From the Sector

• International Conference on Cellulose Fibres 2022, 2-3 February in Cologne, Germany and online – Call for Abstracts and Posters – 300 participants and 30 exhibitors are expected

Cellulose fibres are among the winners of the European 'Single-Use Plastics Directive (SUPD)', which has been in effect since July 2021 and entails plastic bans for a variety of single-use products. Cellulose is the main component of plant cell walls and a natural polymer. As a result, disposable products made of cellulose and cellulose fibres are not labelled as plastic and are explicitly excluded from the regulation. The success story of cellulose fibres will thus continue at a rapid pace with new developments and applications.

Building on the success of this year's conference with 200 participants, the International Conference on Cellulose Fibres 2022 will again cover the entire value chain, from lignocellulose, chemical pulp, cellulose fibres such as rayon, viscose, modal or lyocell and new developments to a wide range of applications: Textiles of all kinds, nonwovens such as wet wipes and new areas such as composites or nanocellulose in the food industry. All these sectors have gained considerable momentum in recent years.

Cellulose fibres have been a success story within the textile market with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 5 and 10 % over the last ten years and similar growth rates are expected in the coming decade. This makes cellulosic fibres the fastest growing fibre group in the textile industry and also the largest investment sector in the global bioeconomy. The challenge now is to achieve a balance between the ongoing capacity expansion and the growing demand, to avoid overcapacity while still meeting rising demand from the major brands. These high growth rates are driven by the increased demand for natural fibres (and bottlenecks in cotton production), the microplastic issues, and bans on plastics in disposable applications. All three factors will continue to play an important role in the development of the sector in the future.

Companies are now invited to submit presentations as well as their latest developments for the Innovation Award.

Main topics of the conference:

• What is the impact of plastic bans on single-use products?
• The avoidance of microplastics and the transformation from fossil to renewable raw materials?
• What are the biggest challenges in developing new value chains and growing market demand?
• Which alternative raw materials for cellulose fibres are suitable and available?
• What are the latest technology and market trends?
• What are the future market dynamics? Who is active and interested in the cellulose fibre sector?
• What ecosystems and partnerships are needed to promote innovation in line with new market requirements?
• How will the political environment develop in the future?
• How can the sustainability of cellulose fibre production be further improved?

 
Call for Abstracts
Abstract submission is open now. You are welcome to present your latest products, technologies, developments or market trends. Submit your abstract as soon as possible.
Deadline for submission: 15 October 2021
https://cellulose-fibres.eu/call-for-abstracts

Call for Posters
Deadline for submission: 31 December 2021
https://cellulose-fibres.eu/call-for-posters

Call for Innovations
More information about the innovation award and the application can be found at
Deadline for submission: 15 November 2021
https://cellulose-fibres.eu/award-application

Sponsoring Opportunities: https://cellulose-fibres.eu/sponsoring

• Gorilla Protect is a new company formed in May this year to promote the Catus face mask – a major leap forward in the effectiveness of personal protection products that are available to consumers in the fight against Covid-19.
• Behind Catus and the new company is Nova Textil, the established fabric finishing company based in Grefrath, Germany, and now run by father and son team Rainer and Oliver Hurtz.

Single stenter

Rainer Hurtz founded Nova Textil with a single Monforts Montex stenter and just five employees in 1999 and has steered its constant development and growth over the past twenty years.

“Our initial focus was on the coating of mainly glass fibre fabrics, awnings and sun protection products for outdoor furnishings,” he said. “We had a great customer who was providing us with so many orders that by 2005 we took the decision to order a second Montex stenter, in a special configuration. This also allowed us to enter the market for blackout and digital printing fabrics. We’ve had a great ongoing relationship with Monforts from the beginning.”

A third Montex stenter line was installed at the company’s Grefrath plant in 2015, by which time the company had grown to 40 people and a major new market had opened up in the supply of fabrics for promotional materials at exhibitions and trade shows.

“We had a fantastic two years in 2018 and 2019 and everything was going great for the first three months of this year, but in April it all came crashing down,” said Oliver Hurtz. “Coronavirus put an end to trade shows in 2020, which had a very serious impact on our business.”

At the same time, however, the company was exploring the potential of a new biocidal product from one of its chemicals suppliers which has both antiviral and antimicrobial properties.

Filtration

“We had already been producing coated fabrics for hot gas filtration and realised that in combination with this new microporous coating we had the basis for a very effective single-layer face mask,” Rainer said. “Achieving this with a single layer product rather than the usual three has resulted in a significant advance in comfort for the wearer and because the mask is able to disinfect itself and helps regulate humidity, it can be worn a number of times without needing to be washed, for greater convenience. It only needs to be washed when it gets dirty and can also be washed up to twenty times without losing its properties, which has to be preferable to single-use disposables.”

Catus face masks are based on 100% woven cotton and the active ingredients in the finish are a reaction mass of titanium dioxide and silver chloride certified to ISO 20743 for their antibacterial effect, and to ISO 18184 for their antiviral effect.

They are proven to  eliminate over  99.99% of the human coronavirus 229 E, with the multiplication of microorganisms such as germs and bacteria prevented by the biostatic action of silver salts and viruses destroyed by oxygen-releasing substances and a mechanism that attacks their fatty envelope. The virus membrane loses its cholesterol content and the virus is inactivated.

Colours

Gorilla Protect next plans to make the masks available in four colours – black, Bordeaux, olive and grey – and is also working on colour branding and printing labels.

“It’s not possible to print on the surface of the mask after it has been coated, but its is possible for volume orders to be printed before the treatment,” Oliver Hurtz said.

“Face masks are going to become an established part of life in the West like they are in Asia and need to be as comfortable and convenient as possible for the wearer,” his father concluded. “With these things in mind, we believe Catus is a significant step forward.”

“Being a pioneer in sustainability gave us the advantage to be the first to reach the end consumer’s wardrobe.” Says Shinohe Hiroaki, ROICA™ Chief Marketing Officer based in Germany. “In Paris, through partners innovations, we will present some of our ultimate achievements in terms of responsible innovation.”

ROICA™ partners using ROICA Eco-Smart™ family in Paris show are:

• Dresdner (DE) (booth D30)
• Feinjersey (AU) (booth C11)
• Iluna Group S.p.A. (IT) (booth D43)
• Innova Fabrics S.R.L. (IT) (booth B08)
• Lauma Fabrics (LV) (booth A15)
• Maglificio Alto Milanese (IT) (booth A11)
• Maglificio Ripa (IT) (booth C8)
• Piave Maitex S.R.L. (IT) (booth C14)
• TAUBERT Textil GMBH (DE) (booth B11)
• Tessitura Colombo Antonio S.R.L. (IT) (booth A43)
• MG2 CREATION (FR) (booth A17)
• TVB (DE) (booth B11)

Emphasis on Process, Third-Party Validation and Outcome-Based Testing

Canadian Linen and two U.S. AmeriPride Services Inc.’s locations have recently earned have earned the Hygienically Clean Food Safety certification, reflecting their commitment to best management practices (BMPs) in laundering as verified by on-site inspection and their capability to produce hygienically clean textiles as quantified by ongoing microbial testing. The company’s Canadian Linen and Uniform Service facilities in these locations have earned the Hygienically Clean Food Safety certification:  

• Alberta: Edmonton and Lethbridge
• British Columbia: Victoria and Vancouver/Burnaby
• Manitoba: Winnipeg
• Nova Scotia: Halifax
• Ontario: Etobicoke, London, North York and Ottawa
• Quebec: Quebec City
• Saskatchewan: Regina and Saskatoon

The recently-certified U.S. AmeriPride laundries are located in Vernon, Calif. and Durant, Miss.  
The certification confirms the laundry’s dedication to compliance and processing garments and linens using BMPs as described in its quality assurance documentation, the focal point for inspectors’ evaluation of critical control points (CCPs) that minimize risk. The independent, third-party inspection must confirm essential evidence that:

• Employees are properly trained and protected
• Managers understand legal requirements
• OSHA-compliant
• Physical plant operates effectively

In addition, these facilities each passed three rounds of outcome-based microbial testing, indicating that their processes are producing Hygienically Clean garments and other reusable textiles with diminished presence of harmful bacteria. To maintain their certification, laundry plants must pass quarterly testing to ensure that as laundry conditions change, such as water quality, textile fabric composition and wash chemistry, laundered product quality is consistently maintained.
This process eliminates subjectivity by focusing on outcomes and results that verify textiles cleaned in these facilities meet appropriate hygienically clean standards and BMPs for animal processing, dairies, fruit/vegetable, bakeries, grain and other food and beverage industry segments.
These Vernon, Calif. and Durant, Miss. locations of the AmeriPride chain join these laundries who have previously received the Hygienically Clean Food Safety certification:

• Tuscumbia, Ala.
• Bakersfield and Fresno, Calif.
• Twin Falls, Idaho
• St. Cloud and Minneapolis, Minn.
• Amarillo Texas

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) practices are examined in the Hygienically Clean Food Safety inspection process, evaluating the plant’s techniques for:

• Conducting hazard analysis
• Determining CCPs, monitoring their control, correcting them if not under control
• Validating and verifying HACCP system effectiveness
• Documenting and record-keeping to show ongoing conformance

On-site inspections also evaluate practices relevant to handling and processing textile products used in food manufacturing/processing establishments for adherence to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) directives. Introduced in 2014, Hygienically Clean Food Safety brought to North America the international cleanliness standards for laundering garments and other textile products for food manufacturing used worldwide by the Certification Association for Professional Textile Services and the European Committee for Standardization.
Twelve of the company’s U.S. locations have achieved the Hygienically Clean Healthcare certification:

• Little Rock, Ark.
• Phoenix and Watkinsville, Ga.
• Twin Falls, Idaho
• Topeka, Kan.
• Bemidji and Minneapolis, Minn.
• pringfield, Mo.
• Omaha, Neb.
• Roswell, N.M.
• Memphis, Tenn.
• Lubbock, Texas

The company’s Canadian Linen and Uniform Service facility in Lethbridge, Alberta, is also Hygienically Clean Healthcare-certified.
In January 2018, Philadelphia-based Aramark Corp. announced the completion of its acquisition of AmeriPride, making AmeriPride a wholly owned subsidiary. Aramark’s uniform rental and career apparel business is headquartered in Burbank, Calif.