Introduction
The 2009 statistics were released
at EDANA’s AGM which coincided with this conference. Nonwovens production in
Greater Europe declined by 6.3% in 2009 compared with 1.2% growth in 2008 and
7.4% growth in 2007. Spunmelt production
declined for the second year running, losing 39,000 tonnes this year, and 12
years of phenomenal growth in spunlace came to an end with a 13.8% decline in
production in 2009. Opening the
conference, Pierre Wiertz, EDANA’s General Manager, said this recession had
shown that the nonwovens industry was not as recession proof as previously
thought, adding that this conference had been planned to focus on product and
process development with a sustainability theme.
Keynote: The Race to the
Bottom
Jim Hanson of MTS Kalamazoo USA provided a personal view of the industry’s
problems. The 70’s and 80’s saw excellent
growth, with prices increasing by about 3% annually and R and D expenditures at
~7% of gross profit. Now there was
decline, no price increases, very little profit, and less than 1% of gross
profit being spent on R and D. Since
1983, diaper pack prices had about halved due to the “Walmart Effect”, and this
race to the bottom had ruined the nonwovens industry.
In the 80’s the big consumer
products companies set the trends, now it was the retailers racing for zero
price and driving the nonwovens to zero basis weight! Under pressure from the retailers, the big
CPCs now analysed suppliers businesses in detail and appeared to control their
profit margins. Where has it all gone
wrong?
·
The roots in technology have died
·
There is no longer-range vision or thinking (no
R&D)
·
The focus is on quarterly margins
·
Accountants are in control of the producers...
·
...and the retailers are in control of the
market.
Technologically, the main trends
accompanying the race to the bottom had been:
·
Spunbond replacing carding as the ability to
make even ultra-lightweights developed
·
Reducing the size and weight of disposables
·
Superabsorbents
·
“The strange stampede to hydroentanglement”
·
And now – nanotechnology
The big CPCs encouraged multiple
suppliers and hence overcapacity to keep nonwoven prices down. Now, nonwovens producers had to get in early with
the latest machinery, and reinvest faster than their competitors to survive. This was happening with hydroentanglement as
well as spunbond.
Could the hygiene products
industry resist the destructive pressure from the retailers? Mr Hanson thought it could, but this would
require vision, guts, risk taking and above all an alternative route to the
consumer – the Internet. Selling direct
to the consumer via web-sites could be the way forward longer term.
Spin Finishes
Michael Bildhauer of CHT R.Beitlich (Germany) emphasised the
importance of fibre finish in achieving the optimum fibre/metal cohesion for
processing synthetic fibres through stretching, crimping, cutting and baling
while simultaneously providing the right fibre/fibre cohesion for carding and
web handling. Control of static charges
arising from friction was also crucial especially with synthetics. Finishes must provide these features without
migration or skin-irritation, and provide additional functionality for
controlling wicking and wetting. In
short, they are not just “finishes” but rather sophisticated mixtures of
emulsions, lubricants and antistats affecting the entire processing chain and
end-use performance of the fibre and nonwoven.
PP has no bonding sites, so to
make it hydrophilic, additives with
long hydrophobic aliphatic chains and a hydrophilic head group have been added
to the extruder. This approach suffers
from negative interactions between the melt and the screw and thermal decomposition
of the additive in the extruder. A
spin-finish which thickens to a jelly on emulsification with water is hard to
remove from the surface and provides and alternative approach. Duron™ OF 4012 at 0.5% on spunbond thus
provides a strikethrough of about a second with 2nd and 3rd
insults of 2.2 seconds. The same level
gives an absorbent capacity and rate equivalent to a 70/30 PP/Viscose blend and
could help PP replace the celluosic fibres in the wet-wipe industry. Liquid dosing technology, where the polymer
additive is injected into the melt after
extrusion provides more permanent hydrophilicity and is being used to make BCF
PP for carpet production. This could be
used on spunbonds to avoid the extra capital required for spin-finish
applicators and dryers.
Duron™ 7024 includes a phosphoric
acid monoester which reduces the “forward resistance” of spunbond from 1013
to 1010 ohms and the surface resistance from 1013 to 108
ohms. Thus antistatic properties can be obtained, and for products where skin
irritation is an issue, careful choice of the esters can guarantee this.
For alcohol repellency without the need for the off-line heat-setting
normally required for fluorocarbon finishes, sterically-hindered substituents
which separate the fluorocarbon chains have been developed to allow the
formation of the crucial “fluorocarbon comb-structure” at room temperature.
For enhanced flushability, siloxanes with added functionality have been found to
drop the nonwoven wet strength without affecting its dry-strength.
Asked about problems with
silicones in sewers, Mr Bildhauer said their were none. The finishes degrade to silicon dioxide
(sand). Wouldn’t silicone interfere with
adhesive bonding? Yes, but additional
functionality added to the silicone could deal with this. However reduction in wet-strength may be a problem.
Mineral additives in
Nonwovens
Anabelle Legrix, a Senior Scientist with Imerys Minerals (UK)
reviewed the effects of adding specially engineered calcium carbonate to
polypropylene fibres for nonwovens, either dry-laid or spunlaid. Fiberlink™ 101S is a finely ground CaCO3
which can be added as powder to PP granules for melt blowing or as a
masterbatch (75% loading) for spunbond or staple production. It is surface-treated to prevent
agglomeration, improve dispersion and reduce hygroscopicity, and unlike talc or
untreated powders avoids the problems of spinneret blockage and fibre breakage
in loads up to 25% on weight of polymer.
·
25% loading in spunlaid (Reicofil 2) has no
detrimental effects on throughput or screen packs, although die pressure increases
(250-300 psi) and line speed has to increase by about 15% to keep the basis
weight constant. (Fiber density
increases from 0.9 to 1.08, and opacity from 28 to 34% for a 25gsm web)
·
In filament yarns down to 1 denier there is no
fibre breakage and a very matt product results.
·
In staple fibres it gives good carding and
performs well in needling and hydroentanglement.
·
In thermal bonding, 25% of CaCO3
reduced the optimum bond temperature from 140 to 130oC due to its
high thermal conductivity.
·
In melt-blowing, a 20% filler level gives
thinner webs at equivalent basis weights, so higher porosity and a better
absorbency per unit volume. Filtration
efficiency increases from 35 to 42 % at the 10% addon level and then declines
to 38% at 20%. This is thought to be due
to the much rougher surface of the loaded fibres (10% higher surface area),
although no carbonate breaks through the PP skin.
·
After charging in a corona treatment the filled meltblown
filtration efficiency rises to 91% and only declines to 89% on discharge.
·
1.5 denier 34mm staple PP filled with 20%
Fiberlink™ gives hydroentangled wipes substrates increased opacity, better
softness, better strength (+25%) better wet-texture and similar liquid
management character to unfilled fibres.
Here again, the strength increases are thought to arise from the rougher
surface of the filled fibres.
·
Environmental benefits arise from CaCO3
having 1/10th the CO2 emissions of polypropylene.
Airlaid Revisited
Ingo Mählmann of Oerlikon Neumag (Germany) traced the history of
their current technology back to Karl Kroyer’s 1966 patent and his use of
Moeller and Jochumsen (M&J) to build the first lines in Europe, Japan and
the USA. In 1981 he granted M&J
exclusive rights to further develop the technology and markets. In 1996 M&J spun-off M&J Fibertech
and this was acquired by Neumag-Saurer in 2004 before Oerlikon bought Neumag in
2006. Since then the following
developments had occurred:
·
Air lay was being used to process cotton waste,
shredded leather scraps, shredded paper, hay, straw, kapok, hemp, and milled
waste from tyres, resins, and carpets.
·
Carded nonwovens, card webs and spunlaid
nonwovens could be fed into the line as reinforcements.
·
Split suction boxes were now allowing better CD
profile control.
·
Lower levels of suction in the transport (as
opposed to laying) zones is saving air and energy
·
Woven screens had been replaced by shaped steel
conveyors to minimise fibre entrapment and loss.
·
Improved dryers and improved hammermills were
also saving energy.
Spooling and Splicing
Pierre Croutelle, Sales Manager of Calemard (France) introduced
their Pegase II spooling line, the third generation of ADL spoolers produced by
their Spoolex division. This takes
mother rolls of ADL up to 800mm wide, 2m in diameter and weighing up to 450kg and slits them to 35-150mm to
produce 4 to 10 spools 850mm wide and 1200mm diameter weighing up to 250kg. These spools hold 12-20 km of ADL to give
roughly 10 times the running time of slit pancakes on a diaper line. Spooling occurs at 600m/min and pancakes are
spliced together with sonic bonding followed by ironing to avoid overthickness. Adhesive tape splicing can be supplied if
needed. All conveying rollers are
specially coated and driven by brushless servo motors to allow tension to be
controlled precisely within the range 10-100N.
The double unwind station allows
roll changes without interruption and the spoolers can be programmed to make
any shape, including a simply rewound pancake.
Here strip tension is accurately controlled in the 3-10N range. Further improvements in ADL handling are
being developed, and these include automatic unloaders, despoolers and dust
extractors.
Asked if diaper topsheet could be
spooled, Mr Croutelle was not sure but said the idea could easily be tested in
Calemard’s development facility.
Integrated winding,
slitting, roll handling and packing
Alessandro Celli, CEO of A.Celli Nonwovens (Italy) listed the
operations necessary for a perfect set of reels to be deposited in the loading
bay for despatch to a diaper producer:
·
Reels are downloaded from the slitter-rewinder
to have their tails locked with tape or glue
·
Reels, sometimes of different widths, then have
to be sorted according to their size
·
Once sorted they have to be labelled inside the
core and on the outside surface
·
They are then sorted by width and transferred to
the wrapping system by conveyor belt, robot, or any automatic or manual vehicle
·
A pallet can be added
·
A wide variety of wrapping options are
available: vertical horizontal, radial or cocoon including protective foam
·
The wrapped stack must be labelled in two, three
or four positions according to production requirements
With spunbond lines 5m wide running at 80mm slit width and at speeds up to 850m/min, this system must handle about 15,000 rolls per day or 450,000 rolls per month. It is done manually, but the case for integration and automation of the entire process with sales order processing is strong. Celli can now deliver the necessary robots and systems to achieve this, without any manual handling, thereby saving 2 operatives per shift. They can also deliver semi-automatic systems or even fully manual systems if necessary.
Cotton Carding
Challenges
Oliver Döring, Area Sales Manager for Trützschler Nonwovens Group
(Germany) highlighted the difficulties of converting cotton into nonwovens
for cosmetic pads and wipes. The variations
of almost all properties of the natural fibre, both within and between bales,
coupled with the need for bleaching to achieve absorbency and whiteness, made
processing through opening, carding and hydroentanglement more challenging than
for man-made fibres.
Long-fibre cotton is needed for
fine textiles and the combing process extracts these fibres from cleaned raw
cotton leaving behind the shorter “combers” or “comber noils” which are cheap
enough for nonwoven use. The combers
have high short fibre content but average about 12 mm in length and must be
bleached to remove the coloured oils and waxes that make natural cotton hydrophobic
and easy to card. After bleaching the
fibre tends to be dustier and neppier and requires cards that can cope with
these defects. Suitable systems include:
·
Airlay cards for web weights in the 150-250gsm
range from Fehrer or Rando, both using toothed rollers to disperse the web into
individual fibres in an airstream prior to laying on a wire-mesh conveyor.
·
For weights of 50-150 gsm, Trützschler’s
small-cylinder “roller train” system carded and randomised the web without air
dispersion.
·
For 40-60 gsm webs, roller topped big-cylinder
cards with single or double take-off and randomising from the main cylinder
were best.
The latest systems combined
surface- and line-carding actions and could blend as well as card in one pass
through the system.
New Viscose Fibre types
Reinhold Röttenbacher, Nonwovens Business Manager for Kelheim Fibres
(Germany) provided a detailed description of the viscose process and a tour
of the specialities now made at KF:
·
Viloft™ a solid flat fibre with a crennelated
surface and an aspect ratio of about 5:1 which sells into wipes for improved
flushability.
·
Galaxy™, a Y shaped fibre with high surface,
high bulk and high Syngina absorbency for tampons.
·
“Bramante” Segmented Hollow Fibre with very high
absorbency and retention under pressure.
·
“Bellini” Extreme Flat Section (up to 20:1
aspect ratio), a self-bonding fibre for enhancing the strength of paper and
wetlaid nonwovens.
·
Functional fibres: viscose with copper, silver,
ion exchange resin or carbon loading. (e.g. “Poseidon” cation exchange fibre
which offers an ion exchange capacity of 1.55 mmoles/gm, and controlled release
of cations.
·
“Verdi”
viscose with cellulose derivative loading e.g CMC, giving anionic charge, high
absorbency, high water dispersibility and self-bonding properties in
papermaking.
·
“Dante”, which is “Bellini” plus “Verdi” giving 400% water
imbibition.
·
Viscose with microcapsules of tracers, scents,
or phase change material (e.g. Outlast™)
·
Spun-dyed fibres
·
A cationically charged viscose which uses a
cellulose derivative to get faster and deeper shade development in dyeing.
·
Chemically modified viscoses to give e.g.
hydrophobicity or flame retardance.
PLA Update
Eamonn Tighe, Business Development Manager for Natureworks LLC (Ireland)
said Blair Nebraska was producing 140,000 tpa PLA polymer and debottlenecking
to 150,000. It was now used in 25
applications, 75% by weight being in packaging.
Fibre and nonwovens usage was growing nicely. Trevira (Germany) were the 7th
company to start production of staple fibre and Ahlstrom had been added to Fiberweb
and CL Nonwovens (China) as spunbonders.
Corn price was proving more stable than oil price and for 2009, Ingeo™
polymer prices remained in the 0.8 to 1.1 $/lb range. Mr Tighe emphasised that they can be flexible
on price: they have a plant to fill and will do deals to encourage the right
developments.
They were now planning the next
plant for either Europe or Asia and this would reduce the GHG emissions by
60% and require 45% less fossil
fuel. On-site wind power generation was
a possibility and cellulose would be a likely source of lactic acid rather than
cornstarch. Anaerobic digestion was now
thought to be the best disposal route especially for food contaminated
packaging. Recycling was better than
composting, and regeneration of feedstock (lactic acid) for repolymerising was
now operating at Galactic Laboratories in Belgium.
Spunbond bico fibres with an
amorphous PLA sheath on an Ingeo™ core had been developed in NCRC and low nip
pressures had given the best fabric strengths.
Meltblown nonwovens were under development at Biax Fiberfilm and US
Pacific Nonwovens with mulching applications (to replace PE film) in mind.
Finish type has been shown to be
critically important because some finishes accelerate hydrolysis. Natureworks now recommends Goulston
materials.
Asked how long it would be before
cellulose became the feedstock, Mr Tighe estimated 5-10 years and most likely
in the USA where there was a real commitment to the biorefinery concept. If the next plant was in Europe this would
most likely use corn, but an Asian plant might start on biomass.
Hydrophilic Wet
Finishing of Spunbonds
Tobias Schäfer, Area Sales Manager for Andritz Küsters (Germany) put the global diaper market at 127 billion
units in 2010 and predicted continued growth at 2.8% per year giving a 171
billion unit market in 2020. Over a 42
month life in diapers each baby consumes an estimated 4380 units.
The strikethrough, wetback and
runoff performance of diaper topsheet is now defined by the finish applied to
the spunbond during production. Finish
at 0.3-0.7% or fiber (a 1 micron thick film) is obtained from a wet pickup of
about 10% of the emulsion applied by lick-rolls on the spunbond line after
calendering. The high speed of spunbond
production means high air turbulence at the lick rolls and this results in
non-linear pick up. Gauze covered rolls
are now used to regain linearity at high speeds. The finish can be applied in stripes to allow
topsheet with hydrophobic edges to be made. Through-air drying is needed to
remove the excess moisture. Andritz
Küsters can now supply the finish make-up and application kit and, since
acquiring Perfojet, the dryers. They are
developing on-line detection of finish pickup, higher efficiency dryers, and
on-line fluorocarbon finishing for medical applications.
Spunbond and Meltblown
Opportunities
Arnold Wilkie, President of Hills Inc (USA) reviewed progress in
spunbond and meltblown technology commencing with the Hills Inc view of the
market. Worldwide production of SB and
MB is now around 2.5 million annual tonnes, 80% of this being
polypropylene. Growth rates up to 2009
were 10% per annum. China alone produced
1.1 million tonnes of spunmelts, 90% being PP, and this was growing at
25%/year. Polyester spunmelts are only
500,000 tpy globally, so just 3 or 4 continuous polymerisation units could
supply the entire spunmelt PET industry.
Other polymer systems are under development:
·
PLA, EVOH and East One® are possible but may
require a temperature separated bico spin beam to run in combination with PP
·
Thermoplastic polyurethane elastomers, Kraton®,
Vistamaxx®, Pebax® and others may need a thin sheath of PP to prevent
tackiness. For MB they would need high
pressure die assemblies.
·
Other polyesters such as PBT, PTT, CoPET and
PA11 along with the high temperature and corrosive polymers such as PPS,
Ultem®, and fluoropolymers are capable of being converted on Hills Inc kit.
For the newer polymers, new spin
beams featuring the ability to run two polymers at different temperature to the
same spinneret holes with equal polymer melt residence times, and a
high-pressure capability cf PP (i.e. 10,000 psi) are required and indeed,
available.
The now familiar array of bico
possibilities including 10,000 islands in a sea spunbond “pixel” fiber, 600
islands in a sea melt-blown for nanofibre production, and the 32-lobed Wing Fiber from sheath core technology were
covered, as was the etched groove plate spin hole production method. This was now capable of giving >100/inch
holes of <0.1mm diameter and with >100/1 L/D compared with the drilled
holes with 0.3mm 10/1 L/D.
Mr Wilkie thought the best route
to nanofibres now involved a 1 denier 300 islands in a sea spunbond rather than
melt-blown because this yielded uniform fibres of 430nm diameter for a filter at
10 times the production rate of the equivalent meltblown and 100 times the rate
of electrospinning. He also thought the
main route to future growth in spunmelt production was the development of ever
more textile-like materials to replace woven fabrics.
Sustainable Spunbonds?
Elsebeth Lykkegaard and Mette Due Sogaard representing Sales and
R&D for Fibertex (Denmark) reviewed the progress Fibertex had made to
improve sustainability. Fibertex
diversified from geotextiles into disposables in 1997 and now made over 100,000
tonnes per year of spunbond. Between
1995 and 2009 they had trebled waste recycle rates, and since 2003 had halved
CO2 emissions on a gsm basis (related to energy use only) largely by
using a greater proportion of electricity from natural gas power stations. In 2003, 4% of energy came from natural gas,
now it was 19% and it would be increased to 26% by 2012. With coal-fired power stations generating 4
times the CO2 of natural gas stations and renewables generating a
sixtieth of coal emissions, the decision on how to deal with changes of energy
source in LCA’s was difficult and here some industry standardisation was
needed. There was no discussion of the
sustainability of either PP or disposables but Fibertex felt sustainability
could be managed and there was no need to change the business model. One questioner wondered how increasing waste
recycle improved carbon footprint. Does
this mean producing 100% waste and recycling it yields the most sustainable
process?
Sustainable Wet-Wipes?
Anna Maija Wessman, VP Sustainability for Ahlstrom (Finland) said
Ahlstrom’s sustainability framework involved sustainable sourcing, sustainable
manufacturing and cradle-gate life-cycle analysis to minimise environmental
impact of their products. All of their
pulp suppliers have Chain of Custody certification (FSC and PEFC schemes
ensuring full traceability) and 12 of Ahlstrom’s plants and the group as a
whole are Chain of Custody certified.
Their group Key Performance Indicators
(KPI’s) since 2005 show:
·
Energy use down by 4%
·
Heat Use down by 8%
·
Water Use down by 12%
·
Landfilled waste down by 48%
·
CO2 emissions down by 15%
·
90% of production under ISO 14001 environmental
management system.
·
Disposability/end of life issues are being dealt
with separately
Hydraspun Dispersible wipes used as moist toilet tissue, toddler
training wipes and feminine hygiene wipes provided a case study. Flushability is defined according to the
EDANA/INDA guidelines and implies dispersibility coupled with biodegradability. The vast majority of the raw materials are
cellulose based fibres and the Ställdalen (Sweden) products have been FSC and
PEFC certified since 2008. The Windsor
Locks (CT USA) people are studying market interest in certificates. When both plants are taken together, since
1999, KPI’s indicate that Energy use is down 22%, Heat down 30%, Water down 24%,
Landfill down 94% and CO2 down 85%.
Ställdalen’s warm effluent now provides space heating for 70 local
apartments. For the future they are
improving wet strength without losing dispersibility, and will be introducing
recycled fibres to the blend.
Asked about water conservation,
the water footprint method has been defined and site usage is now 1 litre per
1000m2 of product. Water
required for flushing is not included – if indeed a wipe requires any extra
flush water above that of a normal toilet load.
Could a converter label a non-flushable product as flushable? Yes, but here Ahlstrom would try to sell them
the flushable version. “We rely on the
professionalism of the sales force”.
Wet Wipe Preservation
Wolfgang Siegert of Schülke and Mayr (Germany) listed the most
sought after preservative properties as:
·
Effective against bacteria and fungi over a wide
pH range while being easy to use and handle
·
Compatible with the nonwovens and cost effective
at low concentrations
·
Free from odour and colour and safe in the
environment
·
Extremely low toxicity to humans and thus
approved by world-wide regulators.
Regulatory aspects were the key
because current preservatives such as parabens were under pressure and many had
not been subjected to a thorough scientific assessment of suspected risks. Marketers therefore wanted to make “Free-of”
claims or link their products to eco-labels, independent experts or consumer
protection groups. Technically, the way
forward appeared to involve using synergies between preservatives to minimise
the amounts required. For example the
combination of phenoxyethanol and the multifunctional additive
ethylhexylglycerine was comparable to paraben/phenoxyethanol. If chelating agents such as the biodegradable
tetrasodium glutamate diacetate (GLDA) were also added further benefits
including “self preservation” were obtained.
Self-preserving skin care systems use butylene-, pentylene-, and
capryloylglycols, or hexanediol and all of these achieve better antimicrobial
efficacy when ethylhexylglycerine is added.
Biodegradable and flushable wipes
wet-wipes need better protection.
Natural fibres might carry a higher microbial load and are attacked by
trichoderma viride, a cellulose-degrading mould which is evolving to cope with
the older preservatives.
Asked if antimicrobial fibres
containing Ag+ can be effective as preservatives, Mr Siegert said
these were tried 10 years ago and because they work by blocking enzymes, they
can easily be by-passed by evolving microorganisms. Traditional preservatives are better.
Absorbent Sponge Sheets
Calvin Woodings (Consultant – UK) reviewed cellulose sponge
production methods and compared the technology with viscose fibre
production. While using the same basic
xanthate dissolution technology as fibres, sponges are made on a small scale
and as a result are expensive niche products restricted mainly to higher value
semi-durable household cleaning applications.
Are they small scale because the market is inherently small or is the
market size restricted by the high price?
The technology for producing sheet sponges by more economical processes
on a much larger scale appears to exist already, and sheet sponges produced on
such a scale would be bulky highly absorbent “nonwovens” with many potential
uses in disposable hygienic products.
Because sponge sheets have to be
reinforced with fibres to get adequate strength, the use of viscose technology
may be unnecessary. Pulp may dissolve
well enough in caustic soda alone, especially at sub-zero temperatures to yield
a dope with sufficient undissolved fibres to act as reinforcement. Forming pores by air dispersion or creation
of ice crystals may obviate the need for the traditional glaubers salt
pore-former and the resulting dope preparation process could take place in a
single large pulper. The dope could be
extruded through a wide die onto a conveyor for regeneration prior to
washing. The whole process would be more
analogous to pulp manufacturing technology than the current sponge routes and
could operate on a larger scale.
Carried out at a pulp mill with
infrastructure for recovering the caustic soda, costs of the resulting “spongy
nonwoven” would be significantly less than the current sponge sheets and could
be usable in the wider hygienic disposables market.
Forest Certification
Karen Brandt, VP Marketing for the Sustainable Forest Initiative Inc
(USA) said forest certification demonstrates a commitment to sustainability
by showing you buy from well managed forests which protect the woodlands for
future generations. It delivers:
·
Decision making based on social, economic and
environmental representations
·
Avoidance of illegal timber
·
Maintenance of wildlife habitat and protection
of species at risk
·
Sustainable harvesting and prompt forest
regeneration
However only 9% of forests are
currently certified and 90% of those are in the North America and Europe. This must be improved, so consumers are being
encouraged to demand only certified wood products thereby forcing more forest
owners to seek certificates.
There are currently 50
certification schemes worldwide but despite everyone’s efforts rates of
certification are falling. SFI was
developed for North America, while the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) deals
with tropical regions. A point by point
comparison of the services offered suggested these 2 schemes were identical. The Canadian Standard Association runs a
scheme (CSA) and the Certified Family Forest (CFF) is a US scheme dealing with
privately owned forests. The Programme
for Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) is an umbrella scheme endorsing
national schemes. (certifying the
certifiers?).
In conclusion Ms Brandt argued
that we should not quibble over the merits of the various schemes. The fundamental goal is to protect the
tropical rain forests, and none seems to be succeeding in this.
Asked why certification rates
were slowing down, Ms Brandt thought all the big forests in North America and
Europe were now certified. Smaller
family forests (60% of the NA total) found the certification procedures too
onerous, and where it really mattered, in tropical regions, there was no legal
framework on which to base a scheme. Would the multitude of schemes coalesce
into a larger more effective body?
Maybe, but SFI and FSC would still exist 5 years from now. FSC was the first, created in 1990 by the
World Wildlife Fund and Greenpeace. SFI
is independent.
REACh: Is there anything left to do?
Barry Dodd, Global Regulatory Affairs Manager for Kimberly-Clark Europe
(UK) reminded
us that REACh implementation will run until 2018 at least, will interact with
other pieces of legislation in Europe and beyond (e.g. Classification, Labelling
and Packaging – CLP), and there are still many substances remaining to be
registered. Failure to register on time
– there are lists closing in November 2010, May 2013, and May 2018, with high
volume chemicals requiring the earliest registration – would result in the
chemical being withdrawn from the market.
REACh is limited to chemicals
used in excess of 1 tonne per year, but the CLP has no such limit and will
impact many more chemicals and products imported in small volumes. Both REACh and CLP regulations will have to
be monitored, the former for MSDS requirements and the latter for labelling
requirements. The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) must be notified of CLP
classifications by 3/1/2011 for them to be included in the inventory, and here
the data requirements are significant:
200+ fields on the form for each chemical!
REACh-like legislation is now
proliferating around the world but without any real harmonisation of
requirements. “For manufacturers
managing the collection and distribution of information along the supply chain
this will be challenging especially as the list of SVHC’s continues to grow”
Nonwoven Tissue
Engineering
Annahit Arshi, an Assistant Research at ITT RWTH Aachen University
(Germany) is developing a small needleloom to make nonwoven scaffolds for
tissue culture with an EU grant. This
laboratory-scale machine had to make medical grade flexible nonwovens without
needling marks, contamination of any sort and very uniform porosity. Such nonwovens had a structure similar to
human tissue, could be shaped to suit the final product (e.g. heart valve) and
had good absorbency and mechanical properties.
Once the loom had been perfected and proved she would proceed to
developing a medical grade card and staple fibre cutter.
Calvin Woodings
16th June 2010
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