From the Sector

Sustainable Chemistry for the Textile Industry (SCTI™) has appointed Dr. Isabella Tonaco as Executive Director, effective November 1, 2022. With a mandate to inspire and trigger action at a global level, she will lead SCTI to drive transformational change in the textile and leather industries.
 
Launched two years ago by seven of the world's leading chemical companies, the SCTI Alliance aims to enable brands, retailers and manufacturers to apply cutting-edge sustainable chemistry solutions that enhance the well-being of factory workers, local communities, consumers and the planet.
 
Dr. Tonaco will oversee SCTI activities to implement this mission. Based in Germany, she will work with SCTI member companies and stakeholders across the textile and leather value chain to help the industry achieve the highest levels of sustainability. Dr. Tonaco will report to the SCTI Executive Committee.
 
Dr. Tonaco has more than a decade of experience in sustainability and has held various strategic and commercial roles in the chemical industry. Most recently, she was Vice President of Strategy Execution and Marketing for Renewable Polymers & Chemicals at Neste, a global leader in renewable and circular solutions. Previously, Dr. Tonaco worked for BASF, where she established and executed the company's global leadership position in certified sustainable palm-based ingredients for the Personal Care industry.

Ganesha Ecopet Private Limited, a subsidiary of Indian PET recycling pioneer Ganesha Ecosphere Ltd., has recently opened its new Warangal facility under the brand name Go Rewise where it produces rPET for filament yarns and fibres, as well as for food-grade packaging.  

The company has installed two Starlinger PET recycling lines in its facility in Warangal, Telangana state. Ganesha Ecopet plans to supply the produced rPET granulates under its newly introduced brand enterprise Go Rewise. Launched under the umbrella of one of India's rPET industry leaders, Go Rewise is committed to supplying highest quality rPET products that are produced in a resource-efficient process.
One Starlinger recycling line, a recoSTAR PET 165 H-VAC, processes washed PET bottle flakes for the Go Rewise polyester filament yarn applications and reaches an output of approx. 14,000 tons per year. With the second Starlinger recycling line, Ganesha is producing food-grade rPET resins.

Ganesha Ecosphere looks back on 30 years of experience in the PET recycling business and can be considered a role model regarding sustainable business activities. Founded in 1987, the company started out as a yarn processing facility. It was among the first companies in India to start reprocessing PET waste to manufacture recycled polyester staple fibre (RPSF) and recycled polyester spun yarns (RPSY) in 1994. By today, the group has established a large network of over 300 scrap vendors located across the country and operates four factories in India - two in Uttar Pradesh, one in Uttarakhand, and the recently opened one in Telangana. It also recently operationalised its first factory outside India in Nepal. With over 500 customers and exports to more than 18 countries, the company ranks among the largest rpet producers in India with 130,000 tonnes per year and currently recycles around 16 - 18 % of India's total PET waste.

The second public consultation period for the GOTS Version 7.0 revision draft began October 3, and will last for 30 calendar days, ending October 31. The revised draft has incorporated input from contributors along with members of the Standard Revision Committee (SRC), a group of experts convened by GOTS to oversee the revision.

The first comment period, which ended in April, elicited 335 individual comments. Each comment was recorded and deliberated, and all changes have been logged and made available to the public on the GOTS website. During this second comment period, new topics will not be considered, but comments and input on decisions taken during the first comment period are encouraged.

The responses received in this comment period will be deliberated by the SRC through December 2022, and a final edition of GOTS Version 7.0 will be released in March of 2023. For certified entities, full implementation of Version 7.0 begins in March 2024.    

The Lenzing Group and VERBUND, an energy transition company, launched the first development stage of the largest ground-mounted photovoltaic system in Upper Austria. Together with its energy partner VERBUND, Lenzing is also paving the way for the transition to zero-emission mobility. The installation of electric vehicle charging infrastructure at the company’s premises underlines Lenzing’s commitment to the energy transition process.

Thanks to the ground-mounted photovoltaic system at the “Ofenloch” landfill site, Lenzing, in conjunction with VERBUND, is consistently moving forward on the path to a carbon-free energy supply and has commissioned the first half of the new photovoltaic system with a peak power of 2,780 kWp. Full commissioning of the system with a peak power of 5,560 kWp is envisaged in mid-October. Annual electricity production will amount to 6,000,000 kWh, which is expected to cut CO₂ emissions by some 4,400 tonnes per year. The Austrian pioneer in fiber production already commissioned three rooftop photovoltaic systems in spring/summer of 2022, with a peak power of 1,454 kWp and annual electricity production of some 1,508,000 kWh. The electricity flows directly into the company’s on-site production and will also power electric charging stations in future. In the first development stage, 16 wallboxes are set to be installed by the end of the year. A further 32 charging points are planned for 2023. The charging stations will be accessible to staff, visitors and the company’s own vehicle fleet.

“VERBUND’s photovoltaic operator model allows us to make the transition to solar power without incurring investment costs or risks. Thanks to the constant expansion in renewable energy, we remain on course to ecologize the value chain, while optimizing our carbon footprint, cutting costs and reducing the load on the grid, as we are using nearly 100 percent of photovoltaic power in our production,” explains Christian Skilich, Chief Pulp Officer of the Lenzing Group.

Within the scope of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) initiative “The Sustainability Pledge”, to improve transparency and traceability for sustainable garment and footwear supply chains, the Swiss company Haelixa traces Egyptian cotton from the source up to premium shirts.

The UNECE and United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT) has been developing over the period 2019-2022 policy recommendations, implementation guidelines, a call to action, and a traceability toolbox including blockchain and DNA tracing solutions, which has been implemented in few different textile supply chains. Haelixa is part of the group of experts that develops such policy recommendations and conducts projects with key industry players to set traceability benchmarks and later develop them into standards.

Fashion brands are often responsible for complex global value chains and traceability is the needed tool to enable trust, transparency and credible sustainability. The magnitude of the supply chain traceability challenge can be overwhelming for brands, but the UNECE initiative framework facilitates the alignment with suppliers, provides the necessary guidance and the needed tools, with Haelixa as physical traceability provider.

To make the premium shirts traceable, Haelixa has developed a DNA marker to label the raw material, premium Egyptian cotton. The DNA marker has been applied as fine spray to GIZA 96 lint cotton in Borg Al Arab, Egypt and used to produce the finest fabric by Swiss manufacturer Weba. Once applied to the fibers, Haelixa’s DNA markers stay safely embedded into the material and withstand the industrial processing, ensuring traceability from the source until the finished garment. Samples of lint cotton, yarn, and fabric at different steps were verified with a test based on PCR, and the correct DNA marker was detected, thereby enabling the identification of the premium product, of its origin and the specific supply chain. The forensic data obtained were recorded on a blockchain system provided by UNECE. The marked fabric was used to make Hugo Boss cotton dress shirts. As one of the leading premium fashion brands and partner to the UNECE project, Hugo Boss is responsible for a complex global value chain and strives for high sustainability standards and is looking at traceability options.

“In cases like this one, where the material is of the highest quality and the product is shipped from one facility to another for premium processing, adding physical traceability is critical to ensure that the origin, quality and processing claims can be backed up" says Gediminas Mikutis, CTO and co-founder at Haelixa.

Maria Teresa Pisani, Economic Affairs Officer and Project Lead at UNECE, emphasized: “Traceability and transparency are crucial elements to protect environmental, social, and human rights along global value chains. At UNECE, we aim to enhance traceability approaches by exploring new and innovative solutions that help identify and address negative impacts in the fashion industry.”

Pincroft announced the adoption of an innovative precision spray technology that allows the application of many finishes for textiles, including permethrin for vector protection, to the face of the fabric to avoid contact with the skin.

The system is a more versatile and environmentally friendly alternative to the traditional application method of padding and offers the possibility of applying the chemistry on either face side or both sides of the fabric across the full width.

The benefits of this new equipment are countless not only for the end user but also for the environment. The system allows for a reduction of energy, water and wet pick up of up to 50%, while 100% of the chemistry is recycled. Thanks to the equipment’s precision application technology, less water and chemistry are needed, and its no immersion system means the fabric would require less saturation and a shorter drying time.

Mike Collins, Pincroft’s Managing Director: “This innovative equipment can be used in two ways. The single sided spray finishing can be used where the full effectiveness of the finish is only required on the face side of the end item, for example, vector, fluorocarbon and antimicrobial protection. The dual spray finish may be used to simulate the traditional padding method where full effectiveness of the finish is required dependant on end use, for instance, crease recovery, fabric softening, soil release and moisture management.”

This vector protection solution provided by Pincroft is ACTIGARD®, a branded technology developed by Sanitized AG, with long lasting active ingredients that have proved highly effective against mosquitoes and ticks. This product endures a high number of washes, is suitable for military uniforms and conforms to Standard 100 by Oeko-Tex®.

More than 350 million tons of plastic are produced worldwide every year, and vast amounts of plastic waste simply end up in the environment. The circular economy offers enormous potential for keeping plastics in the loop and thus conserving resources and the environment. Since 2018, six Fraunhofer institutes in the Fraunhofer CCPE cluster have been researching how to make the plastics value chain circular, and Prof. Manfred Renner has been the new head of the cluster since August 2022. Research results, implementation projects and strategies to accelerate the transformation to a circular plastics economy will be presented by Fraunhofer CCPE at the first international Fraunhofer CCPE Summit on February 8 and 9, 2023 in Munich.

In a circular plastics economy, resources can be saved, products can be intelligently designed for long service life, and end-of-life losses can be reduced. Systemic, technical and social innovations are needed to make the transition from a linear to a circular economy a success. This is what the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Circular Plastics Economy CCPE is researching in the three divisions “Materials”, “Systems” and “Business”. The cooperation of the six Fraunhofer institutes IAP, ICT, IML, IVV, LBF and UMSICHT enables a multi-stakeholder approach in which the appropriate R&D competencies are bundled.

Fraunhofer CCPE would like to present and discuss successful projects and research approaches on an international scale at the Fraunhofer CCPE Summit on February 8 and 9, 2023 in Munich. The summit is to become an international forum for exchanging ideas for solutions and innovations for a circular plastics economy.

Cross-industry collaboration - local, regional and international
Since August 2022, Prof. Manfred Renner, Institute Director of Fraunhofer UMSICHT, is the new head of Fraunhofer CCPE. He succeeds Prof. Eckhard Weidner, who has retired. “Cross-industry cooperation - very local, but also regional and international - is the elementary prerequisite for a functioning circular plastics economy. At the summit, players from all points of the compass will meet and network in order to rethink the plastics value chain together," explains Prof. Manfred Renner, adding, “We want to provide answers to the following questions:  How can we make all Circular Economy principles, i.e. the ten R-strategies, known? How can industry, science and society best cooperate in a transformation to a circular plastics economy for the greatest possible impact?”

Results of the Fraunhofer CCPE cluster so far are innovative approaches for circular business models, intelligent collection, sorting, and recycling technologies, but also new formulations for circular polymers and compounds to enable multiple recycling cycles. With the newly developed assessment tool CRL® , companies can, for example, self-assess the maturity of products or product systems with regard to the circular economy. The tool checks the extent to which a product already takes into account circular economy principles in the areas of product design, product service system, end-of-life management and circular economy, and where there is still potential for improvement.

The substance graphene can become increasingly important as a component in textile catalysts when purifying water from textile dyeing as has been shown in a recently completed doctoral project at the University of Borås.

In his project, Milad Asadi, a new doctor in Textile Technology, has modified conventional yarn by encapsulating iron particles in graphene and developed a multifunctional smart e-textile. The focus was on developing a method for purifying wastewater from textile dyeing. The smart e-textile acts as a catalyst that causes the substance hydrogen peroxide to be formed, which is needed in order to break down pollutants in wastewater.

The project has generated a complete textile reactor for the treatment of wastewater through the so-called electro-Fenton technology, which is mainly used industrially to purify wastewater. The novelty of the technology is to use the properties of both graphene and iron, which is the main catalyst.

“Previous research has mainly been about the treatment of wastewater by using chemicals to break down the textile dyes. My project is the first where graphene, which is electrically conductive, is used to encapsulate iron. The e-textile can also be used several times, unlike when chemicals are used and which are then rinsed off. The challenge in the project was to scale up the technology so that the treated yarn can be fed into automatic knitting machines”, explained Milad Asadi.

The e-textile catalyst can be reused and hydrogen peroxide is formed internally inside the reactor, which reduces the use of biological catalysts, making the technology more sustainable compared to chemical methods.

adidas has unveiled the latest in its Made with Nature Capsule Collection with a new Ultraboost 22 Made with Nature and Made with Nature apparel joining the range as the brand continues its mission to call time on conventional materials and design out finite resources.

Designed in balance with the planet, the women’s Ultraboost 22 Made with Nature takes the forward-thinking elements of the Ultraboost 22 and amplifies them with natural materials. The shoe is made in part with natural materials – 40% of the knitted upper is made with lyocell, a material created with cellulosic fibers made from sustainably grown wood.

Launching alongside the Ultraboost 22 Made with Nature is a new Made with Nature apparel range, including a performance running wear look for men and women. The apparel range is made with at least 50% organic cotton.

Christopher Wheat, Global Category Director Running Footwear said: “At adidas, we understand that change is not only possible, it’s an urgent necessity. With Made with Nature, we are on a journey to a world beyond plastic. We’re calling time on conventional materials and methods of make. Once depleted, there’s no coming back for fossil resources. But when we design in synergy with natural processes, when we make with nature, we can use materials that regrow or regenerate – and change the way products are made."

The future of e-mobility will be determined in particular by safe battery enclosures. As batteries for electric vehicles become more performant, higher volumetric energy density plays a crucial role. If more energy is to be stored in less installation space, new material and design solutions are required. The development of suitable enclosures made of safe and highly robust lightweight materials is also required. This is a case for the Aachen Centre for Integrative Lightweight Production (AZL). A project on cell-to-pack battery enclosures for battery-electric vehicles, which has been eagerly awaited in the industry, will start in October this year there.

The design of battery housings is crucial for safety, capacity, performance, and economics. The Cell-to-Pack project, which is starting now, will focus on developing concepts for structural components and for producing them based on a variety of materials and design approaches. The concepts will be compared in terms of performance, weight and production costs, creating new know-how for OEMs, producers and their suppliers throughout the battery vehicle value chain. Companies are now invited to participate in this new cross-industry project to develop battery enclosure concepts for the promising and trend-setting cell-to-pack technology.

The basis for the project is the lightweight engineering expertise of the AZL experts, which they have already demonstrated in previous projects for multi-material solutions for module-based battery housings. Together with 46 industry partners, including Audi, Asahi Kasei, Covestro, DSM, EconCore, Faurecia, Hutchinson, Johns Manville, Magna, Marelli and Teijin, 20 different multi-material concepts were optimized in terms of weight and cost and compared with a reference component made from aluminum. All production steps were modelled in detail to obtain reliable cost estimates for each variant. Result: depending on the concept, 20% weight or 36% cost savings potential could be identified by using multi-material composites compared to the established aluminum reference.

It is expected that the design concept of battery enclosures will develop in the direction of a more efficient layout. In this case, the cells are no longer combined in modules in additional production steps, but are integrated directly into the battery housing. The elimination of battery modules and the improved, weight-saving use of space will allow for higher packing density, reduced overall height and cost saving. In addition, various levels of structural integration of the battery housing into the body structure are expected. These new designs bring specific challenges, including ensuring protection of the battery cells from external damage and fire protection. In addition, different recyclability and repair requirements may significantly impact future designs. How the different material and structural options for future generations of battery enclosures for the cell-to-pack technology might look like and how they compare in terms of cost and environmental impact will be investigated in the new AZL project. In addition to the material and production concepts from the concept study for module-based battery enclosures, results from a currently ongoing benchmarking of different materials for the impact protection plate and a new method for determining mechanical properties during a fire test will also be incorporated.

The project will start on October 27, 2022 with a kick-off meeting of the consortium, interested companies can still apply for participation until then.