From the Sector

SGL Carbon and Brembo agreed to expand production capacities for the joint venture Brembo SGL Carbon Ceramic Brakes (BSCCB). Both companies have been working together with BSCCB on the conditions and implementation plans for this in the preceding months. BSCCB will invest around €150 million until 2027 to expand by more than 70% production capacities at the sites in Meitingen (Germany) and Stezzano (Italy).

The capacity enlargement includes the construction of two new production facilities at the SGL Carbon Meitingen site with a total area of around 8,500 m² and the installation of new production machinery. The groundbreaking in Meitingen will take place this fall.

At the Stezzano site, production areas will be extended by around 4.000 m² to existing buildings and investments will be made in new production machinery.

The extensive expansion of production capacities will enable Brembo SGL Carbon Ceramic Brakes (BSCCB) to meet the high market demand and to cover the increasing customer requests in the future. The need for carbon ceramic brake discs from BSCCB increased worldwide. This is mainly due to the high product quality and performance of carbon ceramic brake discs, which meet the specific requirements of automotive manufacturers, especially in the premium and luxury segments, where high braking performance is needed.

Beaulieu International Group will turn the spotlight on geotextile products with sustainability benefits to support progress in resilient civil engineering projects at the 12^th ICG Rome from 18^th -21^st September 2023, presenting options to target fossil carbon reduction by choosing PP-based staple fibres or woven geotextiles that are among the lowest in carbon footprint for geosynthetics.

For manufacturers of nonwoven geotextiles, Beaulieu Fibres International (BFI) offers PP fibres with > 25% carbon footprint reduction compared to the European standard PP fibres, generating 1.48 kg CO₂/kg PP fibres. A step further is to accelerate the replacement of fossil carbon in engineered fibre applications by choosing its ISCC Plus certified bio-attributed MONO-PP with a negative carbon footprint.

For construction projects, nonwoven geotextiles made with high-tenacity HT8 fibres are proven to secure a longer service lifetime and reduce the environmental impact, as they offer high mechanical performance at a reduced weight.

Beaulieu Technical Textiles' (BTT) woven geotextiles provide a wide range of functions, including separation, filtration, reinforcement and erosion control, and are among the most sustainable in the industry. Depending on weight, the carbon footprint of its woven geotextiles (m²) ranges between 0.37 and 1.40 kg CO₂ eq./m². They also minimize the use of natural resources for more sustainable infrastructure development. Case studies such as at the Ostend-Bruges airport highlight significant CO2 reduction on the jobsite by replacing the transport of 960 trucks of gravel with 3 trucks of woven geotextiles, and by extending the runway’s life span.

The ICG launch of its new line Terralys MF woven filtration geotextiles with monofilament boosts the performance of a common solution in building layers that require high water flow rates. High-tenacity extruded polypropylene tapes and monofilaments are interwoven to form dimensionally stable and highly permeable geotextiles. These new filtration geotextiles provide greater resistance to dirt and biological clogging. They allow water to travel freely while reducing soil erosion when employed as a separation and stabilizing layer.

As of September 2023, all PP staple fibres and woven geotextiles will have Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) based on LCAs. Each EPD is an essential tool for communicating and reporting on the sustainability performance and helps carbon-conscious customers in their purchasing and decision making. Registered EPDs are globally recognized, publicly available and free to download through EPD Libraries.

INDA, the Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry, announced the finalists that will compete for the RISE^® Innovation Award. RISE^®, the Research, Innovation & Science for Engineered Fabrics Conference, will take place September 26-27 at Talley Student Union, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC.

The finalists who will present their product innovations on Tuesday, September 26th, include:

ESC-8 – The JOA® Electronic Size Change Unit by Curt G. Joa, Inc.
The JOA^® ESC-8™ unit allows unprecedented Adult Pant design flexibility with the ability to process nearly limitless combinations of insert and chassis sizes at industry best speeds. Additionally, this technology enables the production of a greener, more sustainable product by eliminating up to 250 tons of material, 5 tons of glue, and 500 tons of greenhouse gas emissions every year.

BicoBio Fiber by Fiberpartner ApS
The BicoBio Fiber is a bicomponent fiber core sheath construction, developed from materials with a low carbon footprint. This fiber is designed to biodegrade in the environments where most plastics are found: landfills and the ocean. The fiber’s BioBased PE is produced from sugar cane and has a negative carbon footprint. The fiber’s recycled PET is GRS certified. PrimaLoft^® Bio™, a technology that enables polyester fibers to biodegrade, is utilized in the production of BicoBio Fibers. These fibers can be processed with a variety of nonwoven technologies.

Reifenhäuser Reicofil RF5 XHL by Reifenhäuser REICOFIL GmbH & Co. KG
Reicofil XHL (Extra High Loft) is the game changer for a super soft and drapeable nonwoven offering an incomparable feel the nonwoven market has never seen before. The outstanding soft touch is unique and intended for use in the hygiene sector. XHL focuses on low basis weight and high thickness with the best visual appearance. The high performance and efficient use of raw materials and energy ensure cost-effectiveness and environmentally-friendly production.

SAPMonit by TiHiVE
TiHive’s game-changing innovation, SAPMonit – a visionary French technology breakthrough – inspects millions of diapers weekly. SAPMonit delivers lightning-speed inline inspection of Super Absorbents weight and distribution, optimizes resources, detects flaws, and accelerates R&D. SAPMonit utilizes advanced see-through cameras, high-speed vision algorithms, and secure cloud integration, revolutionizing industry norms. SAPMonit has great potential for sustainability, cost reduction, and enhanced customer satisfaction.

The RISE Innovation Award winner will be announced Wednesday afternoon, September 27^th.

The Lenzing Group, a world-leading provider of specialty fibers for the textile and nonwoven industries, has been awarded platinum status in the EcoVadis CSR rating. The rating comprehensively covers the four most important practices in the area of corporate social responsibility: environment, fair working conditions and human rights, as well as ethics and sustainable procurement.

For the third time, Lenzing has been awarded Platinum status for its sustainability performance by EcoVadis, a leading international provider of sustainability ratings for companies. This puts Lenzing in the top one percent of companies worldwide rated by EcoVadis.

EcoVadis has become the world's largest and most trusted provider of corporate sustainability ratings since its founding in 2007, creating a global network of more than 100,000 rated companies worldwide. The methodological framework assesses companies' policies, actions and activities, as well as their published reports, related to the environment, labor and human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement.

In line with its sustainability strategy “Naturally positive”, the Lenzing Group has set ambitious targets in each of its core strategic areas to further strengthen its path from a linear to a circular economy model. Lenzing reports annually on the corresponding implementation measures and the progress made in its sustainability report. This level of commitment and transparency was particularly positively highlighted by EcoVadis in its assessment. The rating provider also emphasized the Lenzing Group's comprehensive measures in the areas of environment, ethics, and labor and human rights.

RadiciGroup took part in the Phygital Sustainability Expo, this year in its fourth edition, which was held in Rome on 5 and 6 July. This event is entirely dedicated to the ecological transition of fashion and design brands through technological innovation. The show is an important platform for discussion on sustainable transition issues, involving Italian and international brands, fashion tech start-ups, representatives from the institutional, business and educational fields, and consumers.

RadiciGroup's participation in the event was further evidence of the Group's commitment to making a contribution to sustainability and circularity in the fashion and textile industry, in collaboration with all the other players in the supply chain. During the narrated fashion show, held on the evening of Wednesday, 5 July, in the evocative archaeological complex of the Imperial Forum Museum, RadiciGroup presented a maxi dress made of Biofeel® eleven, a yarn of completely natural origin featuring high technical, aesthetic and environmental performance. This yarn is produced starting from a small bean cultivated in India on semi-arid land and thus does not compete with human food production. These beans yield a special oil ideal for obtaining biopolymers, such as the one produced by Arkema and spun into yarn at RadiciGroup in Italy.

The dress is not only made from a low environmental impact raw material, but is also an example of ecodesign: the garment was realized on a Shima Seiki WholeGarment knitting machine, where the entire item was knit directly from spools of Biofeel® eleven yarn, bypassing the traditional stages of weaving and tailoring. It is a zero-waste process, as only the quantity of yarn strictly needed for the garment is used.

Biofeel® eleven yarn endows the dress with unique characteristics, including low moisture absorption, greater lightness and high resistance and durability. Besides being 100% biobased, the yarn is also 100% recyclable because it is made of a mono-material polymer, which facilitates its end-of-life recycling and processing into new materials suitable for any application requiring high performance.

Climate change is causing temperatures to rise and storms to increase. Especially in inner cities, summers are becoming a burden for people. While densification makes use of existing infrastructure and avoids urban sprawl, it increases the amount of sealed surfaces. This has a negative impact on the environment and climate. Green facades bring more green into cities. If textile storage structures are used, they can even actively contribute to flood protection. The German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research (DITF) have developed a corresponding "Living Wall".

The plants on the green facades are supplied with water and nutrients via an automatic irrigation system. The "Living Walls" operate largely autonomously. Sensory yarns detect the water and nutrient content. The effort for care and maintenance is low.

Innovative hydraulic textile structures regulate water flow. The rock wool plant substrate on which the plants grow has a large volume in a small space thanks to its structure. Depending on how heavy the precipitation is, the rainwater is stored in a textile structure and later used to irrigate the plants. In the event of heavy rainfall, the excess water is discharged into the sewage system with a time delay. In this way, the "Living Walls" developed at the DITF help to make efficient use of water as a resource in post-densified urban areas.

The research project also scientifically investigated the cooling performance of a green facade. Modern textile technology in the substrate promotes the "transpiration" of the plants. This creates evaporative cooling and lowers temperatures in the surrounding area.

The work of the Denkendorf research team also included a cost-benefit calculation and a life-cycle analysis. Based on the laboratory and outdoor studies, a "green value" was defined that can be used to evaluate and compare the effect of greening buildings as a whole.

Archroma, a leader in specialty chemicals towards sustainable solutions, is teaming up with COLOURizd™, an innovator specializing in sustainable textile dyeing technologies, to set a new standard for the eco-friendlier production of sustainable textiles.

The new collaboration will enable fabric mills and brands to combine Archroma pigment coloration solutions with the COLOURizd™ QuantumCOLOUR™ yarn-coloring technology to produce high-quality, high-performance textiles with maximum consumer appeal and minimal environmental impact.

Conventional fiber-reactive methods of dyeing cellulosic and synthetic yarns are multi-step resource-intensive processes that use up to 95 liters of water per kilograms of colored yarn and discharge approximately 94 liters of effluent.

In contrast, the innovative QuantumCOLOUR™ process injects pigment and a binder directly into the yarn, using only 0.95 liters of water per kilograms of colored yarn while producing zero effluent. This represents an unprecedented reduction of 98% in water consumption alongside zero wastewater discharge, zero discharge of harmful chemicals, 73% decrease in carbon footprint and 50% reduction in energy use.*

With Archroma, textile manufacturers and apparel brands can add further value to the QuantumCOLOUR™ process with tailor-made system solutions, including JUST COLOR. This formaldehyde-free** pigment coloration system is based on Archroma’s revolutionary Printofix® pigment dispersions and Helizarin® binders to deliver exceptionally soft fabrics with high fastness and durability, while also enabling energy and chemical savings and higher productivity.

* As tested by Peterson Control Union
** Below limits of detection according to industry standard test methods

Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL) and Carbios, a biotech company developing and industrializing biological solutions to reinvent the life cycle of plastic and textiles, announce the signing of a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to form a Joint Venture for the construction of the world’s first PET biorecycling plant in France.  

Based on and subject to the comprehensive terms set out in the MOU, Indorama Ventures plans to mobilize about €110 million for the Joint Venture in equity and non-convertible loan financing , pending final engineering documentation and final economic feasibility studies. Both parties have acknowledged their mutual support for the implementation of the project and their intent to finalize contract documentation before end 2023.

Subject to the successful performance of this first plant in France, Indorama Ventures confirms its intention to potentially expand the technology to other PET sites for future developments.

Under the agreement signed June 1, Carbios, which filed for plant permitting in December 2022, should acquire 13ha land from Indorama Ventures’ existing PET plant at Longlaville and expects to be granted permits by Q3 2023, allowing start of construction by end of 2023 and targeted commissioning in 2025.  The land surface offers the possibility to double capacity. Pursuant to this MOU, Indorama Ventures shall ensure 100% of output repolymerization and both partners shall collaborate to secure feedstock supply.

The total capital investment for the new plant is re-estimated to be around €230 million, taking into account recent impact from inflation. Project costs shall be financed by the sums mobilized by Indorama Ventures, the French State and Grand-Est Region subsidies available for the project , and by equity capitalization of the Joint Venture by Carbios. Part of Carbios’ equity injection into the Joint Venture shall be financed by a portion of Carbios’ current cash position (i.e. €86 million as of 30 April 2023). Carbios is actively examining the best options to finance its remaining equity injection into the Joint Venture and will choose the most appropriate solution and timeline based on market conditions.

The project is part of Indorama Ventures’ Vision 2030 ambition to build on its leadership as a global sustainable chemical company. The company’s ESG commitments include spending $1.5 billion to increase its recycling capacity to 50 billion PET bottles per year by 2025 and 100 billion bottles per year by 2030. To meet these goals, Indorama Ventures, the world’s largest producer of recycled PET resin used in beverage bottles, is investing in new recycling technologies, including advanced recycling, in addition to expanding its global footprint of mechanical recycling sites, including two in France.

Carbios has developed a disruptive enzymatic depolymerization technology that enables efficient and solvent-free recycling of PET plastic and textile waste into virgin-like products with an aim to achieve true circularity. Carbios has ambitious plans to become a leading technology provider in advanced recycling of PET by 2035. After successful ongoing operations in its demonstration plant in Clermont-Ferrand in France, Carbios has been collaborating with Indorama Ventures for over a year to assess the commercial and technical feasibility of the technology. The world’s first industrial-scale enzymatic PET recycling plant at Longlaville will have a capacity to process about 50,000 tons of post-consumer PET waste per year, including waste that is not recyclable mechanically, equivalent to 2 billion PET colored bottles or 2.5 billion PET trays.

B.I.G. Yarns unveils its new “SustainableYarns” platform, with Clerkenwell Design Week visitors the first to be invited to get on board and focus on what matters most for the design and manufacture of sustainable soft floorings.

The expert in polyamide (PA) 1 step 3 ply yarns offers a range of options for manufacturers to introduce sustainable yarns into carpet solutions and reach sustainability targets faster and more efficiently.

The Sustainable Yarns range creates opportunities to design with recycled content yarn (EqoCycle), to work with renewable resources (EqoBalance), and, following the launch of new polyamide 6 (PA6) EqoYarn at Clerkenwell Design Week, to also leverage the low-impact value chain.

New addition EqoYarn is a new low-impact PA6 carpet yarn based on the most recent innovations in polymer production, which enable yarn manufacturers to lower their carbon footprint by nearly 50% and give carpet manufacturers more options to reduce their impact.

For its EqoYarn Bulk Continuous Filament (BCF) production process, B.I.G. Yarns has selected the few best-in-class partners that have made major steps forward in terms of sustainability, and reduced their greenhouse gas emissions thanks to continuous investments in process efficiency, green energy, heat optimization and waste reduction. The result is EqoYarn with a carbon footprint of 4 kg CO2 eq/kg yarns, which is a CO2 reduction of up to 50% compared to conventional PA yarns.

EqoBalance PA6 yarns enable customers to reach an even higher CO2 reduction of up to 75%. Manufactured with polymers made from renewable resources such as organic waste from cooking oil instead of virgin or fossil feedstock, these yarns have a carbon footprint of 1.98 kg CO2 eq./ kg yarns. They help carpet manufacturers to create products with an extremely low carbon footprint.

EqoCycle PA6 yarns are fully recyclable and incorporate 75% recycled content originating from recycled and regenerated PA6 granules. With a carbon footprint of 4.64 kg CO2 eq./ kg yarns, they deliver the same high-quality performance of virgin PA6 yarn with the benefit of 37% CO2 reduction. EqoCycle yarns offer carpet manufacturers a sustainable alternative to help reduce the ecological footprint of their products and move towards a circular economy without jeopardizing the end-product quality.

In addition to the different CO2-reducing options, B.I.G. Yarns’ customers can access an unlimited colour range to elevate their designs. Its BCF technology for polyamide yarns, twisted and heat-set yarns, one-colour to multi-colour, between 650 and 15000 dTex, along with its colour studio, are available to support their creation of customised collections.

The first set of coloured carbon fibre bike wheels made a debut public appearance at The Cycle Show at Alexandra Palace.

Developed in partnership with leading wheel brand Parcours, the Chrono carbon fibre wheels feature a gold finish made of Hypetex’s Zlatan uni-directional material and offer a lighter and higher-performance product than the traditional painted alternative.

Hypetex is a sustainable colouring technology for advanced materials, such as carbon fibre. Born out of Formula 1 racing, its patented paint-replacing process is a key step in advancing the lightweight revolution. Combining water-based eco-resins with a sustainable curing process, Hypetex materials are made with bold, colourful aesthetics as well as technical and cost-saving benefits.

Parcours is a leading wheel brand that offers high-performance, premium wheelsets that employs the latest advancements in aerodynamic technology. The Parcours X Hypetex gold wheels were featured at The Cycle Show in London on a bespoke Handsling A1R0evo, which was nominated for the Jaw Droppers trophy - a competition for the industry’s most striking designs.