From the Sector

Sappi, a leading provider of sustainable woodfibre-based packaging materials, is expanding production of its successful Fusion Topliner grade to its flagship mill in Gratkorn, Austria. The Fusion Topliner – a white virgin fibre liner for high-quality corrugated packaging – will also continue to be manufactured at Sappi’s Ehingen mill in Germany. With this project, Sappi isn’t just expanding its production capacity in the corrugated board business. By offering the same product quality from both mills, Sappi is bringing production closer to its customers – to guarantee a sustainable and short supply chain in the heart of Europe.

• Sappi’s Fusion Topliner virgin fibre liner strengthens brand image and impact, and demand continues to grow
• Capacities are now being expanded through significant investment at Gratkorn mill, Austria
• Volumes will be enlarged in the next months to ensure reliable customer supply

Just a decade ago, there were only two options on the market for coated white corrugated liners: either kraft liner made from high-quality raw materials and with a very low recycled content, or test liner, which consists almost exclusively of recycled paper. As an alternative, Sappi developed its Fusion Topliner, now the most widely used corrugated liner made from pure virgin fibre. It is recommended for applications such as premium quality consumer goods packaging and POS displays – where high visual impact and differentiation are key. The product also stands out with exceptional strength and versatility.

Sappi’s Fusion Topliner has been successful on the market for many years. Demand for the product has continued to grow, due to its exceptional characteristics for print quality and finishing. Production is now being expanded from the German mill in Ehingen to include Sappi’s flagship mill in Gratkorn. The available capacities are now being expanded to include the production of Fusion Topliner in addition to existing graphic papers. Volume availability will be increased month by month to support the expected growth of our customers, and to satisfy large requirements in the corrugated board business.

Promising conditions in the technical textiles and nonwovens market are expected to provide ample opportunities for suppliers at this year’s Cinte Techtextil China. The fair, which last year saw 366 exhibitors and 14,868 visits, will take place from 6 – 8 September 2022 at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre. Flexible exhibiting options will once again be available for overseas companies.

Ms Wendy Wen, Senior General Manager of Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd, explained the positive conditions that exhibitors should expect at the fair thusly: “The pandemic has led to a surge in Chinese exports of both technical textiles and nonwovens, the latter in particular. The country remains the largest supplier of nonwovens, comprising one-third of the global total, yet still requires the advanced offerings of overseas machinery suppliers, as well as supplies of raw materials, to support its export production.”

Ms Wen continued: “Domestically, China is seeing increasing consumption of functional apparel, sportswear and personal protection items. Heightened health and sanitary regulations and new hygiene habits will also continue to drive demand, especially for nonwovens, well into the future. There has also been a post-pandemic boost in demand for filter, greenhouse covering and high-density fabrics amongst others. All of this adds up to a wealth of opportunities for overseas companies to take advantage of, as was experienced in the 2021 edition of the fair.”

Exhibitor and visitor experiences in 2021
“Our organisation promotes US cotton and we hope to use this platform to meet more companies and brands in the nonwovens industry who are interested in US cotton, and to meet up with old friends to discuss the current situation and industry trends. We also found some new potential clients this time.” Mr Eric Ni, Senior Manager, China Supply Chain Marketing, Fabrics, Garments and Nonwovens, Cotton Council International, USA

“Cinte Techtextil China is a professional exhibition that brings together cutting-edge technologies and products, allowing us to quickly learn about innovative technology trends in the industry. I’ve been particularly impressed by the biodegradable products in the Innovation Showcase. In addition, I am sourcing mask-related products and mops, and I have found some companies that I’m interested in.” Ms Claire Zhang, Senior Scientist, Personal Health, Philips Research China, Philips (China) Investment Co Ltd, China

• More than 30 leading pioneers of the chemical and material sector welcome the latest political papers from Brussels, Berlin and Düsseldorf

The political situation for renewable carbon from biomass, CO2 and recycling for the defossilisation of the chemical and materials industry has begun to shift fundamentally in Europe. For the first time, important policy papers from Brussels and Germany take into consideration that the term decarbonisation alone is not sufficient, and that there are important industrial sectors with a permanent and even growing carbon demand. Finally, the need for a sustainable coverage of this carbon demand and the realisation of sustainable carbon cycles have been identified on the political stage. They are elemental to the realisation of a sustainable chemical and derived materials industry.

The goal is to create sustainable carbon cycles. This requires comprehensive carbon management of renewable sources, which includes carbon from biomass, carbon from Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU) – the industrial use of CO2 as an integral part – as well as mechanical and chemical recycling. And only the use of all alternative carbon streams enables a true decoupling of the chemical and materials sector from additional fossil carbon from the ground. Only in this way can the chemical industry stay the backbone of modern society and transform into a sustainable sector that enables the achievement of global climate goals. The Renewable Carbon Initiative’s (RCI) major aim is to support the smart transition from fossil to renewable carbon: utilising carbon from biomass, CO2 and recycling instead of additional fossil carbon from the ground. This is crucial because 72% of the human-made greenhouse gas emissions are directly linked to additional fossil carbon. The RCI supports all renewable carbon sources available, but the political support is fragmented and differs between carbon from biomass, recycling or carbon capture and utilisation (CCU). Especially CCU has so far not been a strategic objective in the Green Deal and Fit-for-55.

This will change fundamentally with the European Commission's communication paper on “Sustainable Carbon Cycles” published on 15 December. The position in the paper represents an essential step forward that shows embedded carbon has reached the political mainstream – supported by recent opinions from members of the European parliament and also, apparently, by the upcoming IPCC assessment report 6. Now, CCU becomes a recognised and credible solution for sustainable carbon cycles and a potentially sustainable option for the chemical and  material industries. Also, in the political discussions in Brussels, the term “defossilation” is appearing more and more often, complementing or replacing the term decarbonisation in those areas where carbon is indispensable. MEP Maria da Graça Carvahlo is among a number of politicians in Brussels who perceive CCU as an important future industry, putting it on the political map and creating momentum for CCU. This includes the integration of CCU into the new Carbon Removal Regime and the Emission Trading System (ETS).

As the new policy documents are fully in line with the strategy of the RCI, the more than 30 member companies of the initiative are highly supportive of this new development and are ready to support policy-maker with data and detailed suggestions for active support and the realisation of sustainable carbon cycles and a sound carbon management. The recent political papers of relevance are highlighted in the following.

Brussels: Communication paper on “Sustainable Carbon Cycles”
On 15 December, the European Commission has published the communication paper “Sustainable Carbon Cycles” . For the first time, the importance of carbon in different industrial sectors is clearly stated. One of the key statements in the paper is the full recognition of CCU for the first time as a solution for the circular economy, which includes CCU-based fuels as well. The communication paper distinguishes between bio-based CO2, fossil CO2 and CO2 from direct air capture when addressing carbon removal and it also announces detailed monitoring of the different CO2 streams. Not only CCU, but also carbon from the bioeconomy is registered as an important pillar for the future. Here, the term carbon farming has been newly introduced, which refers to improved land management practices that result in an increase of carbon sequestration in living biomass, dead organic matter or soils by enhancing carbon capture or reducing the release of carbon. Even though the list of nature-based carbon storage technologies is non-exhaustive in our view, we strongly support the paper’s idea to deem sustainable land and forest management as a basis for the bioeconomy more important than solely considering land use as a carbon sink. Surprisingly, chemical recycling, which is also an alternative carbon source that substitutes additional fossil carbon from the ground (i.e. carbon from crude oil, natural gas or from coal), is completely absent from the communication paper.

Berlin: Coalition paper of the new German Government: “Dare more progress – alliance for freedom, justice and sustainability”
The whole of Europe is waiting to see how the new German government of Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals will shape the German climate policy. The new reform agenda focuses in particular on solar and wind energy as well as especially hydrogen. Solar energy is to be expanded to 200 GW by 2030 and two percent of the country's land is to be designated for onshore wind energy. A hydrogen grid infrastructure is to be created for green hydrogen, which will form the backbone of the energy system of the future – and is also needed for e-fuels and sustainable chemical industry, a clear commitment to CCU. There is a further focus on the topic of circular economy and recycling. A higher recycling quota and a product-specific minimum quota for the use of recyclates and secondary raw materials should be established at European level. In the coalition paper, there is also a clear commitment to chemical recycling to be found. A significant change for the industry is planned to occur in regards to the so-called “plastic tax” of 80 cents per kilogram of non-recycled plastic packaging. This tax has been implemented by the EU, but most countries are not passing on this tax to the manufacturers and distributors, or only to a limited extent. The new German government now plans to fully transfer this tax over to the industry.

Düsseldorf: Carbon can protect the climate – Carbon Management Strategy North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW)
Lastly, the RCI highly welcomes North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW, Germany) as the first region worldwide to adopt a comprehensive carbon management strategy, a foundation for the transformation from using additional fossil carbon from the ground to the utilisation of renewable carbon from biomass, CO2 and recycling. For all three alternative carbon streams, separate detailed strategies are being developed to achieve the defossilisation of the industry. This is all the more remarkable as North Rhine-Westphalia is the federal state with the strongest industry in Germany, in particular the chemical industry. And it is here, of all places, that a first master plan for the conversion of industry from fossil carbon to biomass, CO2 and recycling is implemented. If successful, NRW could become a global leader in sustainable carbon
management and the region could become a blueprint for many industrial regions.

Over the past 14 days, the wholesale cost of natural gas in Germany has risen by more than 50%. This increase presents an extraordinary challenge for industry, and there is no sign of support or intervention from the Government. Indeed, recent statements are destined to provoke a worsening of the situation.

Kelheim Fibres is entirely dependent on natural gas for the generation of electrical energy and steam and has no viable short-term alternatives. In addition, the raw materials used by the company often consume high levels of energy in their production and are also increasing significantly in cost. These increases in cost jeopardise the future of the business if they cannot be passed on though the supply chain.

Kelheim Fibres is calling on the Government of Germany to take immediate steps to mitigate the impact of the cost increases for natural gas and is committed to work to implement alternative sources of energy in the medium term.

In parallel, the disruption to global logistic networks that has been seen throughout 2021 is now expected to continue throughout 2022. Massive increases in shipping rates – in some cases in excess of 80% – are being imposed without notice and with no opportunity for negotiation. These costs must also be passed on though the supply chain if businesses are to remain viable.

To address these issues, Kelheim Fibres is implementing the following measures with immediate effect:

• The increased cost of energy and freight will be passed on in prices to customers at the soonest opportunity;
• If necessary, changes or adjustments to existing agreements will be negotiated to reflect the increased cost levels;
• If the necessary increase in fibre prices cannot be secured, cuts to production will be implemented with the objective of minimising losses until the cost increases can be mitigated.

As the drivers for the increases in natural gas prices appear to be temporary in nature, we will maintain any price adjustments under review and pass on any relief to customers.

Craig Barker, CEO of Kelheim Fibres, describes the current situation as critical. “The cost increases we are facing are unprecedented and call for swift and decisive action. We are determined to take the necessary steps to preserve the future of our business and provide security of supply for our customers. At the same time, we are relying on the support of our customers to help us conquer the challenges our business is facing.”

• JEC Group announces theme for JEC World 2022 and reaffirms global leadership in composites innovation, business and networking

JEC World, the leading global trade show dedicated to composite materials, their manufacturing technologies and application markets, will take place in Paris from March 8-10, 2022, under the theme Composites for a Sustainable World. JEC World 2022 will be the industry’s most awaited international face to face event after the long pandemic period. Exhibition space is already 98% booked, a clear demonstration of the industry’s commitment to meet and resume business. Those unable to join in person will be able to experience the show via the JEC World Connect digital platform.

“We are looking forward to welcoming our exhibitors, partners and visitors back to Paris to resume business and promote innovation,” comments Thomas Lepretre, VP Events, Sales and Operations of JEC Group. “JEC World will bring the composites industry together to showcase the sustainability benefits of composite materials to a global audience, and to provide a stimulating meeting-place for the industry to pursue its sustainability ambitions by exchanging knowledge, forging collaborations, and imagining new concepts to protect our environment.”

• JEC World a unique get-together on sustainability throughout the product lifecycle
• JEC World a real composites “think tank”
• JEC World 2022 will demonstrate how sustainable thinking is at the heart of the innovative designs, technologies and business models driving the development of the next generation of composites applications.

Four conferences will be held over the three days, focusing on:

• Sustainability of Raw Materials for Composites: Fueling the Circular Revolution
• Rethinking Composite Materials Production: The Path to Sustainable Manufacturing
• Design for Circular Composite Products: Turning Waste, Recycling & Reuse into Opportunities
• Applications of Composite Materials for Circularity: Towards a Net-Zero World

Innovation is in JEC World’s DNA
One of JEC World’s objective’s is to promote the composites sector’s most innovative projects. More than 600 product launches are expected to be announced over the three days of the show, which will also feature JEC’s high-regarded innovation challenges and awards ceremonies :

• The JEC Composites Innovation Awards celebrate innovative global composite projects, as well as fruitful collaborations between different players in the value chain. Over more than 15 years, the JEC Composites Innovation Awards have highlighted collaborations between some 1,900 companies and recognized 203 creative projects. The winners will be announced on March 7th during a dedicated ceremony and their successful technologies will be on display throughout the show.

• The JEC Composites Startup Booster is the leading startup competition in the world of composites. In 2022, this competition will celebrate its fifth anniversary, with a special event to be organized onsite and the launch of a new “sustainability” award. And, with 20 finalists for 2022, it will recognize innovations with the greatest potential market impact and promote them to an influential audience of decision-makers. The finalists’ innovations will be displayed at JEC World’s “Startup Village.”

• For the first time, JEC World will host the 3rd edition of the SMC BMC Design Award organized by the European Alliance for SMC BMC. This international competition recognizes and promotes design excellence in the use of SMC and BMC materials. The theme of this edition is Sustainable Living, and the award is opento design students and young design professionals (less than 3 years of experience) living in Europe.

International technology group ANDRITZ will present its innovative nonwovens and textile technologies at the booth of its Indian representative PRN Techtex at Techtextil India 2021 in Mumbai, India, from November 25 to 27, 2021. A special focus will lie on its technologies for air-through bonding, needlepunch, textile recycling, and processes for biodegradable wipes, like spunlace and WetlaceTM.

Air-through Bonding
Air-through-bonding lines are the preferred choice for producing nonwovens with the best quality of softness and bulk for acquisition distribution layers, top sheets, and back-sheet products. With ANDRITZ carding machines and the new flat belt oven, customers benefit from high-performance fabrics from 16 to 80 gsm, produced with bicomponent fibers. Several Chinese customers have already invested in ANDRITZ aXcess carding machines, which provide perfect web uniformity. In addition, the CETI (European Center for Innovative Textiles) in Lille, France, has installed an air-through-bonding oven from ANDRITZ.

Textil-recycling Technologies
Recently, ANDRITZ acquired Laroche SAS, a leading supplier of fiber processing technologies such as opening, blending, dosing, airlay web forming, textile waste recycling, and decortication of bast fibers. The product portfolio further complements and increases the ANDRITZ Nonwoven product range. One focus of this product range lies on complete recycling lines for post-consumer and industrial textile waste to produce fibers for re-spinning and/or nonwoven end uses.

Needlepunch Technologies
Driven by the dynamic market for durable nonwovens, ANDRITZ has developed an elliptical pre-cylinder tacker – the PA3000. With this modern machine, ANDRITZ is responding to customer demands for higher capacities and lighter products. The PA3000 is an optimized cylinder pre-needleloom, which offers greater speeds and widths and has been specially developed for lighter webs. There is no friction between the web and the rolls, and there are no issues with the visual appearance.

ANDRITZ is also focusing on its latest needling technology for producing veloured felts, mainly for applications in the automotive industry.

In addition, ANDRITZ will be presenting the next generation of its batt-forming technology, the ProWin system. ProWin is a further development of ProDynTM and ProWidTM, which have achieved a high level of acceptance on the market with around 200 systems installed. This technology improves the current weight-profiling options and increases the actual production capacity.

Production of Bio-Wipes
For many years now, ANDRITZ has offered different nonwoven processes, such as spunlace and Wetlace, with one goal in mind: reduction and elimination of plastic raw materials while maintaining the high quality of the desired product properties. The latest development in this field is the ANDRITZ neXline wetlace CP line. This is a fully engineered production line, combining the benefits of wetlaid and drylaid technologies to produce a new generation of biodegradable wipes. This process achieves high performance entirely with plastic-free raw materials. The added benefit of using a blend of fibers, like wood pulp, short-cut cellulosic fibers, viscose, cotton, hemp, bamboo, or linen, without chemical additives, results in a 100% sustainable fabric.

In the Canopy’s 2021 Hot Button Ranking, Kelheim Fibres once again occupies a leading position: With a increase of 2.5 points in the evaluation, the Bavarian viscose speciality fibre manufacturer tied for third place out of around 40 viscose fibre manufacturers worldwide and a dark green/green shirt for the second year running. The Hot Button Report not only stands for responsible raw material sourcing - it is an overall sustainability indicator for viscose fibre producers.

Especially in the areas of transparency and procurement, the NGO Canopy, which is committed to the preservation of ancient and endangered forests, awarded Kelheim Fibres top points: Kelheim Fibres is the only EMAS-certified viscose fibre manufacturer worldwide and publishes all environmentally relevant data publicly.

Kelheim Fibres also gained points in the area of "Next Generation Solutions" - the use of alternative raw materials in fibre production. Together with the Swedish textile recycling company Renewcell, the fibre experts are planning to realise the large-scale production of high-quality viscose fibres from up to 10,000 tonnes of the 100% textile recyclate Circulose® per year.

In 2021, Berto Industria Tessile embarked on a series of journeys through the denim supply chain, touching both B2B and B2C worlds.

The first journey of this adventure, aimed at discovering and publicizing the world of indigo and, began by talking about the collaboration with the turkish garment maker blue matters creating a green collection to be proposed to the world's top brands, continuing with “su mirura project” in the second chapter.
This project has its objective in supports, with a ready on stock fabrics, (which at this time of difficult availability of product becomes extremely relevant), young emerging talents in the world of fashion that, in our industry, both for problems related to  minimum order quantities and for problems related to financial commitments of startups, would having difficulty in the raw materials research.

In this third chapter of the personal voyage into the world of denim, Berto Industria Tessile talks about two realities that are not only made in Italy, but also made in veneto, for a zero km circularity supports.

Two brands that are part of two different segments of the indigo world of b2c, one operating in the world of clothing and one in the creation of fashion accessories, but who have a common denominator between them, the use of 100% in their collections of denim fabric Berto.*

* See attached document for more information.

After its launch on 20 September 2020, the RCI is proud to celebrate its first anniversary this fall. The balance sheet of the first year is impressive: starting from 11 founding members, that number increased to 30 member companies within 12 months. Numerous webinars, press releases, background information, a glossary and a comic allowed to convey the “Renewable Carbon” concept to the public. The RCI is actively working on labelling and policy analysis, and more activities will follow in the next year.

Key for this success: the topic of renewable carbon in chemicals and materials is increasingly becoming a focus of politics and industry. Larger companies will have to report their GHG emissions and also the footprint of their products as part of legislative changes surrounding the European Green Deal. In this context, indirect emissions and the carbon sources of materials will play a much more crucial role. The RCI is actively working on solutions for companies to shift from fossil to renewable carbon, which consists of the use of bio-based feedstock, CO2-based resources and recycling. In the future, reporting on GHG emissions will also include Scope 3 emissions, which are all indirect emissions that occur along the company’s value and supply chain and where the used raw materials account for a large proportion of the footprint. Here is where the carbon source of chemicals and plastics comes into play as an important contributor to the carbon footprint. Without a shift from fossil to renewable carbon feedstocks (combining bio-based, CO2-based and recycled), a sustainable future and the Paris climate targets will be almost impossible to master.

To discuss, promote and realise the shift, 30 innovative companies have already joined forces to support the transition to renewable carbon, considering both technological and economical approaches – and helping to shape the political framework accordingly.

For the second year, RCI plans to focus on a comprehensive understanding of the expected political framework conditions in Europe and across the globe, since they will determine the future of chemistry and materials more than ever. Building on this knowledge, the topic of renewable carbon could then to be systematically integrated into new political directives, which has so far not been effectively managed.

In reality, the political focus lies on the strategy of decarbonising the energy sector, a very central and Herculean task. However, it cannot be applied to the chemical and material world because carbon is usually the central building block that cannot be dispensed with. On the contrary, the demand for carbon in the chemical and materials sectors is expected to more than double by 2050. In order to meet this demand in a sustainable manner, we must move towards quitting fossil carbon. For the first time in industrial history, it is possible to decouple chemistry and materials from petrochemicals and completely cover the demand through the utilisation of biomass, CO2 and recycling.

Officina+39, an Italian sustainable chemical developer, attends Superstudio Più in Milan to show its technical progress and share its concrete contribution to a more Trustainable™ denim. Under the spotlight, among multiple innovations, the latest addition to the Officina+39 family: the brand-new NOVASCRAPER INDIGO.

NOVASCRAPER INDIGO, the new technology for classic aesthetics
NOVASCRAPER INDIGO allows to give a natural vintage look to denim garments through laser finishing, an actual innovative alternative to manual scraping. NOVASCRAPER INDIGO guarantees a natural effect with unparalleled quality and accuracy, requiring less manpower and less rejection rate when compared to manual scraping.

The Sixth Sense: less water, more Trustainability
Officina+39 and Tejidos Royo joined forces to create a denim line that drastically reduces water consumption: this is “The Sixth Sense”, a project concretely inspired by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and specifically by its SDG6, calling to action to ensure access to water and sanitation for all. Officina+39 personally accepts this global challenge by contributing to the realization of “The Sixth Sense” with its AQUALESS MISSION. Featuring three cutting-edge laundry products for one innovative process, AQUALESS MISSION combines the application of REMOVER BC, AQUALESS AGED – a waterless compound to give denim abrasion effects –, and OZ-ONE POWDER – an advanced product to give garments a bleached yet eco-friendly treatment in a dry application, for a worn and distressed look. Compatible with conventional washing and treatment machinery, it allows for water consumption savings up to 75%.
Focused on driving sustainability in the textile industry, Tejidos Royo uses low-impact fibers and yarns as a raw material and the implementation of foam-dyeing technology with its Dry Indigo®, the first-ever technology to foam-dye denim with zero water use and no water discharge.

CircularKromia: a colorful path for preloved garments
At Officina+39 the word “waste” becomes synonymous with opportunity, a source to create something new, fostering true, Trustainable™ circularity. This is the background to the collaboration with Atelier Riforma, an innovative startup born in Turin (Italy) with a social vocation. Through the contribution of Officina+39’s RECYCROM™, it has been possible to obtain new pigment and dyestuff pulverizing discarded garments and pieces usually difficult to recover through tailoring transformation alone. The collection made it possible not to generate any waste, no new raw materials were required to create CircularKromia.

The Circle Book 2: the power of collaboration and circularity
A collective project gathering a total of ten companies with common goals focused on transparency and circularity in denim design, The Circle Book is now in its second edition that culminated in CULTURE.IN, a circular capsule collection transparently made from recycled and degradable materials.

Officina+39 opens its doors, with Lenzing and Meidea
In the evening of October 13, the recently inaugurated brand-new headquarters of Officina+39 in Biella opened their doors to welcome denim personalities, brands, designers and partners to show where Officina+39's innovative technologies are created, to network and celebrate while preparing new steps towards the design of a more circular and – of course – Trustainable™ fashion Industry.