing kit swabs for the American people. These swabs are designed to make it easier for people at home to self-administer coronavirus tests and will also be used for mass testing applications, which is critically important. We greatly appreciate the collaboration with DOD and HHS to ramp up essential capacity of polyester-based synthetic swabs that will help in the fight against the pandemic.

“We continue to step up to meet our nation’s critical need for American-made coronavirus testing kit swabs on a massive scale. It is an honor to work with our government to help fight this pandemic and use our innovative technologies based here in the United States to fill a national and global demand for testing kits. I especially want to thank Senator Brown and Senator Portman for all their incredible support to help us retool and expand our operations in Cleveland. We can’t thank them enough for their tireless work and also want to recognize their hard working staff. As the Delta variant surges across the country, this timely investment will help in the fight against COVID by adding this much-needed, long-term surge capacity.”

Kim Glas, President and CEO of NCTO, said, “We want to sincerely thank President Biden, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Health and Human Services for leading this critical industrial expansion effort. We appreciate the administration’s commitment to expand the U.S. industrial base for these essential products.  We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to onshore these critical supply chains long-term and we look forward to working with the administration and Congress to advance long-term solutions.”

• Full utilization of production capacity possible at the site
• New EU environmental requirements will be fully and promptly satisfied starting in 2024

The Lenzing Group, a global provider of wood-based specialty fibers for the textile and nonwoven industries, is investing GBP 20 mn (equal to EUR 23.3 mn) to build a new, state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plant at its site in Grimsby, United Kingdom. The investment is part of the company’s plans to reduce wastewater emissions by 2022.

Once it has implemented this project, Lenzing will have biological wastewater treatment plants that meet the best available techniques (BAT) quality standard at all its production sites. The plant design, which will employ a new technology developed as part of a research project, is fully aligned with the UK regulator and supported by the local authorities.

The site’s current wastewater situation complies fully with the EU Water Framework Directive as well as all local laws and regulations. The investment has been approved by the Supervisory Board, ensuring that construction can start this year and the plant will be commissioned well before the UK-ratified EU directive1 goes into effect. This will be the largest investment since opening this lyocell site, which manufactures premium products for technical and innovative market segments, among other things.

Responsible water use
After modernizing the wastewater treatment plant at the company’s Purwakarta site in Indonesia, the construction of the new plant in Grimsby marks another big step toward reducing the Group’s wastewater emissions 20 percent by 2022 (against a 2014 baseline). Responsible water use is one of the core elements of Lenzing’s “Naturally positive” sustainability strategy and is largely executed by using water efficiently in manufacturing and employing state-of-the-art water treatment technologies.

SUPREME GREEN COTTON®, the water-saving smart-tech yarn by Varvaressos has been chosen by Diesel, Champ Blanc and Muntagnard, and won the Gold Award at the Greek Exports Forum & Awards 2020.

Thanks to a pioneering satellite-powered drip irrigation system, SUPREME GREEN COTTON® saves up to 40% of water. The range of yarns is entirely Made in Europe and comes with influential sustainable verifications. The MADE IN GREEN by OEKO-TEX® label guarantees that the yarns have been tested for harmful substances and manufactured using sustainable processes under socially responsible working conditions in accordance with STeP by OEKO-TEX®. Complete transparency and traceability are guaranteed throughout the whole production and supply chain by the unique diafania SI platform, powered via blockchain technology.

Global clothing and lifestyle Italian premium jeans brand Diesel stands out for its unique mindset and sustainable imprint. That’s why it chose SUPREME GREEN COTTON® for its collection ‘Green Label’ and ‘NightCrush’ as well as its ‘Malign’ jersey T-shirts, available in two different colours and prints.

Thee Swiss brand Muntagnard believes in «sustainability» as a powerful lever for innovative solutions for people who go their own way and think outside the box to advance sustainable development. Muntagnard rethinks textiles - from the sewing thread to the label – selecting only sustainable materials and minimizing the use of plastic to the bone while seeking sensible, biodegradable textile alternatives. The MANGOLA collection of T-sets is 100% made of SUPREME GREEN COTTON®.

CHAMP BLANC is a responsible French brand renown for its ready-to-wear men clothing and for its strong commitment to traceability. The brand has been working for nearly 8 months on the design of the "Traceable T-shirt" made of 100% SUPREME GREEN COTTON®. The result is a high quality and finishing t-shirt to make it last. By relying on existing technologies, the entire production chain is traceable and can be discover thanks a QR-code on the label.

SUPREME GREEN COTTON® has also been bestowed with the influential Gold Award in the “Top Branded Export Product” category of the Greek Exports Forum & Awards 2020