Lenzing on Tampon fibres and their effects on tampon properties

Josef Schmidtbauer, Director of Innovation for Nonwovens at Lenzing AG (Austria) reviewed the absorbency of rayon fibres using tests appropriate to the evaluation of hygienic disposables, with special emphasis on demonstrating the superiority of cellulosics over synthetics. Several fibers now under development were mentioned in passing.

High surface area viscose rayon fibres give the highest absorbency...
...and these pure cellulose fibres make the better tampons than cotton

Adding superabsorbents can increase absobency further but this in not acceptable for tampon use.

Syngina testing of tampons does not correlate well with Water Holding Capacity

although if Water Retention % (centrifuge test) is used, the correlation with Syngina seems better.

The TOTAL picture of oil, gas and polypropylene futures

Marc van der Elst, General Manager PP for Total Petrochemicals Research (Belgium) pointed out that proven conventional oil reserves at the end of 2004 amounted to 40 years supply at 2004 consumption levels. 67 years supply of gas remained on the same basis.

Oil and gas reserves are still significant, but they lie mainly in "at risk" regions

75% of the polypropylene produced in Europe is from naphtha crackers...

...but the future lies in "on-purpose" PP technologies

Integration as at Total is the key to the future e.g at 40million Euro investment in methanol to olefin technology

The companies involved in olefin production are changing

Dupont's view of Industrial Wipes Markets

At EDANA's Vienna symposium (June 2006), Sylvain d’Incau of DuPont (Switzerland) observed that the slow down in the hygiene market was leading consumer wipes producers to turn their attention to the industrial market, dumping fabrics designed for consumer use at very low prices.

Industrial wipes markets are highly fragmented with varying technical requirements...

... but hygiene issues with the reusable "shop towels" gives nonwovens a real advantage

Spunlace is the leading nonwoven process for industrial wipe production...

..but material designed for consumer wipes is unlikely to work well

Conclusion: Industrial wiping is a small sophisticated speciality market requiring committed suppliers only.

Worldwide Nonwovens Outlook from Inda

Rory Holmes, President of Inda (USA) provided an excellent update of world nonwovens market data from Inda’s 2004 report on nonwovens in the Asia-Pacific region at EDANA's Vienna Nonwovens Symposium - June 2006. Photos of selected slides follow:

World Nonwovens Outlook: Millions of Tonnes by Region

China's share of World nonwoven production is growing rapidly

but on a per capita basis there's plenty of room for further growth

Spunlaid is gaining share of the webforming technologies in Asia-Pacific

and PP resin consumption is growing most rapidly

Competitive issues facing European Nonwovens Producers

Barry Davies, Director of Fibers for CMAI Europe had used the Chemical MarketsAssociates Inc cost model to investigate the impact of raw material price changes on the costs of the various nonwoven processes. These photos were taken during his lecture at the EDANA conference in Vienna in June 2006

China has plenty of spare polyester capacity

Brent Crude and Naphtha c.i.f. prices through 2006

Asia Pacific has 30% of the 4.5 million tonne nonwoven market (2004)

Nonwoven market fibre shares - 2004: PP and PET dominate

Scope for substituting PP with PET

Freudenberg Residential Fuel Cell Nonwoven Development

At EDANA's nonwoven technology conference in Vienna (June 2006)Klaus-Dietmar Wagner of Freudenberg GmbH said 11,000 fuel cells were built in 2004, up from 1000 in 2000. The most promising cells are the Polymer Electolyte Membrane (PEM) varieties which rely on membranes to transport protons, insulate anode from cathode and separate the gases between anode and cathode.

The Fuel Cell Alliance road map to 2015

PEM Fuel Cells: Timing and target cost

Freudenberg GDL: Nonwovens for fuel cells

EDANA International Nonwoven Symposium - Vienna - June 2006

Outgoing EDANA Chairman, Knud Wade Hansen introduced the conference

Rory Holmes, President of Inda, Nenad Pacek of the Economist Intelligence Unit and Geoff Katz of Dupont spoke in the opening session. Mr Pacek gave the keynote address.

Sylvain d'Incau of Dupont observed that consumer wipes producers were now turning their attention to industrials

Edana cocktail party in the Vienna Fine Arts Museum: CK Wong, Chairman and CEO of US Pacific Nonwovens in the foreground

Barry Davies (Chemical Markets Associates Inc.), Marc van der Elst (Total Petrochemicals), Steve Russell (Leeds University), David Avril (Don and Low) and Frederic Noelle (Rieter Perfojet)

More photos from their presentations will follow in later postings.

Photos from PIRA's Future of WIpes Conference - London, July 2006

Andrew Battista, Consumer Products Director for RISI (USA) summarised the US Wipes and raw materials scene for 2005.

Hadjira Mezaiti, the Industrial and Scientific Affairs Manager of EDANA Belgium) introduced the EDANA Wet-Wipe Working Group (WWWG) and reviewed the impact of the EU cosmetic regulations on wet-wipes.

Future of Wipes audience (1)

Future of wipes audience (2)

Biocelsol Process development

Ewa Wesolowska of the Institute of Biopolymers and Chemical Fibers
(Poland) presented studies aimed at optimizing the Biocelsol dissolution process and the yarn spinning process. Photos from her talk at TITK's Alternative Cellulose Conference at Rudolstadt - Sept. 2006 follow:

Diagram of the Biocelsol fibre spinning process

The effects of draw on denier and tenacity of Biocelsol filaments

Properties of Biocelsol multifilament yarns

SEMs of Biocelsol fibers

Acknowledgements and web address for Biocelsol project

Cellulose-silk alloy fibre development

Dr Grazyna Strobin of the Institute of Chemical Fibers (Poland) had been trying to develop improved medical dressings by making alloys of cellulose and silk fibroin. Biocelsol solutions of cellulose were blended with soda solutions of silk fibroin to make a range of alloys up to 15% silk. These photos were taken during her talk at the Alternative cellulose conference at TITK Rudolstadt - Sept 2006

Origins of Silk fibroin

Biological properties of silk fibroin useful in wound-care

Preparation of spinning solutions of silk fibroin and Biocelsol

Properties of cellulose-silk alloy fibres

Scanning electron micrographs of cellulose-silk alloy fibers

Summary of the talk