From the Sector

Tailor-made solutions for hygiene, medical, filtration and other technical applications as well as extensive product and process know-how – with these arguments Oerlikon Nonwoven made a convincing appearance at the 18th Shanghai International Nonwoven Exhibition (SINCE) that took place from December 11 to 13.

Dr. Ingo Mählmann, Head of Sales and Marketing of Oerlikon Nonwoven, was very pleased with the three lively days at the trade fair: "The many discussions showed that we are on the right track with our strategy and the further development of our technologies with regard to nonwovens. Visitors were impressed by our technology solutions for disposable nonwoven fabrics or geotextiles". Almost all wellknown nonwoven fabric producers visited the trade fair stand of the plant manufacturer from Neumünster to find out about the advantages of spunbond, meltblown and airlaid technologies.

Overall, the nonwoven fabric team of the Oerlikon Group draws a very positive conclusion and looks back with satisfaction on the intensive and good quality discussions as well as numerous concrete inquiries from customers and prospective customers.

• Organic Waste Systems and TÜV confirm fiber biodegradability also in fresh water
• All white LENZING™ Viscose, Modal and Lyocell fibers are now certified for all environments
• Global legislators aim at limiting plastic waste persisting in the environment for centuries
• EU Single-Use Plastics Directive partly regulates usage of plastic products
• Biodegradable materials such as wood-based fibers are the best alternative to single-use plastics

The Lenzing Group received confirmation of the full biodegradability of its fibers in fresh water by the independent research laboratory Organic Waste Systems (OWS). The new and existing international certifications conducted by OWS and issued by TÜV Austria verify that LENZING™ Viscose fibers, LENZING™ Modal fibers and LENZING™ Lyocell fibers are biodegradable in all natural and industrial environments: in the soil, compost as well as in fresh and in marine water.

The biodegradability of cellulosic products and the synthetic fiber polyester was tested in fresh water at OWS according to valid international standards, e.g. ISO 14851. At the end of the trial period, LENZING™ wood-based cellulosic fibers, cotton and paper pulp were shown to be fully biodegradable in fresh water in contrast to synthetic polyester fibers. The fact that synthetic materials are not biodegradable leads to major problems in wastewater treatment plants and potentially marine litter. In turn, this not only harms fish and birds living in and close to the oceans but also all marine organisms and us humans.

“The Lenzing Group operates a truly circular business model based on the renewable raw material wood to produce biodegradable fibers returning to nature after use. This complete cycle comprises the starting point of the core value of sustainability embedded in our company strategy sCore TEN and is the ‘raison d’etre’ of our company”, says Stefan Doboczky, Chief Executive Officer of the Lenzing Group. “In living up to this positioning, we not only enhance the business of our suppliers, customers and partners along the value chain but also improve the state of the entire textile and nonwovens industries.”

Both the textile and nonwovens industries face huge challenges with respect to littering. If current trends continue, the oceans could contain more plastic than fish by 2050. Therefore, legislative bodies worldwide can no longer ignore the issue and have moved towards plastics legislation aimed at limiting the vast amount of waste. In response, European lawmakers issued the Single-Use Plastics Directive currently being transposed into national legislation in the EU member states.

Conventional wet wipes and hygiene products mostly contain plastic and were thus identified as one of the product categories to be singled out. Less polluting alternatives are generally encouraged by NGOs and legislators, e.g. products made of biodegradable wood-based cellulosic fibers. Plastic waste including microplastic can persist in the environment for centuries. In contrast, biodegradable materials are the best alternative to single-use plastics because they fully convert back to nature by definition and thus do not require recycling.

Paper Converting Machine Company (PCMC)— a division of Barry-Wehmiller and a leading supplier of high-performance converting machinery for the tissue, nonwovens and package-printing industries worldwide—is pleased to announce that Mike Shaw has accepted the position of Printing, Coating and Laminating Regional Sales Manager.

In this role, Shaw will be responsible for the sale of PCMC’s PCL products in the Midwest.
He brings nearly 25 years of sales experience in the offset printing industry to his new position, most recently serving as a district sales manager for web offset presses and finishing systems with manroland Goss web systems.

Shaw holds a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the University of New Hampshire.
“I’m excited that Mike has joined us,” said Rodney Pennings, PCMC’s Printing, Coating and Laminating Sales Director. “His product knowledge and sales experience will enhance our team, as we support our customers’ continual growth by providing the technology they need.” Shaw will operate from his home office in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Textile innovator Devan Chemicals will launch two new technologies at the upcoming Techtextil show in Frankfurt (May 14-17). Bio-flam, a bio-based flame retardant product and Odour Breakdown, a wash durable, non-biocidal odour control solution.
As tradition goes, every two years Devan participates in Techtextil, the leading international trade fair for technical textiles and nonwovens. In the quest for sustainability and transparency every company faces these days, the new Devan technologies offer answers to product developers and portfolio designers.

Bio-flam
Some facts & figures: There are at least 5000 fire incidents each day in the EU. Yearly, about 70 000 people are hospitalised with fire-related injuries. Fires cause pollution. So sustainable fire performance of products is an economic, environmental and human necessity. Take the example of mattresses: tests indicate that when on fire, non-FR treated products give less than 5 minutes escape time. Unfortunately, that is not enough time for the fire brigade to arrive. Needless to say that to increase escape time, to reduce the risk and to save lives, products need to be flame retardant. The challenge is to obtain flame retardant properties in the most natural way, to find the right balance between safety for the people and for the planet.

Companies can do this by replacing raw materials from a non-renewable source, by bio-based FR treatments, which are made from renewable sources and do not contain halogens or heavy metals, as described in the norm EN 16785 1:2015. Bio-based FR treatments, like Bio-flam, are made from renewable, vegetable sources and enable the FR treated products to be biodegradable. The active components are 100% halogen- and heavy metal-free. A welcome innovation for the bedding industry, as the European Commission requires mattresses to be recyclable by 2030 in order to reduce landfill.

Bio-flam P307 is the first introduction in the new Devan BIO-FR family, and is biodegradable and is developed to be used on 100% cotton or cotton/viscose mixtures, in order to create an ecological concept, safe for people and planet, whatever might happen. Bio-flam P 307 is developed for mattress ticking to pass EN 597 1&2. The Devan researchers are developing other bio-based products for other market segments and for other fire standards.

At home, at work, on the street, in the sky, on the water, even in space, technical textiles and nonwovens are swinging towards ever higher performances in amazing applications. Versatile and light, but sometimes stronger than metal, these materials of the future gain their superpowers from the interaction of precisely coordinated textile systems. At Techtextil in Frankfurt am Main from May 14 to 17, 2019 in Hall 3, B06, Oerlikon will be showing chemical fiber applications made of polyester, polypropylene and Co. and what they can do in these fields. However, these exhibits are only a communicative means to an end, as Oerlikon is primarily interested in placing the associated machinery and plant solutions at the centre of discussions with trade fair visitors.

More than two thirds of all technical innovations are directly or indirectly based on new materials, says the German Research Ministry. One could add: The key to a more advanced world, for technological products with amazing functions, breathtaking performance and greater environmental benefits, is also to improve the properties and processing of materials. This applies first and foremost to textiles. Probably no other fabric is so strong as a "team player" who draws its strength from its cohesion. A single polyester thread, for example, looks inconspicuous. Processed into a thigh-thick special weave, however, high-strength High Modulus/High Tenacity fibers anchor floating oil platforms in the deepest waters. These kilometer-long "Mooring Ropes" withstand a breaking load of well over 1,000 tons and perform their task better than steel. For decades, Oerlikon Barmag has been offering special solutions for the production of so-called industrial yarns (IDY) that are tailored to customers worldwide. "We will once again be presenting numerous innovations at this trade fair to inspire our customers," explains Dr.-Ing. Dipl.-Chem. Roy Dolmans, Technology Manager IDY and R&D Filament Processing.

China is the world’s undisputed front-runner in the global car market, leading the way in both production and sales. 2018 saw 27.8 million vehicles produced and domestic sales of 28.1 million, and while these numbers were down slightly year-on-year, the opportunities for global textile producers are still unrivalled given the overall size of the market. These opportunities can best be explored at this year’s biennial China International Nonwovens Expo & Forum (CINE – supported by Techtextil), which runs from 3 – 5 June in Shanghai.
While CINE features nonwovens & nonwoven products, machinery for nonwovens and raw materials & chemicals for nonwovens for a wide range of applications, it is the potential in the automotive sector that is generating a lot of talk before this June’s event. And considering only around 50% of demand for automotive textiles is met by domestic output, the opportunities for imports from overseas suppliers is high.

While new car sales in China dropped for the first time last year since 1992, production still reached 27.8 million vehicles, including 23.5 million passenger cars and 4.3 million commercial vehicles. Furthermore, strong growth is still evident in new energy vehicle (NEV) sales, as well as exports of all vehicle types. NEV production totalled 1.27 million units last year, a staggering 60% increase, while sales grew by nearly 62%. More e-vehicles are sold in China than rest of the world combined, while the government recently set a target of selling 7 million e-vehicles by 2025, ensuring growth in this sector will remain robust for some time. Exports of all vehicle types in 2018 did not grow as fast as NEVs, but the 1.04 million vehicles produced for overseas markets last year still represented growth of 16.8%.

Premium automotive industry buyers attend CINE
Given CINE’s strong reputation in the Chinese nonwovens sector, a number of leading automobile brands, and textile suppliers to these companies, source at the fair. Previous buyers have included Autoliv, Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Lear Corporation, Lydall, Toyota Boshoku, Volkswagen, Wangbo Co Ltd and more.

This edition, buyers such as these can source from a range of automotive nonwovens suppliers. This includes Shanghai Shenda, one of the country’s largest producer of automotive textiles, who will group together a number of automotive interior suppliers.

This year the fair will take place in a new venue, the Shanghai Convention & Exhibition Center of International Sourcing, located conveniently between Hongqiao airport and downtown Shanghai. Visitor registration for the fair is now open and can be accessed here: http://vis.eastfair.com/CINEPCEN/reg.aspx.

• Oerlikon presents its expanded nonwovens product portfolio at the IDEA 2019 in Miami

Neumünster – Oerlikon presents its complete nonwoven plant portfolio for the production of airlaid, meltblown, spunbonded and hybrid materials at this year’s IDEA in Miami from 25–28 March. The focus of its presentation will be on solutions for hygiene, medical and other disposable nonwovens. Visitors to this year’s IDEA can inform themselves on the wide range of products at Oerlikon’s exhibition stand (no. 1724).

Two strong partnerships for disposable nonwovens

While two years ago the Nonwoven business unit of the Oerlikon Manmade Fibers segment focused almost exclusively on solutions for technical applications, the company has now expanded its product portfolio to include solutions for disposable nonwovens by establishing strong partnerships.

Oerlikon & Teknoweb Materials – two strong partners for the nonwoven industry

As early as spring 2017, Oerlikon Manmade Fibers' Nonwoven business unit had entered into a strategic partnership with the Italian company Teknoweb Materials. Teknoweb Materials is an established technology supplier in the field of wipes and other disposable nonwovens. With its LEVRA technology, the company has its own patented, particularly efficient manufacturing process for wipes. It also has extensive process know-how on the making and further processing of these nonwoven materials. The Nonwoven business unit of Oerlikon’s Manmade Fibers segment completes this partnership with its well-established machine and plant solutions. Teknoweb Materials will also be represented at IDEA at the Oerlikon exhibition stand (no. 1724).

Cooperation with Shaoyang Textile Machinery

For spunmelt systems solutions for hygiene and medical applications, Oerlikon has been in cooperation with the Chinese machine and plant manufacturer Shaoyang Textile Machinery since Autumn of last year. The goal of these cooperation partners is to advance the international marketing of spunmelt plants outside of China. Oerlikon Manmade Fibers’ Nonwoven business unit contributes its plant engineering know-how and is responsible for product and process guarantees. Oerlikon also assumes the overall project responsibility as well as world-wide customer service outside of China. In return, Shaoyang, with its headquarters in the city of the same name in the Hunan province, supplies the plant technologies.The advantage for the customer: competitive solutions at an attractive price level with comparatively low investments.

China is the world's largest producer and exporter of nonwoven fabrics, as well as having the largest consumer market for products made from nonwovens, making the upcoming biennial China International Nonwovens Expo & Forum (CINE – supported by Techtextil) the place to be for industry players from 3 – 5 June. This year’s event will relocate to a different venue, the Shanghai Convention & Exhibition Center of International Sourcing, located conveniently between Hongqiao airport and downtown Shanghai.

“The nonwovens market has been one of the fastest growing sectors of the Chinese textile industry over the last decade, and we expect this to continue in the coming years,” Wendy Wen, Senior General Manager of the fair’s co-organiser, Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd, commented. “The demographic changes, evolution of the manufacturing sector and greater awareness of environmental protection that have driven growth in China, among other factors, are also evident in a number of markets in the region, particularly Southeast Asia, so we anticipate production growth will remain strong to meet export demand, even if the Chinese economy slows further.”

Reports by the China Nonwovens & Industrial Textiles Association (CNITA), the Freedonia Group and Smithers Pira support this. Nonwovens output in China grew year-on-year by 9.67% for the first 11 months of 2018, exceeding the corresponding figure for 2017 of 8.71%, while demand for nonwovens is predicted to reach 4.9 million metric tons in 2022, a 6.9% per year increase over this period.

Turning to the region, in 2015 Asia occupied 43.1% of the global nonwovens market – with China alone accounting for more than half of the share – with this figure expected to increase to 47.1% in 2020. The Freedonia report also notes that healthy growth in markets nearby to China such as India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam will also fuel nonwovens output in the country to meet export demand.

Globally, nonwovens demand is expected to increase 4.4% per year to 12.2 million metric tons in 2022, with developing regions being the main driver of this, in particular within Asia-Pacific. In the PP nonwovens sector, output is predicted to nearly double between 2013 and 2020, with the major drivers of this growth being baby diaper, adult incontinence and feminine hygiene products. In the durable nonwovens sector, annual growth of 6 to 7% for the period 2017 – 2023 is also anticipated for filtration, engineering construction and packaging uses.

Oerlikons business unit Nonwoven will cooperate with the Chinese machine and plant manufacturer Shaoyang Textile Machinery for nonwoven solutions in the hygiene market. This was announced by the Manmade Fibers segment at ITMA ASIA + CITME 2018.

The aim of both cooperation partners is to jointly advance the international sales of Spunmelt lines for hygiene applications in the field of disposable nonwovens outside China.
Oerlikons business unit Nonwoven will be responsible for the entire project in the future. To this end, the Neumünster-based company will contribute its know-how in plant engineering to the partnership. Additionally, Oerlikon acquires the CE certifications of all exported Shaoyang Spunmelt lines. Oerlikon will also be responsible for product and process guarantees and will provide worldwide customer services outside China. Shaoyang Textile Machinery, on the other hand, supplies the Spunmelt plant technologies.
"With Shaoyang Textile Machinery, we have found a renowned Chinese plant manufacturer with extensive know-how in the construction of Spunmelt plants for hygiene applications, which achieves international standards with its nonwoven qualities," explains Oerlikon Manmade Fiber Segment CEO Georg Stausberg.
Rainer Straub, Head of Oerlikons Nonwoven Business Unit, adds: "The partnership with Shaoyang Textile Machinery enables us to gain a foothold in the highly competitive hygiene market. Our many years of engineering experience guarantee our customers production lines according to international
standards for high-quality nonwovens".

This September’s Cinte Techtextil China will once again provide a strong barometer of the state of the global technical textiles industry, and in particular which sectors in Asia as a whole, and China specifically, are performing well. Two of these for certain are Buildtech and Mobiltech, with a number of leading global and Chinese brands exhibiting to eager buyers from these sectors.

Cinte Techtextil China is Asia’s leading biennial fair for the technical textiles and nonwovens sector, and will feature an expected 500-plus total exhibitors from around 20 countries & regions from 4 – 6 September. The fair offers products and technologies for 12 application areas* which cover the entire industry.

Buildtech benefits from Belt & Road and other infrastructure investment

With a huge boom in national and regional infrastructure projects, the market for Buildtech products, especially geotextiles and construction textiles, is rapidly expanding. In particular, the government’s global Belt & Road project, as well as continued investment at home in highways, high-speed rail and more, is fuelling this expansion. According to CNITA, in 2017 China started 35 new railway projects, with additional private capital investment in this sector totalling some USD 53 billion that year. The same investment in highway construction increased 17.7%, while water conservation project investment by private firms reached a new record of USD 105 billion.

With this potential in the Asian market, it’s no surprise a number of new exhibitors will feature in the Buildtech sector at the fair, including FPC Technical Textile from Saudi Arabia, Kobe-cz from the Czech Republic, as well as Lenzing Plastics, while Johns Manville are one of the returning exhibitors this year.

• FPC Technical Textile (Saudi Arabia) produce high-end specialty fabrics including PVC coated fabrics and fibre glass PTFE fabrics, and will focus on the latter at the fair.
• Kobe-cz (Czech Republic) will showcase their nonwoven fabrics, mainly from glass fibre with temperature resistance up to 800°C.
• Exhibiting for the first time at the fair with their Plastics division, Lenzing (Austria) will feature their technical laminates for building industries, roofing membranes, vapour barriers, isolation facings and barrier packaging, as well as PROFILEN® PTFE yarns, films and fibres at Cinte Techtextil.
• Johns Manville’s (US) products on offer include polyester spunbond, PP & PBT meltblown, glass fibre nonwovens, micro glass fibre nonwovens, hybrid nonwovens, glass fibre needle mat and glass microfibers.

Mobiltech benefits from huge increases in automobile production in China

With new textile innovations and application possibilities spreading throughout the automobile industry, coupled with the fact China is the world’s largest auto producer, Cinte Techtextil is the place to see the latest products and technologies for this sector this September. Automobile production in China reached 29 million units in 2017, an increase of 3% year-on-year. Staggeringly, new-energy vehicle production grew by 53% last year, while SUVs and commercial vehicles increased 13.81% and 13.95% respectively.

With such strong growth in China, a number of leading international Mobiltech producers, as well as top domestic suppliers, will be at Cinte Techtextil this year, including:

• Abifor (Switzerland): their focus at the fair is on products designed for automotive, construction and other technical applications, in particular their specialty hot-melt powders. The company has its own production unit in Shanghai, and reports that an increasing number of domestic customers are starting to focus on more sophisticated products.
• SKS Group (Sweden): will showcase high performance single end yarn for automotive and industrial hoses, and single end cord for automotive and industrial belts.
• Swisstulle (Switzerland): will have a range of products on offer for automotive, rail and aviation uses, including sunshade materials, nets, tube reinforcements and new possibilities for luggage compartment covers.
• Windel Textile Far East (Germany): with production undertaken in China, this German firm offers textile greige, half-done and finished materials. They offer nonwoven, knitted and woven fabrics (substrates), and glass fibre solutions. At the fair, they will showcase substrates for adhesive tapes / wire harnessing tapes, and Maliwatt- and coagulated microfibre fleece for covering vehicle interiors.
• Protechnic (France): they will feature hot melt thermoadhesive nets, webs and films, as well as laminating process in automotive and other industrial applications at Cinte 2018.
• Kuangda Technology Group (China): having supplied products for global brands such as Volkswagen and Audi, this Chinese supplier will offer automotive interiors, including interior fabrics, seat covers and cushions at the fair.
• Shanghai Shenda (ShanghaiTex Group) (China): specialising in automotive interior textiles, they manufacture a full range of products including grey car carpet, moulding car carpet, head liners (warp-knitting and nonwoven), seat belt, seat fabrics and more, and have supplied the likes of Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen and GM.

Cinte Techtextil China is organised by Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd; the Sub-Council of Textile Industry, CCPIT; and the China Nonwovens & Industrial Textiles Association (CNITA). To find out more about the fair, please visit: www.techtextilchina.com.