Lenzing & Nanocarbons Activated Carbons for Energy Storage Systems

Lenzing AG and NanoCarbons LLC, Fort Lauderdale (Florida, USA), will cooperate in the future to develop and explore the use of new activated carbons in electrode technology. This technology is based on a combination of Lenzing’s TENCEL® fibers and the technology provided by NanoCarbons LLC. After extensive research Lenzing constructed a new pilot production facility to take the technology forward.

The jointly developed carbons should deliver optimal performance in the area of energy storage. It is believed that these new carbons will accelerate the development of the already rapid growth in uses of electrical devices such as double layer capacitors (also known as ultra capacitors or super capacitors). These high performance capacitors are being increasingly used in hybrid vehicles as well as with stop-start systems, uninterruptable power supplies and wind turbine blade orientation.

“For Lenzing, the development of new, special applications in the technical segment comprises an important extension of the use of our fibers”, says Peter Untersperger, Chief Executive Officer of the Lenzing Group in commenting on the new partnership. “The strongly growing market for energy storage devices is a promising market niche for us. With our TENCEL® fibers we will certainly witness the development of a series of additional, highly interesting technical applications in the coming years.”

Friedrich Weninger, COO of the Lenzing Group with management responsibility for research and development, adds: “We are continuing to invest in new areas of research to increase the range and reach of our product portfolio, both in-house and through external cooperation. The new carbons optimally complement our existing business with separator materials for the energy storage devices. We strongly believe in the future growth of this market. We are offering our customers a sustainable product with consistent quality to allow the industry to develop further.”

Rud Istvan, CEO of NanoCarbons LLC, comments: “I strongly believe that this development will allow the double layer capacitor market to make a significant advancement. With the combination of Lenzing’s technical understanding and infrastructure and Nanocarbons’ technology, we can expect an acceleration in the market uses and exploitation of double layer capacitors, from new automotive stop-start systems to uninterruptable power supplies. This could be a breakthrough for electrode technology that will reap dividends for the designers of electrical components and the drivers of vehicles alike.”

For more information please contact:

Angelika Guldt
Head of Corporate Communications
Phone: +43 (0) 7672 701-2713
E-mail: a.guldt@lenzing.com

See also http://www.tencel-lyocell.com/2013/01/lenzing-develops-tencel-for-ultra.html

Methodologies for Measuring Sustainability

Koen Boone, Managing Director Europe, The Sustainability Consortium (TSC) was considering how LCA methods could be linked with other measurements to get a handle on the social impact of products.  There were 3 main components:

•          The category dossier: a collection of evidence on the supply chain, to identify environmental and social hotspots and opportunities for improvement.
•          The category sustainability profile: a “Synthesis of product sustainability knowledge and improvement opportunities”(?)
•          Key Performance Indicators: Measuring and tracking product category sustainability.

    Rather than use a manual process involving multiple questionnaires between TSC, retailers and their suppliers, TSC has created a Pilot Reporting Platform to which it uploads the questions allowing both retailers and manufacturers to make single responses directly.  Only the most important issues need to be measured and this amounts to 10-20 KPIs per product.

Cotton has already been completed.  Disposables are due to be done by the end of October 2012, and fibres by Feb 2013.

What’s different about TSC?  It’s global, covers all sustainability issues for all consumer products, is academic, mainstream, concentrates on issues that matter, and is linked to businesses with  a combined turnover of $1.5 trillion.  And to get involved, Tier 1 membership will only cost you $100,000/year.

The EU Ecolabel Criteria for Sanitary Products

Mauro Cordella, Scientific Officer, European Commission, JRC-IPTS, Seville (Spain) described the EC 66/2010 ecolabel regulation as an instrument to promote the most environmentally friendly 10-20% of products in a category. The EC would analyse products for their environmental impact, review results with the stakeholders and develop criteria for labelling.  The LCA methods used would include PEF, Envirodec and BPX 30-323.

The EU absorbent hygiene products category consumed about 1.7 million tonnes of material and was worth €11bn in 2011. 90% of products were produced and consumed in the EU27 and baby diapers were the biggest product.  The EC aim was to identify “hot-spots” in the diaper LCA and hence options for reducing their impact.  So far it appeared that the raw materials used for diapers were the main impact contributors but end-of-life impacts were important also, with weight reduction and diversion from landfill being key improvements to be sought.  Controlled materials such as adhesives, dyes/inks and fragrances are under investigation.

Longer term, the EC would commit to impact improvement targets (reduction by X% in Y years) and setting thresholds defining the maximum allowed impact of a product.

Consumer Product Environmental Footprints

Sylvain Chevassus, Policy Officer on Sustainable Consumption and Production, Ministry for Sustainable Development (France) described how France intends to make sustainable consumption more credible, accessible and visible through the “Grenelle” legislation.  This covers the consumers right to be informed of the environmental impact of a product, and a 1-year experiment using LCA data at the consumer level is underway.  ADEME (Agence de l'Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l'Energie) and AFNOR (Association Française de Normalisation) are providing the multi-stakeholder technical platform which reaches agreement with data-holders on the use of the LCAs.  In total 670 organisations and more than 1000 experts are providing the inputs to an environmental impact database which will ultimately be publicly available.

A wide range of companies is taking part in the experiment and of the 230 volunteers, 168 have been selected and these include Nestle, Coca Cola, Pepsico, Colgate Palmolive, P&G, Unilever and J&J.  Product labelling shows CO₂ emission equivalent in grams equated to the distance a car can travel with the same level of emissions.  Water consumption is likewise indicated by “seconds in the shower” and the effect on ecosystems is shown by the area of “biodiversité fragilisée” in square meters.

Working Group 4H deals with hygiene products.  For diapers the functional unit is “Nappies per day per child” and the indicators are carbon footprint, depletion of non-renewable resources and waste at end-of-life.  EDANA is collaborating with WG4H to prepare draft Product Category Rules for both disposables and washable nappies.  Extension of the process to include inco and femcare is being considered.

An Environmental Impact Index equating to the daily impact of one EU consumer could become a unit of measure with products labelled with the percentage of this daily impact their use implies.

Disposable diaper design update

Carlos Richer, Principal/CEO, Richer Investments (Mexico) compared diaper machines by region and said output had reached 850 diapers/min/machine in the mature markets, 500 d/m/m in China and other developing markets and 300 d/m/m in Africa, India and other underdeveloped markets.  SAP usage was ~760,000 tonnes (used in 60bn diapers) in mature markets, 560,000 tonnes (used in 62bn diapers) in emerging markets and ~45,000 tonnes (used in 5.6bn diapers) in underdeveloped markets.  Developing markets clearly use more pulp (~1m tonnes) than emerging markets (~0.5 million tonnes).  Other trends gleaned from the blizzard of facts which emerged:

•          Once the uneconomic diaper producers (lines making less than 200 diapers/minute) die off the USA will have 102 lines.
•          More adult incontinence products are using perforated film topsheets.
•          Trends in diaper design from “full chassis” to “I-shaped” and “KC Hybrid” will reduce the amount of nonwoven used per diaper in the emerging markets.  Full chassis with breathable sides will be an intermediate design. 
•          KC designs vary by region. P&G is consistent around the world.
•          KC Slip-on, a hybrid between diaper and pant, uses extruded elastomerics rather than Lycra.  It has improved capacity and retention, customer approval feedback giving 72% Excellent, 13% Neutral and 15% Negative ratings, the latter being for skin marks from the elastic.  It has had a static 3% share for the last 6 months so maybe not a success.
•          The top 10 diapers use spunbond core wrap.  All inco diapers use tissue so there’s a big opportunity for spunbond in inco-corewrap.
•          Nonwoven use in inco is 5x that of diapers on a per diaper basis so here’s another big opportunity for spunbond.
•          Acquisition layer weight varies from 130 gsm on Huggies down to 40 gsm on Pampers Baby Dry.
•          100% SAP cores are no longer the coming thing in mature markets.  They looked good when pulp was expensive but with SAP prices rising they won’t be economic.  Furthermore mothers are concerned about the risk of rash from the “chemicals”.
•          Bio-SAP would make sense only in Brazil at present.  It’s too expensive elsewhere.
•          SAP use will rise in the developing markets but only to about 40% of the core.
•          Thinner products are needed and are harder to make.  Maybe pre-formed thin cores will allow the smaller producers to enter the sector.
•          Super-soft topsheets are available in non-bico form in Asia.  Probably polyethylene fibres.  The main problem of polymer change is its effect on diaper conversion efficiency.  Price of the resin is not a big issue.
•          Cloth diapers are increasing share from a tiny base for the wrong reasons.  Disposables are clearly better for baby, but it’s easier to potty-train from cloth diapers because the babies are keen to get out  adult incontinence products are using a perforated film topsheet.

Global Hygiene Markets. What now? Where now? Where next?

Alice Diepenbrock, Head of Country Research, Euromonitor International (United Kingdom) pointed out that Tissue and Hygiene, the sector including  most absorbent hygiene products, amounted to only 3.2% of the average EU non-freshfood spend.  Globally this sector is relatively recession proof, but not in the developed markets where year-on-year growth has been below 2% since 2008, but is now recovering.  

By contrast, the developing markets have been growing at >10% consistently since 1998.  For diapers and femcare, 90% of the growth since 2002 has come from the developing regions, and it is only adult incontinence which is doing better in the developed regions.

Inputs to AHP  manufacturing all rose substantially in 2011, but retail prices have been stable since 2006, and innovations by the brands such as “glow in the dark”, national flags and football themed diapers have been popular this year.  KC’s Depend for Men inco-pants have been launched and price-led innovations such as Giga packs of diapers and wipes are doing well. Maybe surprisingly, private label products have lost share. 

GDP/Capita is increasing rapidly in the developing regions. By 2020 the Middle East and Africa will be at the level ($3500) where diaper sales take off and Eastern Europe and Latin America should see rapid growth in wetwipes ($8000) and incontinence products ($10000).  Asia Pacific passed the diaper take-off threshold in 2010. 

So, half the diaper market growth through 2016 will come from China, while in the west, the per capita spend on diapers will be at best static and may even decline slightly.  Two thirds of the femcare market growth will come from Asia Pacific while declines in the per capita spend will occur in Australasia, North America and Western Europe.  The incontinence market will grow strongly in Latin America, North America and Western Europe this being GDP driven rather than demographics-driven, with the exception of Japan.

Supermarkets are gaining share over the traditional outlets in developing regions and this allows the Private Label sector to develop.  PL is targeting 40% of the Aditya Birla business in India and a similar proportion in Russian supermarkets.  Internet sales are growing rapidly in developed regions with incontinence products doing best.  $200m worth of diapers are now sold on line annually in the USA and Amazon.com has acquired diapers.com for $580m.

Japan spends $600 per year on diapers compared with the USA’s $331.  This appears to be because in Japan the more expensive pants (formerly known as training pants) are used from the age of 6 months.

Disposable Hygiene Products Market in China

Cao Zhenlei, Chairman, China National Household Paper Industry Association (China) provided the latest data for 2011:

•          Disposable diaper consumption rose 22% over 2010 and there was a large increase in exports.
•          Total disposable hygiene product (DHP) sales in China were 46 bn yuan, up 16% on 2010.  Of this 26bn was in femcare and 18bn in diapers, the rest incontinence products.
•          The femcare market was 87% disposable, and used 58 billion pads in 2010.
•          The diaper market was 40% disposable and used 18bn pieces.
•          The wet-wipes market value fell in value by 9.3% but increased in volume by 9.2% over 2010.
•          Exports of DHP were 307,000 tonnes up 17% on 2010. 
•          98,000 tonnes of wet wipes were exported, up 36% on 2010
•          The industry as a whole is consolidating:  15 femcare producers now make 77% of the sales revenue and 10 diaper producers account for 83% of sales.
•         P&G is the leading producer with a 17.4% share followed by Hengan (15.9%), Uni-Charm (14.9%), Chiaus (6.8%) and KC (6.6%)
•          600,000 tonnes of woodpulp were used in DHP, 546,000 tonnes being imported.  SAP usage was 170,000 tonnes and increasing as more converters chose to use the local production.
•          404,000 tonnes of SAP were produced in China in 2011.   

    For the future, Femcare is mature, will continue to grow but competition will be fiercer and RM prices higher so profits will fall.  A baby-boom is expected this year as only-child couples are allowed to have 2 children.  The diaper industry will continue to grow rapidly but consolidation will eliminate the backward.  Adult incontinence is embryonic so has great development potential and will grow rapidly as the enormous elderly population now living alone need professional care.  Wet wipes will grow as living standards improve and biodegradability/flushability issues will be important.

Asked about waste disposal, Mr Cao said it’s now mainly landfill but other options will become important within 5 years.

Innovation in the age of Globalisation

Vijay Vaitheeswaran, China Business Editor, The Economist (China) explained how the new rules of innovation can transform businesses, propel nations to greatness and tame the world’s most wicked problems.  He listed the problems as the crisis of capitalism; terrorism; climate change; resource depletion and the resulting wars; urbanisation; globalisation, and the pandemics which will arise from globalisation.  The problems were not the result of overpopulation and it was of course the population which would provide the solutions.  Improving education of women would reduce the size of future families, and the increasing creativity which follows improved education would provide the answers to the problems. Clearly it would be the emerging economies, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa that would be most likely to invent ways out of the problems.

Resources were not really running out.  The Earth is a closed system and rubbish can be recycled.  Food production was going to be the problem 70 years ago but the Green Revolution in the US and Europe solved that one.  A green revolution is now happening in Africa and India, so all we have to do is to organise to allow markets to be developed and work freely.  Conservation is important but the word has a moral tone and should be avoided: we’re talking the need to use resources more efficiently so increasingly democratic and disruptive innovations will make the necessary improvements happen.  Here Mr Vaitheeswaran was defining innovation not as R&D driven technological invention but simply as fresh thinking which creates value.  By way of example he mentioned Peak Oil – in this case the peaking of whale oil supplies needed for lighting in the 19^th century.  Innovative use of gas and the oil which leaked from the ground in Pennsylvania, and the industries built on this innovation, avoided the expected collapse of civilisation.

Socially important innovation must be properly rewarded – and rewarded more substantially than financial innovations. Profitable industries have arisen in

Nonwovens from recycled fibres and PLA

Bernd Gulich of the Sächsisches Textilforschungsinstitut e.V. (STFI – Germany) has been collaborating with Oerlikon Neumag to develop air laid nonwovens made from recycled short fibre material.  After air-laying with 20% bico and thermal bonding:-

•         Waste paper gives a cardboard like material.
•          Wool dust from felting is around 5mm long can be used for insulation and oil absorbents
•          Shredded tyre cord from tyre recycling has been converted into oil absorbents.
•          Shredded textile glass fibre makes insulation nonwovens.
•          Dried grass (not hay) makes mouldable boards for automotive use.
•          Nettle, poplar, coconut, kapok, hemp and of course cotton linters all make usable nonwovens or boards.
•          Basalt fibres make insulation boards.
•          Metal fibre sheets are under development.
•          Leather waste with only 5-10% bico is air laid, hydroentangled and thermally embossed to look and feel like real leather.  This process is now running on a commercial scale in the UK.

Roshan Paul of Leitat Technological Center, Terrassa (Spain) was blending 5% cellulose powders into PLA during extrusion but provided no data on the performance of the resulting biodegradable plastic.  He had also prepared masterbatches of thermochromic dyes with PLA to make fibres for fire-protection clothing but admitted that the clothing gave no indication of skin temperature.  (Funding was provided by the EU 7^th Framework.)

Light- and FIR- emitting fibres

Delphine Chevalier of Brochier Technologies, Villeurbanne (France) described light-emitting textiles made by Jaquard weaving 0.25 to 1mm optical fibre monofils with normal textile fibre yarns to create an infinite variety of patterns or words.  The cladding is removed from one side of the optical yarn in finishing so that light can escape wherever illumination is required.  The ends of the optical yarns are then bundled and connected to LED’s.  All-optical fabrics can give even illumination over large flat or curved areas from a textile less than a millimetre thick and weighing less than 500 gsm.  Environment and health applications e.g. air and water purification follow from the use of UV LEDs, and IR LEDs lead to safety and sensor applications.  Blue-light emitting bedsheets can be used for phototherapy, especially for babies with jaundice, the treatment of skin diseases and for winter depression.

Gabriel Gorescu of Rhodia Fibras, St. André (Brazil) said  Rhodia, a member of Solvay Group, has the technology for producing melt spun polyamide microfiber embedded with special bioceramic materials.  These “Emana” PA66 fabrics with excellent texture show a high level of FIR emissivity when warmed by the body and thus give significant skin health improvements in clinical (cosmetic) trials.

On the sport field, besides the improvement of body thermoregulation already known as a FIR yarn benefit, this yarn has shown significant benefits during aerobic running exercise and during repetitive eccentric muscle movements.  In other words, Mr Gorescu was claiming “Emana” fabrics enabled athletes to run faster when they are tired and body-builders to work harder without damaging muscles. “Emana” also heals wounds.