Alternative Cellulose Conference – TITK Rudolstadt 1-3rd September 2004

Introduction

 

Dr Bauer, MD of the Thüringische Institute of Textile Science (TITK) opened the conference observing that world lyocell capacity stood at 120,000 tonnes/year and the fibre was at a crucial point in its history. Would it remain a niche product produced only by Lenzing (who now own Tencel) or would it grow into a mainstream fibre? To grow it needed investment, but the barriers to entry were high and the markets for the fibre currently appeared saturated. TITK will continue to work on high value specialities using their version of the lyocell technology. He hopes to continue to increase volume and market penetration in speciality areas.

25 years of Tencel development

Pat White, Tencel Ltd's Technical Director reviewed 25 years spent taking the lyocell process from curiosity to reality. Charged in 1979 with developing a low cost, environmentally-friendly route to rayon which would allow the venerable viscose process to retire gracefully, he rapidly identified NMMO as the most promising solvent. Fibres made from NMMO were all but indistinguishable from the premium Japanese polynosic rayon in character, so the key developments were to devise a highly efficient recovery system for the expensive solvent, and to optimise the process to deliver acceptable throughputs despite the solvent's tendency to degrade cellulose explosively if pushed too hard. The success of the engineering development coupled with a strong fashion-led Japanese demand for fibre led to rapid expansion and Lenzing's entry into the technology. The result: excess capacity because the projected long-term increase in fashion-sales proved unsustainable. Fibrillation and its control has dominated process and market development from the start:

• The inherent fibrillatability of the first fibres led to the nonwovens market being targeted while solutions to the fibrillation “problem” were developed.
• Japanese success at harnessing fibrillation to develop peach-touch fabrics by enzymatic selection of fibril sizes led to the first major sales, and to the optimism for rapid plant expansion.
• New techniques were developed (by Tencel Ltd and “pioneering” mills) to cope with the new fibre in dyeing and finishing.
• Low fibrillation achieved by process optimisation increased process costs but did not make the fibre universally acceptable in textiles.
• Low fibrillation using additional on-line cross-linking increased the range of textiles possible.
• High fibrillation routes were developed to suit special papers and wet nonwoven processes.

Currently, lyocell sales of ~90,000 tonnes/year are equally split between nonwovens, standard fibre in textiles and cross-linked fibre in textiles, with disposable wipes being the biggest single market. For the future, Mr White foresaw:

• The Lenzing takeover of Tencel will achieve the “critical mass” to allow further development of the technology and markets.
• Variable-cost reductions by moves to lower cost pulps and improved operating efficiency.
• Fixed-cost reductions by integration, maximising factory output, and higher sales.
• Lower cost processing to garments in Asia allowing lower costs to the consumer.
• Further rapid expansion of nonwovens markets.
• New products in the pipeline will further reduce costs and expand markets.
  
  

Filtration Products from Lyocell

Dr Kolbe of TITK presented results for tetrachloromethane (TCM) and toluene adsorption by lyocell fibres and nonwovens containing 100% active carbon on cellulose i.e. 50/50 mixtures of carbon and cellulose. The carbon from coconut shells had been ground to <25 micron diameter and the final fibre had an apparent diameter of 60 microns, with 10 micron particles clearly visible at the surface. The efficiency of adsorption for carbon in fibre over carbon alone was 60% with TCM and 55% with toluene. 50/50 zeolite/lyocell fibres had also been made, but here the efficiencies were much lower, <10%, presumably due to the effects of the alkaline dope on the zeolite structure. The carbon-containing nonwovens had been tested against specifications for cigarette filters and water filters but no results were given. One of the problems with this technology relates to the inability to use the best adsorbing carbons in the lyocell process, because these do not give adequate spinning stability, maybe due to particle size distribution after grinding.

Edible Food Casings from Lyocell

TITK have collaborated with Kalle GmbH on replacing the collagen sausage skins with an edible version based on their lyocell tubular film “wurst” casing. Dr Meister of TITK pointed out that most collagen now comes from intestines processed “abroad” and suggested that the risks of biological contamination could be high. Attempts to replace collagen with alginate or casein-based substitutes have both failed. The problem with lyocell film relates to its “chewability” or rather lack of it, and so TITK sought to improve this by adding globular proteins such as casein, gluten or soyabean protein. Whilst giving the desired improvement in chewability (i.e. reduction of wet strength) these unfortunately caused an unacceptable increase in wet extension. They deduced that powdery fillers which were insoluble in NMMO should correct this and the resulting “Nalobite”, a three-component film comprising 33% cellulose, 9% corn protein and 58% bran appears to provide an acceptable balance of wet and dry properties. The process now needs scaling up to allow extensive application trials. Asked if the product met FDA regulations, Dr Meister indicated that all materials were FDA approved. What about NMMO residues? These had been measured at about 15 ppb in the finished product. Could they do blown films? Not yet, but they have a project awaiting food industry requirements.

Innovative Dyeing and Finishing of Lyocell

Jim Taylor of Tencel Ltd examined the various commercial lyocell fabric processing methods that have evolved over the last decade, ranging from those required for fully-fibrillated highly casual jeanswear to those for classic formal garments:

• Full garment wash : abrasion and fibrillation of garment seams occurs giving a very casual appearance and texture. Long treatment times and high abrasion meant sewing threads and garment trim choices are restricted to the more robust products.
• Reduced garment wash . The fabric is degraded by magnesium chloride treatment prior to make up. Garment processing can then be more gentle and hence a wider range of trims can be used.
• Softner-only garment wash : The fabric is protected by resin finishing before make-up so that a semi-formal “smart-casual” unfibrillated appearance and soft texture arises from the garment wash.
• Fibrillated Mill Finish : a more formal look is created by fibrillation/defibrillation using enzymes in air-jet processing. Again the magnesium chloride pre-degradation can be used to shorten the process.
• Non-Fibrillated Mill Finish : a classic look is obtained by avoiding fibrillation altogether, either in open-width cold pad batch or fully continuous jig or beam dyeing. Resin finishing is essential to prevent fibrillation in use, so soft-touch cannot be achieved. Alternatively the non-fibillating A100 Tencel or Lyocell LF (cross-linked during fibre production) can be used on conventional cotton finishing systems. A further possibility is to resin treat a fabric after the Fibrillated Mill Finish route.
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Finishing Lyocell Fabrics with Enzymes

Alina Popescu of the Rumanian R&D Institute for Textiles and Leather has experimented with the enzymatic finishing of woven lyocell fabrics. The sequence of experiments used in air-jet processing were:

• Washing and/or causticisation to create primary fibrils.
• Enzymatic defibrillation
• Dyeing which creates secondary fibrils
• Bio-polishing with enzymes to create a more uniform distribution of secondary fibrils
• Tumbler processing
• Further enzymatic defibrillation
• Drying, which creates a few fibrils but the final fabric looks unfibrillated.

“Then Airflow” or “Thies LuftRoto” open-width jet machines gave the best results. Rope processing was possible but creased fabrics above 200gsm.

Conductive Lyocell for plastic reinforcement

Dr Niemz of TITK showed that loading lyocell with carbon and compounding the resulting fibres with plastic increased the plastic's conductivity significantly more than adding the same amount of carbon directly to the plastic. The effect was dependent on fibre length and fineness: the longer and finer the fibres the higher the conductivity for the same total carbon load. Clearly the fibres were overlapping in the final structure forming conductive pathways which would not exist in carbon particle dispersions. Lyocell loaded with 30-40% of carbon black has a resistance around 1 ohm/cm compared with 10 12 ohms/cm for pure lyocell. At this loading it's mechanical properties are similar to viscose. Scaling up the compounding process indicated that fibre breakage was a problem. TITK's pultrusion rig allowing the preparation of master batches of fibre reinforced plastic have allowed the inclusion of longer fibres and helped to overcome this problem.

Lyocell, viscose and polyester spin-finishes compared

Bernhard Goosens of BGB Stockhausen reported results from an experimental programme to measure the effects of 21 different spin-finish formulations on the frictional characteristics of continous filament yarn.

• Sulphonated paraffins and ethoxylated fatty acid esters reduced dynamic fibre/metal friction on lyocell and viscose more than polyester.
• For best dynamic fibre/fibre friction the three fibres require different finishes, the ethoxylated fatty acid esters and sulphonated paraffins again being best on lyocell.
• For static fibre/fibre friction lyocell is also unique, but again the ethoxylated fatty acid esters appear best.

Mr Goosens was surprised that the smooth-surfaced lyocell fibre appeared so different to viscose or polyester. He felt there was something special about its surface which needs further investigation.

Silver-loaded SeaCell®

Christina Hipler of Friedrich-Schiller University, Jena has, with funding from Alceru-Schwarza, investigated the antibacterial and antifungal effects of the Alceru-Schwarza fibre “SeaCell Active”, a silver-containing version of the lyocell/alginate alloy fibre. The fibre proved effective against Candida albicans, C parapsilosis, C glabrata, C tropicalis, C krusei, Staph. aureus, and E coli in in-vitro testing. A 100 person patch test proved that it caused no allergic reactions or sensitization of skin. Ms Hipler suggested it could be used as a component of bed-sheets, shirts, socks, shoes, underwear, sportswear, protective clothing, hygiene products and home textiles. It would be especially useful for people with atopic dermatitis, transpiration problems, diabetes or obesity. The fibre contains 5,000-10,000 ppm of silver and should be usable in 5-20% blends with conventional fibres in textiles and nonwovens.

Bioactive Cellulosics

Nina Kotelnikova of the Russian Academy of Sciences reported the first reactions of modified microcrystalline cellulose (MMC) with biologically active substances such as N-dimethyl benzyl alkyl ammonium chloride (DMBAA), polyvinylpyrrolidone, and its derivatives Sovican and Catapol. She had also reduced MMC with silver nitrate and showed that metallic silver forms as nano-particles (35nm) in the cellulose. All the new compounds were shown to be antimicrobial.

Lyocell Fibre Structure

Dr Mohammad Rous of Lenzing , winner of this years “Most Promising Young Scientist” award, described the use of Raman spectroscopy on fibres dyed with fluorescent additives to elucidate further details of the fine-structure of lyocell. Calcoflour (fluorescent dye- MWt 960) could be seen to penetrate to the centre of never-dried fibres which collapsed irreversibly on first drying. (Never-dried modal and viscose fibres did not allow the dye to penetrate at all.) On dried fibres the dye penetrated part-way into the fibre, this depth of penetration increasing with alkalinity. Thus, after 24 hours immersion, the Calcofluor could be detected to a depth of 2.5 or 3.7 microns (neutral or caustic-dyed respectively). The observations fit the hypothesis that lyocell has a thin semi-permeable membrane on the outside of an accessible skin region covering a denser, less-accessible core.

Another Solvent for Cellulose

Dr Christopher Michels of TITK compared 5 routes to cellulosic solutions, 4 of these familiar (acetate, viscose, cupro, lyocell) and one unfamiliar: 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride or BMIMCl. BMIMCl melts at 60-70 0 C to give a yellow liquid stable up to 250 0 C with no measurable vapour pressure. It dissolves cellulose under conditions similar to NMMO with the difference that BMIMCl has to be totally non-aqueous. The solution reprecipitates in water to give fibrils comparable to those from NMMO or cellulose xanthate. Interestingly, the BMIMCl/cellulose dope (12% cellulose of 530 DP) has an endothermic melting peak 45 0 C below the melting point of the solvent and is thus stable at room temperature. Furthermore it only begins to oxidise the cellulose at 213 0 C, and is therefore dramatically more stable than an NMMO solution. Fibre properties from air-gap spinning into water show BMIMCl to be higher in tenacity and modulus but lower in extension than conventional lyocell fibre.

Dissolving Cellulose in Molten Salts

Dr Thomas Heinze of the Friedrich Schiller University, Jena classified cellulose solvents into derivatizing and non-derivatising, the latter being further subdivided into aqueous and non-aqueous. Comprehensive lists of each type were presented. Of particular novelty were the molten inorganic salt hydrates of the general formula LiX.nH 2 0 where X = iodide, nitrate, acetate or chlorate. Of these, the LiClO 4 .3H 2 0 salt in molten form would dissolve 1500 DP cellulose to form a clear yellow solution within minutes. NMR spectra could be obtained from these and cellulose II could be regenerated.

Dr Heinze was also interested in fully homogeneous processes for making cellulose derivatives by etherification or esterification. Acetylation to a Degree of Substitution (DS) of 2.4 could be achieved in 3 hours by adding an excess of acetic anhydride to a molten salt solution of cellulose at 130 0 C. In this case the molten salt was a mixture of sodium, potassium and lithium thiocyanates, but LiClO 4 .3H 2 0 also worked at 110 0 C. Carboxymethyl celluloses with a DS of 2.2 and unusual structure could be obtained from dimethylamine/lithium chloride solutions using monochoracetic acid and non-aqueous NaOH powder in a one step procedure. The same molten salt solution could also be used to prepare the silyl derivative of cellulose.

In a second paper on a similar theme, Dr Steffan Fischer of the Fraunhofer Institute, Potsdam discussed the use of the above mentioned molten salts in acetylation and carboxymethylation reactions. He reported that LiClO 4 .2H 2 0 while only swelling cellulose, did so sufficiently for it to convert from the I to the II form. LiClO 4 .4H 2 0, and LiClO 4 .5H 2 0 also swell cellulose but not as much as the dihydric form. He too found molten salt hydrates effective and efficient routes to cellulose solutions and derivatives of cellulose with high DS. Perhaps of most interest was the slide of apparently homogeneous blends of cellulose and polyacrylonitrile dissolved in, and reprecipitated from, a molten salt, showing a clear glass transition temperature.

Melt Spinning of Silyl Cellulose

Thomas Karstens of Rhodia Acetow AG reviewed their joint work with ITCF Denkendorf on the melt spinning of cellulosic fibres via the silyl derivative. Bis-(trimethyl)-silylcarbamate (BSC) penetrates cellulose easily and swells it sufficiently to allow silylation to occur salt-free and without catalyst. The resulting silyl cellulose could be melt-spun without additives at temperatures below 250 0 C and at speeds up to 1000 m/min. Hydrolysis of the silyl groups (1N HCl for 1 minute at 40 0 C) yields pure cellulose fibres and hexamethyldisiloxane, the latter being recyclable into BSC via the catalysed insertion of isocyanuric acid obtained from the thermal decomposition of urea. Lab. Scale operation has been demonstrated at high efficiency and the process is felt to have great potential for scale up. The fibres from the laboratory operation are 0.8dtex after de-silation, with a tenacity of 34 cN/tex and an extension of 4.5%. Wet properties are slightly better than the dry. Fibre Crystallinity = 55%.

The BSC is a costly analytical reagent so the team have synthesized it from the more readily available hexamethyldisilazane (HMDZ) and ammonium carbamate with a yield of 97%.

LIST dissolution of cellulose in NMMO

Two papers covered the progress made by LIST with their horizontal “Discotherm” dissolvers since Courtaulds rejected them as unsuitable for Tencel and chose “Filmtruders” in the early 1990's. Dr W Zhao of LIST Singapore mentioned 6 years of development with TITK resulting in the single-step dissolution process suitable for speciality products up to 1000 tpa. This appears to be the basis of the Alceru-Schwarza range of special fibres such as Sea Cell – see later. The first semi-commerical unit has now been ordered and will be installed in China for start up in mid 2005. Exactly where was not revealed, but the assumption is that it will be on a pilot line for the production of standard lyocell fibres.

Andreas Diener also of LIST AG pointed out that since their rejection by Courtaulds they had developed to achieve:

• Highest quality fibre spinning
• Safer use of NMMO
• Flexibility of throughput
• Ability to use cheaper pulps than a Filmtruder
• Lower operational temperatures, (<100 0 C) these being safer, with less NMMO decomposition and higher recovery rates
• Operation without stabilisers is possible (patent reasons?)
• Water quenching in the rare event of an approaching exotherm
• Better for blends with fillers, polymers, dyes etc.

Asked how big the new Discotherm system could be built, Mr Diener thought 10,000 tpa of cellulose thoughput would be possible, i.e. below Filmtruder capabilities.

Lyocell Fibre Spinning

The abstract promised a review of the methods used to increase the efficiency of fibre formation in commercial Tencel spinning. Malcolm Hayhurst of Tencel Ltd Spondon described a computer simulation of fluid flow in the air-gap illustrated with unit-free graphs to show how well the model had been validated against real measurements taken in spinning. The air-gap model was said to have been central to understanding the fundamental parameters which must be controlled to enable viable lyocell production. Tencel Ltd has also modelled the dope flow in the spinneret and the spin-bath flow around the filaments, but Mr Hayhurst could not expand on this.

Characterisation of Exotherms

Frank Wendler of TITK described the use of thermal analysis and UV/Visible spectroscopy to study the autocatalytic degradation of cellulose in NMMO solution. Extinction-time graphs at various temperatures and pressures, with and without stabilisers and other additives were measured using both a mini-autoclave and a Radex security calorimeter. Exotherm onset conditions could be established with some accuracy and these showed the importance of propyl gallate stabiliser in raising the onset temperature by 20 0 C. However two of the additives favoured by TITK to convert lyocell into speciality fibres, active carbon and ion exchange resins, both destabilised the solution and exothermed after 3-4 hours contact at temperatures around 130 0 C. This observation presumably led to the topic of the next paper – late injection of additives.

Lyocell with Additives

Mr Jürgen Melle of TITK compared static and dynamic mixers for mixing additives into lyocell dope just before extrusion. He chose the dynamic flow mixer “DLM HY HO” from Indag Maschinenbau as the most successful with the simplest design, easy maintenance and high reliability. This mixer was used to blend additives pre-dispersed in an 80/20 NMMO/water solution with the main dope stream to give 50/50 alloys of cellulose. Pigments and dyes could also be added to create spun-dyed fibres.

Superabsorbents , carbon and ion-exchange resins could now be safely incorporated by the new method, and clean-down time between runs was dramatically reduced. Injection of microspheres showed that the late injection process could be used to increase additive levels up to 160% on cellulose, at which point the fibre tenacity had only fallen to 17 cN/tex.

Confocal Raman Spectroscopy (CRS) on Cellulosics

Thomas Röder of Lenzing Pulp illustrated how CRS could allow the analysis of microscopic areas of fibres or their cross-sections to identify chemicals and elucidate the structure of the cellulose. CRS on sections through wood cells differentiated lignin and cellulose, and if the wood had been impregnated with melamine for composite use, the distribution of the melamine could be visualised and quantified. For instance while the lumen contained 100% melamine, the cellulose in the cell walls could be seen to have absorbed 11% melamine.

Illumination of the samples with polarised lasers, first parallel to and then across the fibre axis allowed crystal orientation to be determined with accuracy similar to wide angle x-ray techniques. The technique takes 6-7 minutes per fibre and Mr Röder suggested using three fibres and taking 10 measurements per fibre. Total chain orientation (as well as crystal orientation) would be a possible output when the data analysis techniques had been refined further.

Additive distribution could be visualised by the technique if the additives were good Raman scatterers. Quantification of additive levels at different points in the fibre was not yet possible.

Chromophores in Cellulosics

Thomas Rosenau of the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences at Vienna described a procedure to allow the identification of ppm-ppb traces of coloured matter in viscose or lyocell fibres. The fibres were extracted with a boron trifluoride-acetic acid complex, said to be more laborious but more effective than straightforward methanol extraction. Sodium sulphite was also needed to prevent oxidative phenolic coupling which would give spurious results. Cotton linters, being free of chromophores, were used as a control to check that the extraction method did not introduce any colours. Comparisons of lyocell pulp and fibre showed that the chromophores came from the process not the pulp, a fact which may not be true if cheaper pulps were used. The lyocell process created 6 primary chromophores, i.e. those arising from the degradation of cellulose, hemi, and lignin, and 5 secondary chromophores i.e. nitrogenous compounds arising from the solvent and its reactions with the primary chromophores. Structures for each were presented. The secondary chromophores have high extinction coefficients and can be seen as coloured even in nano-molar solutions. They are destroyed by peroxide or hypochlorite. Total chromophore concentration in lyocell was put at <10ppm.

EDANA's International Nonwovens Symposium: Barcelona: June 3rd - 4th 2004

Delegates from the nonwovens and related industries gathered in Barcelona to attend EDANA's 2004 International Symposium on 3rd - 4th June. They came from all over Europe, as well as from North America, Asia and the Middle and Near East to participate in the networking opportunities offered by an impressive 358 participants from 23 countries representing some 168 different companies. This figure represented a significant increase on last year's EDANA Symposium in Rome .

The Symposium offered an interesting mix of presentations covering Nonwovens Markets, Raw Materials, Process Developments and Wet Wipes. Amongst these were keynote papers from Paul Polman, President of Procter & Gamble Europe, on Business Ethics and Sustainability, and John Page, Director Fibres & Fibre Intermediates, CMAI, on the polypropylene and polyester supply chains.

Keynote 1: Business Ethics and Sustainability

Paul Polman, President P&G Western Europe, suggested that trust in business was at an all time low - only politicians were trusted less than businessmen - and good deeds went unreported in the media. Business is seen as part of the environmental problem and not part of its solution so there is a need to improve its image:
• Ethics is the key and this starts at the top of any business.
• Business must take responsibility for its economic, social and environmental impacts.
• Business must communicate its ethics to consumers, customers, and stakeholders.

The P&G communication process is being augmented by "Inside Out", an annual event where government, academics, suppliers, customers and the media are invited to a day at P&G to see what's happening and to discuss issues of common interest. This year it was held in the UK offices, next year it will be at Schwalbach. Other initiatives of note were:

• The Global Sustainability Report is the most downloaded document on the P&G website.
• www.scienceinthebox.com provides detailed information about ingredients, their safety and how it is evaluated.
• ~75% of P&G's products are water-related so P&G is developing low cost ways to get clean water to the worlds poor.
• A new water purifier "PuR" is being developed to clean and disinfect dirty water at the point of use for less than 1 cent per liter.
• In the Philippines P&G is testing a product which halves the amount of water required to hand-wash clothes.

In concluding, Mr Polman said partnerships, with governments, NGO's, suppliers and consumers were the way to improving sustainability in global markets.

Asked about the sustainability of disposable diapers, Mr Polman ponted out that over the last 20 years, diaper packaging had been reduced by 70% and the energy use in diaper manufacture had been reduced by 30%. These trends will continue. Sustainability will be improved by innovation and many small steps in the right direction. He also suggested that a better mindset here would be to focus not just on making diapers, but on "child development". P&G and their "Pampers Institute" was doing this and had become the world's second largest website in the process.

One questioner observed that "all" consumers wanted biodegradable diapers and wondered why P&G were not making any. Here Mr Polman suggested consideration of the total life-cycle of disposables v. reusables. On this basis disposables are no more "unfriendly" than reusables. Furthermore, with many landfills being incapable of biodegrading even the most biodegradable of materials, one could argue that making diapers degradable was a waste of effort. Nevertheless P&G does take disposablility issues very seriously and has a group developing improved biodegradable materials.

Keynote 2: Rags-to-Riches

John Page of CMAI (UK) reminded us that polypropylene, being based on what used to be the flared-off by-product of ethylene production, is the cheapest of all polymers at 1.2 cents per cubic inch. 35 million tonnes were produced in 2003, 16% of this being spun into fibre. Demand is expected to continue to grow at 5-6% p.a. through 2008, and part of this will be met from the huge increase in ethylene production now coming on line in the Middle East . Most this new capacity will use ethane feedstock rather than naphtha so the availability of propylene as a by-product will not increase proportionately. Furthermore propylene demand is exceeding ethylene demand, so PP prices can be expected to rise through 2006 at least.

If PP is a rags-to-riches story, polyester is riches-to-rags by comparison. In 2003 China added 4 million tonnes of polyester capacity - equivalent to the total production of Western Europe . By the end of next year they will be producing 21 million tonnes of the polymer - 10 times their 1995 capacity, and will single-handedly have driven any value out of the polyester market. Supply and demand issues will affect the pricing of the main consitutents of polyester, paraxylene and ethylene glycol, and a short-term tightness in their supply will prevent the PET price from falling as low as it otherwise would. The PET/PP price differential will nevertheless diminish to between $100 and $200/tonne premium for the technically-superior PET fibre.

Asked how a high oil price would affect PET prices, Mr Page said there was no short-term correlation between crude oil and polyester pricing. Both were more affected by supply/demand forces. At best there was a psychological link: it was easier to raise PET prices when high crude-oil cost could be used to rationalise the need for an increase. Clearly if oil stays high for any length of time, then the price of polyester precursors will have to increase.

Regulation of Wet Wipes

Joachim Vogt, a biochemist with the product safety and regulatory affairs department at P&G Service ( Germany ) provided an insight into the workings of EDANA's Wet-Wipes Task Force and in particular the effects of the EU Cosmetic Directive 76/768/EEC on two key classes of wipes, the baby/toddler wipes and the personal care wipes. The 7th amendment to this directive, published in March 2003, was coming into effect in September 2004 and would clarify the issues regarding animal testing.

The use of animal testing within the EU would be banned for finished products from 11 th Sept 2004 and from 11 th March 2009 for ingredients. However the 7th amendment also introduces a marketing ban, prohibiting the sale of products which have used animal testing anywhere. This will come into force progressively starting at the first of these dates and will be total by the second. In addition any Class 1 or 2 CMR's (carcinogenic, mutagenic or reprotoxic chemicals) will be banned and 26 common perfume ingredients will have to be declared on the pack if their concentration exceeds 10ppm in “leave on products” (wet-wipes) or 100ppm in rinse off products – deadline March 2005. Furthermore, for cosmetics whose shelf-life exceeds 30 months a new indication of “period after opening = X months” must appear on the pack.

Should nonwoven producers be concerned when the regulations only apply to the lotion part of the wipe? Yes. They will have to test for leaching of any chemicals from nonwoven into lotion over a period up to the declared Use By date. Dr Vogt called for co-operation between nonwoven producers and wet-wipe producers to understand the interactions between lotions and nonwovens.

Microbiological Quality Management for Wet Wipes

Wolfgang Siegert of Schülke and Mayr GmbH ( Germany ) pointed out that all wet-wipes needed some preservative to prevent spoiling on storage.

For baby and cosmetic wipes these preservatives would have to comply with the Cosmetic Regulations, and here products from their Euxyl® range can be used. Raw materials should be checked for microbes, and water, the main ingredient was often a problem:

• Water should contain no more than 100 colony forming units/ml.
• Ion exchangers are a source of microbial contamination
• Unpreserved water over 3 hours old must be assumed to be contaminated.

Random checks on nonwovens are essential. Manufacturers QC checks on contamination are rarely valid or good enough by the time the nonwovens are used.

For the lotion, the key questions relate to the stability of the concentrate, and the level of antimicrobial protection remaining when diluted to use-level. Once applied to the nonwoven, is it even? Does it protect the nonwoven adequately? Uniform spray application to the unfolded nonwoven is essential: chromatographic effects can cause separation of ingredients if the nonwoven is allowed to soak up the lotion from a reservoir, and dip application can result in the nonwoven taking up some chemicals more rapidly than others.

Technical wipes come under the Biocidal Products Regulations and here Parmetol(R) A28 has proved the most suitable preservative for most formulations.

Wet toilet tissue has proved to be the most risky for allergic skin reactions. Here an increase in pH caused by nonwovens can give problems with the recommended Euxyl® K702 which is based on phenoxyethanol, benzoic acid and dehydroacetic acid. (Only the free acids are preservatives and these are mainly undissociated only when pH is held below 5).

Spunlace in Wet Wipes

Michel Vincent-Dospital of Tharreau Industries ( France ) showed wet-wipes turnover growing by 282% in the five years to 2002, but expected no more than 8% growth in the next 5 years. In 2002 spunlace accounted for 81% of EU personal care and baby wipes nonwovens use, and 73% of Household wipes use. The main requirements for nonwovens in these markets are tensile strength and absorptive capacity (for conversion), flushability and biodegradation (for disposal), and a variety of combinations of softness, strength, thickness, abrasion and aesthetics depending on use.

Trends in Nonwovens

Sherry Sutton of PGI Nonwovens pointed out that there are now over 70 million North Americans over 50 years old and they have unprecedented buying power. These are the "baby boomers" and their children are now creating above average gains in the 15-24 age group - the “baby boom echo".

Overall:
• Roll goods shipments will grow at 5% a year to reach $5billion by 2007
• Disposables will reach $3.2 billion, comprising hygiene $820m, Wipes $690m, medical $480m, Filtration $457m, and others.
• Within Hygiene, training pants is the fastest growing, highest margin group, incontinence having the best longer term potential.
• Within wipes, now a $2.2billion market in North America at retail level, baby wipes account for $882m, Personal care wipes $554m, and Household $715m. However it is the emerging markets that are showing double digit growth:
• General Bathing wipes
• Facial Cleansers
• Disinfectant wipes
• Glass cleaners, dusters and polishers
• Car cleaners
• Pet care wipes
• Sun care and self tanning wipes
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Incontinence pad users want washable products with the comfort, breathability and quietness of cotton underwear. They want protection and insurance against accidents. They also want disposable washcloths with no-rinse, deodorizing cleansers and moisturisers.

For the future she saw growth possibilities arising from flushable wipe developments, flame retardant nonwovens for home furnishings and further nonwoven penetration of the technical textiles market.

Nonwovens in India

Ravishankar Gopal, Consultant ( India ) reviewed the progress of nonwovens market development in India .
• With a population of 1 billion of median age 24 years, there is no market for adult incontinence products
• However half the population is between 18 and 35 and is receptive to new ideas and products.
• The middle class (250million) has purchasing power only a little below that of developed countries and are potential customers for disposables.
• The current low penetration of disposables (0.001kg/capita) coupled with the high birth rate (24 million per year) means a huge opportunity for nonwovens exists.
• In 2002 disposable nonwovens sales amounted to 38,000 tonnes, 32,300 being hygiene products, mainly femcare, and growing at 15% per year.
• The second largest nonwoven market, medical, used 2280 tonnes and was also growing at 15% per year.
• Durable nonwoven sales of 60,000 tonnes were mainly needlepunched for automotive and home furnishing applications, and fibrefill (20,000 tonnes).

In conclusion, Mr Gopal reminded us that India has only been "open" to foreign investment for 10 years, and will grow like China from now on.

Filtration Opportunities in China

Lutz Bergmann of Filter Media Consulting listed the opportunities for filters now arising as a result of China 's industrial growth:
• China is the worlds leading steel producer with 1600 plants, some requiring a million square meters of pulse-jet baghouse filter area.
• China is the worlds largest cement producer with over 800 plants. These will eventually have to comply with the 10mg/m3 emission limit, the demand for fabric filters being huge as a result.
• China is the second largest electricity generator on Earth, 75% being from coal-fired boilers using mechanical dust separators, i.e. an enormous opportunity for baghouse systems, probably using glass fiber filters.
• The 600 Chinese cities with more than 0.5 million inhabitants will have to install waste incinerators with stringent emission controls using high performance filters and dust collectors.
• Road construction projects will dramatically increase the market for aramid filters for hot-mix asphalt production plants.
• China is building a million apartments a month. Most of these have heating and air-conditioning units which require filters.
• Growth in Chinese microelectronic and pharmaceutical production will require more clean rooms with more HEPA filters
• Blood filtration will be required in future for the million pints year of donations.
• Chinese automotive production - now 3 million/year, could grow to 10 million by 2010. Engine air, oil, fuel and passenger compartment air filters will be needed.

Engineering Polymers

Martin Brück of Ticona GmbH (A division of Celanese) defined engineering polymers as those which have to operate at 100-150 0 C, as distinct from standard polymers (<100 0 C) and high performance polymers (>150 0 C). Ticona has a new melt-blowable version of Fortron® polyphenylene suphide, an FR polymer made from dichlorobenzene and sodium sulphide which can operate in filtration at up to 200 0 C with excellent resistance to solvents and hydrolytic degradation. It is also suitable for use in contact with food, and complies with medical regulations. Their Celanex® polybutylene terephthalate polymer is less prone to post extrusion shrinkage than polyester and can be run on spunbond lines at higher throughput to give softer finer fabrics with better hydrolytic stability. It is available in a wide range of melting points and can even be used as a bonding fibre for conventional polyester. Their new Topas® cyclo-olefin polymers demonstrate excellent electret charge retention (80% remaining after 80 days at 90% RH), and good resistance to acids, alkalis, and polar solvents. They are stable at temperatures up to 140 0 C, and have broad regulatory approval for food and medical applications.

Improved melt blowing

Hans-Georg Geus of Reifenhauser introduced a new peroxide-free additive from Ciba Speciality Chemicals to allow melt blowing of spunbond grade polypropylene. The EB 43-76 additive - now being launched as Irgatec CR 76 - allows the production of meltblown webs with finer, more flexible, stronger filaments and most importantly with a doubling in the hydrohead measure of barrier performance.

Mr Jörg Leukel of Ciba Speciality Chemicals compared the properties of webs made from a normal 1800 mfi resin with those from a 25 mfi resin blended in the extruder with different levels of the additive (0.9-2.1%). With 25mfi resin and 1.5% additive, hydrohead's of 800mm were obtained c.f. 450mm for the conventional resin. Air permeability dropped from 410 to 260 l/m 2 /s, tensile strength quadrupled and extensibility doubled. In calender bonding, the bonding window is broadened by the new approach.

The combination of spunbond polymer and additive offers cost-savings compared with the use of conventional melt-blown polymers. Waste reprocessing is improved. Furthermore, the system has no safety problems according to cytotoxicity, skin irritation and sensitisation testing.

Improved fabric inspection

Piergiorgio Mora of Electronic Systems Spa proposed using a combination of a beta-gauge basis weight scanner and a multiple static camera optical inspection system to get much improved basis weight monitoring and control. Single or double beta-gauge scanners are slow (20 seconds per scan) and hence record weight variations along diagonal lines across the web leaving vast areas unmeasured. Optical scanners will give 20,000 images/second and allow full inspection for visible defects, but are not good for basis weight determination due to problems with irregular transmission and diffusion of light, dust build up, and lamp ageing. However when both systems are combined, the beta gauge can continuously calibrate the cameras, allowing them to give a full assessment of basis weight variation.

Systems using this principle to control the chute feeders of cards allow the variability of basis weight to be halved compared with beta gauge control on its own.

Nanocoatings for Nonwovens

Dr Georg Bolte, MD of Nanotec S.R.L ( Germany ) defined a nanocoat as arising when an aerosol of sub-micron solution particles containing less than 20% solids lands on a surface and the solvent evaporates.

Fine aerosols are produced by nozzles (nebulizers) driven by ultrasonic or piezoelectric forces. Several nebulizers have been arranged to treat films and textiles up to 2.7 metres wide at 110 m/min. When combined with corona discharge surface treatment, nanocoats created from water-based aerosols can be bonded onto the surface of polypropylene to modify its surface tension. Another application example involved treating polyester film to lower the surface resistance from >10 -15 ohms down to 10 -9 ohms. Printing effects can be created by applying the aerosol through rotary-screens.

Biodegradable spunbonds

Dr Dieter Blechschmidt of the STF Institute ( Germany ) has produced spunbond nonwovens from Eastman's Eastar Bio™ (PTAT), Cargill Dow's Natureworks™ (PLA) and Bayer's BAK™ aliphatic polyesteramide (PEA).

Over a basis weight range from 32 to 194 gsm and fibre counts from 0.7 to 4.5 dtex stable production was possible with PTAT and PEA but not with PLA. PTAT and PEA gave softer and more elastic nonwovens than PP. The PTAT work was scaled up at Reifenhauser in Troisdorf and this polymer appears to be commercially viable in spunbonding. The PEA polymer is no longer produced by Bayer.

Antimicrobials

Bob Hartog of TNO, Holland's Food and Nutrition Research Organisation reviewed antimicrobial additives and their evaluation. In addition to the well known slow-release or no-release varieties, TNO has added "release on command" using a "bio-switch with bio-nanotechnology" to ensure that the antimicrobial is only released by the target organism. The patented approach uses starch-based particles containing lysozyme, whose release "is controlled by changes in the structure of the matrix".

PLMA Show: Amsterdam – 25th and 26th May 2004

Key Points:

• Increased activity in wipes with many new converters showing me-too products and the established converters broadening their ranges.
• Biodegradability appears to be a growing marketing angle with several ranges using the Novamont Mater-Bi films.
• 100% cotton products, especially organic cotton are more in evidence in premium wipes and tissues.
• Flushability claims are more frequent, but no signs of a real breakthrough.

A and A and A ( Germany)

introduced a cleaning sponge in the shape of an arrow, the arrowhead being good for cleaning into corners. http://www.ana-aqualine.de/index_en.html

Amirose ( UK)

had facial “cool cucumber” and “vitamin C orange” circular nonwoven pads printed and fragranced to resemble the fruit slices, in 10-pack resealable sachets. They also had a full-face self-heating green tea mask which “In just 60 seconds opens the pores and acts deeply, eliminating impurities. The green tea helps absorb the sebum.” Similar technology was available as sunburn-relief pads, headache-relief, sports-injury swelling reducers. They also had conventional wet-wipes, impregnated dry “daily facials” and soap impregnated dry hand-cleaners for use after public toilet use. They were also promoting tubs of pre-wetted SAP gel as “Happy Plants” moisturisers for plants: “maintains plants in perfect health for 30 days without watering or fertilising”. (This won this years PLMA 1 st award in the non-food category.) http://www.amirose.com/fr_home.html

Bosmat ( Israel)

had flushable moist toilet tissues for kids, and flushable toilet cleaning wipes* on display. The latter were too large for “flushable by size” and were said to use a dispersible binder. http://www.bosmat.com/household.htm

Cardificio Italiano Spa ( Italy)

showed a range of 100% biodegradable femcare using Novamont’s Mater-Bi for the film backsheet and perforated film topsheet around a preformed core. Gesuino Ogliari (MD) admitted this was not commercial and said I should email to get further information. http://www.cardificioitaliano.it/inglese/

DIVA International Srl ( Italy)

had received the best new product award at the 2003 show for their “Daily Comfort” microwavable bathing towels for institutional use* and this year had introduced a retail-brand version*, “Daily Hygiene”, currently going into Italian supermarkets with expansions into Germany and France next. Unlike the USA’s market-leading product from Sage, the heavy wipe weight was not achieved by needling but by lamination of what looked like 3 layers of commodity 55gsm viscose/PET wet-wipe substrate. They also had the “Fria” range of 100% cotton facial “tissues” based on hydroentangled lightweight cotton webs*. www.divaint.com

Dr Schumacher GmbH ( Germany)

had anatomically shaped facial masks impregnated with hydrogel and whatever else you needed for cosmetic sales. Anti-ageing, anti-wrinkle and refreshing were amongst the claims. Their toilet cleaning wipes are “biodegradable and can be disposed of through the WC”. http://www.schumacher-online.com/php/index.php?language_id=EN&maincont_id=78

Dynamic Wipes Industries ( Israel)

were showing flushable bathroom cleaning wipes and a wide range of mitts, some with film liners so that the hand remained dry in wet cleaning. They supplied mitts in packs both wet and dry, but refused to provide samples.

Eyüp Sabri Tuncer ( Turkey)

had “Cool Care™” hot or cold towels in a 24 count rectangular tub with ring-pull top*. After removing the metallic closure the user was asked to add 400mls of hot or cold water, replace the plastic seal-top and leave for a minute for the fluid to distribute. They appeared to be designed for restaurant or airline use. www.eyupsabrituncer.com

Fippi Spa ( Italy), Hyga GmbH ( Germany) and Dam-bi Produktion AB ( Sweden)

were collaborating on diaper developments and this autumn would be introducing the first (after P&G and K-C) ultrathin diaper using 50/50 pulp/SAP cores. This would be based on retro-fitting an existing diaper machine. They were likely to introduce a biodegradable product but said it would not be based on Mater-bi. They also claimed a new development in tampons but could not discuss it at this stage. www.fippi.com, www.hyga-int.de, www.dambi.se

Fischer Pharmaceuticals ( Germany)

had Tea-Tree wipes on display using AHA and Q10 additives. Among the newer presentations were dog-paw wipes and dog-bathing towels. www.dr-fischer.com

Flash BV ( Holland)

had a wide range of floor and kitchen wipes on display apparently oriented to commercial rather than home use. One interesting version was a roll of wipes, about 40 cms wide, sold dry but dispensed from a horizontal cylinder which wetted them out prior to use. www.flash.nl

Innovate BV ( Holland)

had an attractive cardboard cube pack* for wet wipes – not unlike the prettily-printed cubes of facial tissues. These contained two flowpacks of 20cms square wet wipes – 35 wipes per pack. These were about to be launched by a pharmacy-chain in the UK – not Boots. They were priced at a premium. Innovate were collaborating with a nonwoven producer to develop a 100% cotton version. www.innovate.nl

Kimberly-Clark Europe

continues to supply supermarkets with own-brand products alongside the K-C brands and claims this helps them gain shelf space for the brands. New for this show were facial tissues with aroma-therapy claims, new embossing patterns on tissue and some 5-ply tissue products. However they claimed three-ply tissues made with their through-air drying performed similarly. Their tampons featured a “unique twist and tear opening system” and their diapers were using the elastic fastners. Stand staff were aware of Cottonelle but would not comment on its current status adding “you can deduce from the lack of publicity that it is not a roaring success”!

Kovas Co Ltd ( Korea)

showed pre-moistened (with Hydrogel) masks and pads, the latter printed and fraganced to simulate slices of cucumber (“soothing”), orange (“revitalising”), kiwi fruit (“replenishing”) and lemon (“rejuvenating”). The masks contained “Facial Essence” for whitening, moisturising, stress relief, and curing acne. http://www.kovas.co.kr/cosmetic.htm

Lavino Kapur Cottons PVT Ltd ( India)

claim to be the major supplier of bleached cotton pads to the Japanese nonwovens industry, this business being based on two 1meter wide hydroentanglement lines installed in their Indian bleachery. One of these lines is card/parallel lay and the other based on Rando webs. Their Chairman, Inderit Kapur says they are now installing a Rieter Perfojet line specifically to process 100% cotton into 40-60 gsm wet-wipe substrate using 60 bar water pressure. The product is not for the Indian market and all of it will be exported. www.absorbent-cotton.com

Liauw Pastry Production BV ( Holland)

in addition to teabags designed to allow tea-making in espresso coffee machines, were promoting tea-bags specially formulated for use as eye-pads*, and large tea-bags* for use in the bath, these being branded Te Tao Chinese Herbal Therapy. www.tetao.com

Linette Ltd ( Cyprus)

claimed to have started “Nannys” diaper production in 1984 in response to P&G’s introduction of Pampers. They now have 45% of the Cyprus market based on production plants in Cyprus and Greece which export all over Europe. They attributed their success to promotion and marketing activities which were not done by P&G. For instance in addition to visiting new mothers in the maternity wards and presenting free diapers, they follow up with home visits at intervals coinciding with the need to move the baby into the next largest product. They give each mother a “baby book” in which to record baby’s progress and run a Baby Club which brings mothers together with doctors and paediatricians for information exchange and seminars. New for this show were biodegradable disposal bags for diapers. Amand Chrysaphi, their young export manager was particularly proud of the fact that they now supply the New Zealand market. http://www.linette.com/brands.html

Minky Homecare ( UK)

showed a wide range of wipes including dry dusters coated with beeswax for floor use (green) and furniture dusting (yellow)*. They were in packs of two and claim to be washable and reusable up to 20 times. www.minky.com

Mykal ( UK)

added red-wine, wax and silk clean-up kits to their De-Solv-It range of stain removing products. These contained the special liquid and wipes separately in the pack, unlike their general purpose stain removers* which are moist but require the addition of a little more water for best results. http://sites.stocksphere.com/mykal/item.asp?itemid=2&categoryid=1

Nice-Pak International ( UK)

were no longer concentrating on baby wipes and showed a very wide range of household, institutional and industrial cleaning wipes. Packs of Miowipes claimed biodegradability (www.bambinomio.com) and Earthlets wipes were both flushable and biodegradable (www.earthlets.co.uk). These looked like lightly-bonded viscose probably using the hydrodisentanglement route to dispersion. The “Keep it Handy” range of cleaning cloths can be seen at www.overseastrading.co.uk. For furniture cleaning, the wipes were impregnated with beeswax. http://www.nice-pak.co.uk/wipe.html

Noam Urim Enterprises ( Israel)

promoted their Soap’n Wipe range of bulky polyester needlefelts impregnated with soaps* for use in hotels, restaurants and hospitals. They were introducing a larger version for car cleaning. The soap was added during their needling operation. Their first commercial success had been in patient bathing wipes for care homes. Dr Fischer was a major custormer. The wipes, sold dry, had to be wetted with hot water prior to use. (While simple and cheap to make this looked interesting because of the high bulk of the product, its ability to take high compression, and the pleasing texture when wetted. Made with even coarser polyester they could be loofah-like. Ed). They were developing 2-sided (one abrasive) versions for retail use in washing up and furniture cleaning. Other wipes on display were laminates* of what looked like a light coarse spunbond to the usual viscose/PET needlefelt wipe base. Their antimicrobial wipes used a blend of Acordis Amicor Plus® fibres, and were said to be non-toxic and safe for prolonged skin contact, and for use around food. www.noam-urim.com

Novamont Spa ( Italy)

had taken a stand for the first time in view of the growing interest in their biodegradable “Mater-Bi” thermoplastic starch resin. The product was commercial in numerous packaging applications (blown film) and in topsheets and backsheets for femcare and, so far, just backsheets for diapers. Being naturally hydrophilic the films are breathable and antistatic. (There was no reference in any of the literature to the polycaprolactone content of the resin, which used to be about 50% of the total weight. Ed.) http://www.novamont.com/ing/html/home.html

Paper-Pak ( Sweden)

has extended the “Attends” range into the light incontinence sector with a mini-pad* for use in underwear using elastic gathers to create a boat shape in use. www.paperpak.com

Quest Personal Care Products ( UK)

had dispersible-flushable toilet wipes on display but said there was not a big demand for it yet. They were doing it because the “majors” were doing it. Among the usual range of wipes, was a Leather-Guard wipe for upholstery cleaning. www.questcottonproducts.com

Rockline Industries Ltd ( UK)

had amongst the familiar wide range of wipes a “Kandoo” clone called “Cheeky Monkey – Small Person Wipes” with a 99p price tag for 60 sheets. Adult wet-wipes dispensed from what looked like a plastic version of a Coca-Cola can appeared novel. Asked if they had anything biodegradable, flushable other than by size, or 100% cotton they said not. With regard to 100% cotton, they would like to use it but found that the roll-goods they could buy were low in quality and impossible to run at anything like normal productivity on their conversion lines. www.rockline.co.uk

Spring Srl ( Italy)

had a range of nonwoven kitchen towels and tablecloths made from hydroentangled 70% cotton/30% Polyester and promoted as washable*. Their Blitser electrostatic dust capture mitt* appeared made from the hydroentangled polypropylene reinforced with polypropylene scrim as used in the early Swiffers. www.springit.com

Stenago Srl ( Italy)

were showing certified organic grown and harvested cotton wipes said to be on sale in Tesco UK. The cotton, from Tanzania and India had been checked through production and harvesting and certified as organic by the Italian Soil Association (AIAB?) and ICEA. The nonwoven is made by the new Hebi-Orsa plant in Egypt and its commercialisation follows a 2-3 year development program. The ”Organic Soft” wipes* sold at about 3 times the price of the commodity viscose/PET versions, but they were said to be attracting a lot of interest in the baby care, femcare and bodycare wipes categories. www.stenago.com

Tyco Healthcare ( UK)

had a stand concentrating on their “Lily” range of light incontinence products, said to be growing at 25% per year through outlets such as Boots and Carrefour. They were about to launch an ultra-mini Staydry pad through Boots commencing May 28 th. Interestingly, they found that when people began to buy light-inco products (instead of femcare) they chose Mini products which were probably too small. However once the barrier of actually buying an inco product had been crossed, they rapidly moved to larger products to get even better protection. Odour control is more important than in femcare, and stronger formulations are used. (Tyco used to make a “Baby Booster” pad for adding to disposables for night-time use but withdrew it on the basis that diapers were now so good that these were not required. It has now been relaunched following a storm of protests from “grannies who buy them for their grandchildren”) Staff on the stand were aware of the pulpless diaper using acetate tow and superabsorbents and were trying to get them for test in the European market. They had been told that it was not fully commercial yet in the USA. www.tycohealthcare.com

Valor Brands Europe ( Spain)

showed “Little Swimmer” diapers* using a pre-formed core, and also their “Affective” range of incontinence products. They claimed to be developing a biodegradable diaper in collaboration with the Swedish companies Polar Gruppen (www.polargruppen.com) and Cell Comb AB. They were already supplying the “Nature Boy and Girl” range of diapers on sale in Mothercare and Sainsbury’s in the UK. The product was not yet fully biodegradable, but they were getting there. The backsheet and probably topsheet used the Novamont Mater-bi thermoplastic starch polymer. www.valorbrands.es

Wellness Innovation Project (WIP, Italy)

had a small stand attracting a lot of interest promoting the virtues of organic cotton by drawing attention to the poor environmental credentials of commodity cotton. (“It’s less environmentally friendly than polyester production”) They were showing concept femcare products based on 100% organic cotton core containing Lysac SAP on a Mater-bi back, and covered with a PLA topsheet. They also had one “100% Tencel” dry-wipe on display and said that Tencel was another environmentally friendly product with the same values as organic cotton. They were working on a 70% Tencel and 30% PLA version for a baby-wipe. Their organic cotton wipes were certified 100% organic and were produced from peroxide bleached African and Indian cottons supplied by Remei AG - bioRe®, and hydroentangled by Fama Jersey. Generally their products would cost 3-5 times the commodity equivalent, but there was a niche market for such environmentally sensitive materials. www.wip-srl.com, the show catalog gives their web address as www.famajersey.com and a brochure gives it as www.bioworld.it.

Zema ( Italy)

showed a sticky door mat system* designed to remove dust and bacteria carried into and moved around homes. This was said to have been in use for years in hospitals and high-tech industries. The slab of 15 prettily printed sheets is stuck to the floor in a doorway and the surface adhesive removes “everything” from the sole of the shoes. When the top layer is dirty it is pealed off and discarded. www.zemaonline.com

Zendac Group ( Holland)

displayed a “Floratex” Turbo-clean mop which could take either wet or dry wipes. These wipes* were a laminate of apertured spun-laced (apparently all long fibres) and latex bonded airlaid pulp. www.zendac.nl

31/5/2004