From the Sector

For the fourth time, the international start-up competition "Plan B - Biobased.Business.Bavaria." organised by BioCampus Straubing honoured the best new business ideas in the field of biobased solutions.

Dr Crnoja-Cosic, Director New Business Development, and Matthew North, Commercial Director, represented Kelheim Fibres at the award ceremony. The manufacturer of special viscose fibres has been working with the BioCampus Straubing for many years and is a supporter of the competition, this year as prize sponsors. In this capacity, Dr. Crnoja-Cosic congratulated the newly founded team of Microbify GmbH on their third place and presented them with a cheque for 3,000 Euros. As a spin-off from the University of Regensburg, Microbify works, among other things, on the use of old natural gas storage facilities for the production of green natural gas using extremophilic microorganisms.

Driving the change from a fossil-based to a bio-based economy is a declared goal of Kelheim Fibres - their speciality fibres replacing fossil materials in more and more applications. To this end, the fibre manufacturer seeks inspiration and exchange within its own industry as well as with innovation partners from outside the industry, start-ups and science in an open innovation approach.

Fortum, together with the sustainable fibre technology company Spinnova have today introduced the first prototype product born out of their joint development of using wheat straw in the production of highly sustainable textile fibre.

Fortum and Spinnova are showcasing the world’s first clothing made from agricultural waste, namely wheat straw, at the Textile Exchange Sustainability Conference in Vancouver, during 15-17 October. The showpieces include a knitted t-shirt, as well as a jacket and skirt made of a woven fabric on organic cotton warp.

The prototype material is unique also due to its extremely low environmental impact from raw material extraction, processing and manufacture, verified by life-cycle analysis (LCA).

“We are very excited to present this revolutionary textile. Today, wheat straw is mostly discarded or even burned in the fields. As it can now be used in numerous textile applications, this opens up huge possibilities globally. This cooperation is a tangible step towards Fortum’s strategy to build options for significant new businesses that improve resource efficiency and provide smart solutions for a cleaner world. We would like to invite more key industry players to join us in this journey,” says Heli Antila, VP, Biobased solutions at Fortum.

“We are all very proud of this amazing collaborative accomplishment! This was a very fast journey from the first trials to real, appealing fabric materials. This shows that wheat straw-based fibre is well on its way to being a drop-in product of the most sustainable kind,” says Spinnova’s CEO Janne Poranen.