From the Sector

Dow introduces DOWSIL™ IE-8749 Emulsion, a new generation of durable water repellent finishes for fabrics based on silicone chemistry.

Studies conducted on a variety of textiles substrates based on DOWSIL™ IE-8749 Emulsion treatment demonstrate improved fabric retention compared to standard silicone finishes – thereby providing continued water repellency after multiple washes. Unlike many conventional finishes, DOWSIL™ IE-8749 Emulsion finish does not need to be regularly heat treated to restore the water repellency performance, which is a key advantage for the durability of the final product.

By incorporating a DOWSIL™ IE-8749 Emulsion treatment into their finishing processes, textile finishers receive greater control over the hand feel of the fabric - an important parameter driving consumer choices today. Depending on specific need, this can range, from a very soft hand feel that is characteristic of silicone when used alone, to a firmer hand with the addition of cross linkers.

The technology powering DOWSIL™ IE-8749 Emulsion was developed through a collaboration between Dow and Nicca Chemical.

Royal DSM announces that its DSM Engineering Materials business will launch mass-balanced bio-based Arnitel®, a thermoplastic elastomer, together with Sympatex Technologies. In this way, DSM Engineering Materials is taking the next step on its sustainability journey and enabling its customers to transition to a more circular and bio-based economy.

To address growing consumer and legislative demand for lower carbon footprint and more sustainable feedstock, the sports and apparel value chain is increasingly integrating bio-based materials into its designs. By offering a new range of mass-balanced bio-based Arnitel®, DSM Engineering Materials is enabling membrane manufacturer, Sympatex Technologies to meet these demands and make more sustainable choices.

DSM’s bio-based Arnitel® is manufactured with bio-based feedstock using a mass-balance approach¹. The end product contains more than 25% bio-based content by weight.

Sympatex uses Arnitel® to manufacture its waterproof, windproof, and breathable membranes for sports applications. The transition to bio-based feedstock will maintain the unique functional properties of Arnitel® and will enable Sympatex to easily shift to a more sustainable solution with a lower carbon footprint without having to requalify materials.

¹ Mass balance accounting is a well-known approach that has been designed to trace the flow of materials through a complex value chain. The mass balance approach provides a set of rules for how to allocate the bio-based and/or recycled content to different products to be able to claim and market the content as ‘bio’-based or ‘recycled’-based. Source: Ellen MacArthur Foundation (Mass Balance White Paper).

Reinach, Switzerland, and Westlake, Ohio, 2 February 2021 - Archroma, a global leader in specialty chemicals towards sustainable solutions, today announced a strategic partnership with technology innovator CleanKore, aiming to advance sustainable dyeing processes throughout the denim supply chain.

The agreement will allow Archroma and CleanKore to promote the benefits of each other’s technologies. This includes Archroma’s robust catalog of dyes and specialty chemicals along with CleanKore’s patented process of dyeing yarns at the denim mill that completely eliminates the need for potassium permanganate (PP) spray and laser booster to achieve the bright white abrasion effect in the garment finishing process. The result is a large and circular bright white core with a small ring of indigo dye. The technology does not just eliminate the chemicals associated in the PP spray and laser process, which is much safer for denim workers, it also allows to save significant amounts of water and energy throughout the manufacturing process from fabric to garmenting.

CleanKore initially looked at eliminating potassium permanganate due to its being classified as hazardous if inhaled or ingested, or in case of contact with the skin or the eye. It is also considered very toxic to aquatic life. No new equipment or capital expenses are needed to implement the CleanKore technology, which works on all denim fabric, including dark indigo, sulfur top/bottom and sulfur black.

This is where Archroma comes into the picture. Its global technical team of denim coloration specialists will provide support to denim mills seeking to implement the CleanKore technology and develop the desired looks and effects - with the right colors and chemical systems for their production set-up.

CleanKore estimates that the technology allows to save up to 15 liters of water per garment, or the equivalent to the drinking needs of 5 people per day, and up to 0.51 kWh of energy per garment, or the equivalent of five 100-watt light bulbs on for 1 hour. The CleanKore technology also leads to a 10% to 20% increase in production throughput, as a result of a faster garment wash-down and the elimination of PP spray.

For CleanKore CEO Darryl Costin Jr., the announcement comes at an ideal time for CleanKore: "We have successfully proven the technology with mill partners such as Arvind and other denim mills in Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Vietnam, Thailand and the United States. The response from the industry has been overwhelmingly positive. Having a partner in Archroma, one that is highly respected for their innovation and emphasis on sustainability throughout the industry, will allow us to take CleanKore to the next level.”

Umberto Devita, Global Indigo Manager at the Archroma Global Competence Center for Denim & Casualwear, adds: "CleanKore is perfectly aligned with the 3 pillars of 'The Archroma Way to a Sustainable World: Safe, efficient, enhanced'. 'Safe' through the elimination of a potentially harmful substance and the protection of the denim workers, 'Efficient' through the reduction of resource consumption, improved productivity and cost-effective profile. And 'Enhanced' through the gorgeous colors and effects allowed with Archroma's innovations and systems, in particular our aniline-free* Denisol® Pure Indigo and Diresul® sulfur dyes. We look forward to help promoting an innovation that will help with many of the challenges facing our denim customers throughout the world. Because it’s our nature."

A polybutylene succinate (PBS) polycondensation system was commissioned at Yingkou Kanghui Petrochemical Co. Ltd. in Dalian in the Chinese Liaoning Province at the beginning of January 2021. The PBS system, for which Oerlikon Barmag Huitong Engineering supplied both equipment and engineering, has a daily production capacity of 100 tons

It is used to manufacture high-viscosity chips for biodegradable films. Consequently, Yingkou Kanghui, a subsidiary of the Hengli Group, is catering to rising demand for biodegradable polymer products – demand that is increasing not just in China, but across the globe. Yingkou Kanghui Petrochemical Co., Ltd., founded in 2011, predominantly produces polyester chips and films. By expanding its portfolio to include the manufacture of PBS products, the enterprise is positioning itself as a pioneer of biopolymer production: In view of the large quantities of plastic waste not just in the oceans, biopolymers are considered the materials of the future.

The new plant at Yingkou Kanghui Petrochemical Co, Ltd. was production-ready with the support of Oerlikon Barmag Huitong Engineering within less than 14 months following contract signing.

• Demo plant sorts post-consumer plastic waste and will produce ready-for-market fully formulated polymer pellets
• Brand owners and converters will be able to access material for qualification and market validation in early 2021
• EverMinds™ in action: Pioneering collaboration brings together expertise vital to advancing the circular economy

Borealis and TOMRA have today announced the operational start of their advanced mechanical recycling demo plant in Lahnstein, Germany, the result of a partnership that marries chemistry with technology for unsurpassed results.

The state-of-the-art plant processes both rigid and flexible plastic waste from households. And unlike many current recycling plants, it will produce the advanced solutions necessary for use in high-demanding plastic applications in various industries, including automotive and consumer products. With high purity, low odour, high product consistency and light colour fractions, these Borcycle™ M grade recycled polymers will meet customer quality requirements across the value chain.

The purpose of this demo plant is to generate material for brand owners and converters to qualify, validate and prove fit for use in their highly demanding applications. Technical success will set the groundwork for a commercial-scale advanced recycling plant.

“This plant is just the beginning of what’s possible when key players in the value chain come together to make a truly significant impact in the market,” says Volker Rehrmann, Executive Vice President and Head of Circular Economy at TOMRA. “Having just launched the new Circular Economy Division, it is clear what a large role waste management and pivotal projects like this have on moving towards a sustainable future. We are proud to have initiated one of the most advanced mechanical recycling plants when it comes to post-consumer polymer waste. This will become an important enabler as we accelerate the transformation to a circular economy in the years to come, and we are excited to be a part of this pioneering project.”

Operation of the plant is a joint enterprise between Borealis, TOMRA and Zimmerman. Borealis is responsible for the plant’s commercial success and contributes its expertise and knowledge in innovation, recycling and compounding. Likewise, TOMRA contributes as a provider of technology-led solutions and brings its proven expertise, established process and market knowledge, which, in turn, enable the circular economy through advanced collection and sorting systems. Zimmerman is a waste management company with experience in sorting multiple types of waste, including plastics, and is responsible for successful plant operations and product quality.

“At P&G we are making packaging with the ‘next life’ in mind to help drive a more robust circular economy.  We must increase the supply of high quality recycled plastic to enable the industry to deliver on this vision,” says Gian De Belder, Procter & Gamble (P&G) Technical Director, R&D Packaging Sustainability. “The innovative new approach that Borealis is taking shows potential to step-change both the quantity and quality of PCR available for our brands, and help us to achieve our 2030 goal to reduce our use of virgin plastic in packaging by 50%, or 300 kilotonnes annually. Early tests of the material looks very promising!”

• The Bavarian Kelheim Fibres GmbH has become the first viscose fibre manufacturer worldwide to receive EMAS certification.

“Our aspiration is that our fibres offer an eco-friendly and high-performance alternative to synthetic materials”, says Craig Barker, CEO at Kelheim Fibres. “So, it’s not enough that our fibres are made from renewable resources and that they are fully biodegradable – our environmental awareness must include the whole production process and all that goes with it if we want to safeguard our credibility.

The EMAS certification proves that we take this responsibility seriously.” EMAS stands for “Eco Management and Audit Scheme” and is a standardised eco management certification system developed by the European Union. EMAS includes the globally applicable ISO 14001 standard and goes beyond its requirements by demanding more transparency and continuous improvement: Certified companies report in their annual EMAS Environmental Statement on their environmental goals and their progress in meeting them.

During the audit preceding the certification, the independent environmental auditor thoroughly investigated all departments of the company, from the production itself to the company canteen. He found no non-conformances and was impressed by the competence and the high sense of responsibility among Kelheim’s employees. In contrast to the EU Ecolabel and similar certifications, EMAS does not apply to individual products or services, but certifies the complete environmental performance of the company. This benefits not only the protection of the environment and climate, but also the improvement of a company’s ecoefficiency.

Craig Barker: “An efficient environmental management system ensures that economy and ecology go hand in hand – that gives us a decisive competitive edge.”

Tata Communications, a global digital ecosystem enabler, has been recognised by global environmental non-profit organisation, Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) with the distinguished ‘A-’ leadership score for implementing current best practices in sustainability for climate change. Tata Communications score is higher than the global average of ‘C’ and higher than the Asia region average of ‘D’. The Company scores the highest global score for playing a leading role in Climate Change governance, value chain management, energy efficiency, risk and opportunity disclosures in CDP 2020 reporting.

Tata Communications is among the top 34% companies globally to have received the leadership score for best practices out of 9,600+ companies that reported environmental disclosures this year. The scores are attributed basis a comprehensive peer benchmarking and sustainability performance.

The company made some strategic shifts in implementing several energy efficiency measures and this recognition reaffirms its focus on sustainability. In fiscal 2020, Tata Communications sourced approximately 15 million units of renewable energy and implemented emission reduction initiatives resulting in energy savings to the tune of 0.8 million units.

Tata Communications Sustainability strategy is based on the three facets of environment, social and governance (ESG) principles. The Company’s objective is to drive value creation for its stakeholders and drive sustainable business growth by managing risks and embracing opportunities, implementing robust governance practices and optimising the economic, environmental and social performance.

Dibella has been selected by the German Federal Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS) as a model case study for due diligence in the context of human rights. The showpiece for responsible supply chain management is presented on the Ministry’s homepage.

For many years now, Dibella has been engaged in developing a fair and ecologically responsible textile supply chain and was therefore one of 25 enterprises nominated for the prestigious CSR award of the German government in the year 2020. The responsible Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (BMAS) has now selected the human rights due diligence activities implemented by Dibella as a positive case study. A presentation of the company's extensive activities for sustainable action is now available on the BMAS website.

An encouraging, positive example
"Corporate social responsibility means illuminating the impacts of one's own entrepreneurial actions at all levels and integrating responsible action into all business activities. We have been consistently implementing this philosophy for many years. We attach great importance to the sustainable production of our textiles and to good working conditions throughout our value chain. It therefore makes us proud that our approach is presented by the BMAS as a good example of a positive contribution to society, which can serve as motivation for sustainable commitment in all industries," says Ralf Hellmann, Managing Director of Dibella.

• "Dibella up" records its first big success

Aalten, "Dibella up" is bearing its first fruits. Since the launch of the recycling concept initiated in August 2020, six tons of sorted laundry items have already been returned to Dibella and converted into new ones by the company in farsighted reuse projects. The customer who has been involved in the project from the very beginning is Lamme Textielbeheer from Nederhorst den Berg. The Dutch textile service provider sees the initiative as an important measure for more appreciation of resources.

Dibella has taken the closed-loop approach of the textile service as a model and has taken a step towards a completely closed cycle with the "Dibella up" project. The system includes unlimited reuse and recycling of the fibre raw materials bound in the textiles. To this end, the company's own textile qualities, which are selected from laundries, are taken back and passed on to selected upcycling projects. Polyester-cotton blended fabrics are processed there into high-quality bags. Pure natural fibre textiles as well as blended fabrics with at least 50 percent cotton are chemically converted into an important raw material for cellulose fibre production, while the remaining polyester is still being thermally recycled for technical reasons.

Six tons of laundry from the Netherlands

Lamme Textielbeheer was immediately enthusiastic about the "Dibella up" initiative. The committed company has been involved in various Dibella sustainability projects for many years and recognises the future-oriented character of the new project. "Our will to cooperate was immediately clear after Dibella's managing director Ralf Hellmann presented the upcycling project, because we see it as an important measure for the prudent use of resources," reports Jan Lamme, managing director of the company of the same name. "Within a very short period of time, we therefore jointly started to take back our discarded, no longer usable old textiles. In this way, we have already been able to return six tonnes of laundry for a new product cycle. This corresponds exactly to our idea of upcycling!". "Dibella provides stable, reusable cartons for shipping," says a delighted Frank David, Lamme's Assistant Operations Manager. "This makes collection much easier for us and we don't have to take any means of transport out of our laundry".

Prepared for the mega-trend of recycling management

Dibella would like to build on the initial joint success and further expand the initiative for a closed textile cycle in the industry. "The awareness of sustainability is high in the textile rental service. But the next mega-trend is already emerging. The future lies in closed-loop recycling. With "Dibella up", we are offering our customers the opportunity to get involved now and make resources usable in the long term. We are happy about every new cooperation partner who appreciates the value of textiles as much as we do".

Flax has accompanied people for thousands of years, in linen fabrics, in ropes, as insulation material. And until the present day. With woven tapes made of flax, vombaur makes the functional and ecological advantages of natural fibres available for lightweight design.

Lightweight and firm
Flax fibres are particularly rigid and tear-proof. Textiles made of the natural material therefore give natural fibre reinforced plastic (NFP) special stability. Additionally, flax has a low density. The components thus combine high rigidity and strength with low weight. Another functional plus: natural fibre reinforced plastics are less prone to splintering than glass fibre reinforced plastics.

Sustainable material
The cultivation of flax binds CO2 and the production of NFP generates 33 percent lower CO2 emissions than conventional fibre reinforced plastics. The energy consumption is 40 percent lower. This reduces production costs and improves the material's CO2 footprint. Punch-packing arguments for natural fibre tapes – like flax tape by vombaur – in lightweight design applications.

Circular Economy
Circular Economy – this also works in lightweight design. The number of recycling cycles without loss of quality is higher for natural fibre reinforced plastics than for glass or carbon fibre reinforced plastics: the thermoplastic matrix of the composite can be melted and recycled after a product life cycle. The natural fibres can "live on" in other products – injection moulded products for example.

Versatile applications
"Composites from our flax tapes are used to reinforce high-tech skis as well as for extruding state-of-the-art window sections – the applications are countless," explains Tomislav Josipovic, Sales Manager with vombaur. "As a development partner, we support applications for the automotive, wind energy, construction, sports and many other industries with our composite textiles."