Kelheim Fibres Acquires Visil FR Technology from Bankrupt Avilon

In line with its strategy of continued specialisation, Kelheim Fibres GmbH, the world's leading producer of speciality viscose fibres, has reached an agreement with the bankrupt Finnish fibre company Avilon for the acquisition of knowhow and technology for the production of flame retardant viscose staple fibres, previously marketed under the Visil® name. 

In the late 1990s, operating as Saeteri, Avilon pioneered the production of such fibres designed to meet the requirements in place for furnishings in the American market. Matthew North, Commercial Director of Kelheim Fibres GmbH, comments: "The US market has become dependent on supply of FR viscose fibres from China. The agreement we have reached will allow us to finalise development of FR fibres based on the knowledge and experience of the historical market leader and offer a reliable, high-quality alternative to Asian sources". 

Initial production trials at Kelheim with the support of Avilon technicians were completed successfully in April 2013 and the fibres are currently undergoing testing. It is expected that samples of the new fibre will be available for customer tests by early May 2013. Kelheim Fibres GmbH will be showing its full range of speciality viscose fibres at the IDEA International Engineered Fabrics Exhibition in Miami, USA from 23. to 25. April 2013.

EDANA 2012 NONWOVEN PRODUCTION STATISTICS

New positive growth despite a slow economy background

Friday 19th April, 2013, BRUSSELS – Today the European annual statistics on Nonwovens Production and Deliveries for 2012 were disclosed by EDANA, the International Association Serving the Nonwovens and Related Industries, during its Nonwoven Producers Forum. Jacques Prigneaux, EDANA’s Market Analysis and Economic Affairs Director, described the evolution by nonwovens process leading to an overall growth of 2.2% in production volume for 2012, despite an unfavourable macroeconomic context in Europe. The total deliveries reached the level of 1,954,000 tonnes and 57,690 million square metres last year.

Spunmelt processes accounted for 45%, the rest was fibre-based materials. Within the drylaid, the leading bonding technologies remain spunlace and needlepunch in terms of tonnage produced. Jacques Prigneaux stated that “This is the third year in a row of output growth following the slowdown of 2009. Nevertheless, the different market segments follow different trends. In nonwovens, drivers are multiple as linked to the numerous and increasing  possible applications. Some sectors like construction and automotive are directly impacted by the economic background, while disposable end-uses are less affected. Moreover, within the Greater Europe, different major trends have also been observed on a country basis.”

Compared to the situation in 2011, hygiene wipes and automotive segments showed some growth rates higher than 5%, but construction, the second most important sector in volume, recorded a decline of 3%. Nonwovens trade flows in and out of the European Union are still limited compared to local production. The positive trade balance with the rest of the world increased last year, in both volume and value. A large part of the flows was in spunmelt materials and EU27 maintained a positive trade balance for each sub-category by grammage.

For further information please contact: Abby Bailey, Marketing and Communications Director, EDANA
Telephone: +32 2 734 93 10
Fax: +32 2 733 35 18
E-mail: abby.bailey@edana.org
Website: www.edana.org

INDA's Visionary Award Finalists: Diversitech and Dude

Keith Platt of the Diversitech Corporation described how they came to develop the MERV 8+/9+ pleated filter.  Diversitech wanted to make and sell pleated filters for air conditioning units etc but found the standard cardboard-framed design costly to make and too bulky ship economically.  Their experience with plastic mouldings led them to believe that the pleated PP spunbond filter element could be overmoulded with a PP plastic frame to make “nestable” filters which could be stored in half the volume.  The resulting rugged and durable filters also showed lower pressure drop due to absence of cardboard and could be recycled.

Sean Riley, Chief Executive Dude of Dude Products Inc. is targeting 25-35 year old males who tend to “toilet” more away from home than at home.  The resulting individually-wrapped Dude Wipes are intended for all male clean-up jobs, the list including wet-toilet tissue, post-gym clean-up, bedroom festivities and hand/face cleaner.  Dude Wipes are in fact dispersible and flushable multi-function male grooming wipes with a pleasant masculine scent.  Mr Riley expects to extend the range into larger Quick Dude Shower (QDS™) wipes.

Marketing is Twitter-linked and humorous with “social” packaging which works as a conversation starter.  Dude Wipes were developed in conjunction with Rockline Industries and launched in July 2012. They are currently sold online and in a number of small specialty stores.

Europe and Asia Nonwoven Market Update

Ian Bell, Tissue and Hygiene Research Manager at Euromonitor observed that Western Europe’s share of the global nonwoven market had fallen from 26% in 2002 to 19% in 2012 largely due to the preponderance of growth in Asian markets.  Over the same period, and in contrast to declines in WE as a whole, the UK birth rate had increased by 15%.  Here the retailers were aggressively pushing private label diapers as evidenced by the “Tesco loves Baby” promotion.  The withdrawal of “Huggies” will benefit PL and “Pampers” with the majority of the KC 15% share going to PL.

Germany’s population is growing mainly in the over-65’s group where there are now 27% more people than in 2002.  As a consequence of this and the falling birth rate most of the value growth in disposables now comes from incontinence products.  40% of diapers and 15% of incontinence pads are sold as PL.  Incontinence product sales are expected to overtake diaper sales in 2017.

Spain is an economic catastrophe with 27% unemployment overall and 55% in the under 24’s.  Disposable income has fallen by 7% since 2008. The only categories of disposables still growing are flushable wet wipes.

Eastern Europe is growing well mainly due to the Russian baby-boom, and this region is now the 3^rd Global Growth area behind China and Brazil.  The government’s “Mothers Capital” scheme, started in 2007 now grants $13,000 to women having babies before the end of 2016.

Turkey hopes to join the EU and will be the next big growth area.

Asia-Pacific as a whole now accounts for 35% of the Global hygiene market, up from 26% in 2002.  China remains the largest market with India running about 25 years behind China.  India, outside the cities, lacks infrastructure to handle disposal (see below).

China’s hygiene sales at retail have grown from around $3bn in 2002 to $10bn now and are expected to reach $37bn by 2020.  In 2002 femcare accounted for the ~90% of sales.  By 2020 femcare will be around 35% and diapers around 60%, the rest being emerging inco.  GDP and per capita income growth have both fallen from the 20% pa peak in the middle of the last decade to around 10%p.a. now and are expected to continue at this rate through 2020.  China is now best viewed city-by-city with Xiamen (9% CAGR), Tianjin (18% GDP Growth in 2011) and Shenzen (7% CAGR) being key growth areas. 

Japan is struggling with low growth and an ageing population.  By 2017 incontinence pad sales will reach $2.5bn, up from $1.2bn in 2002, while diaper sales will fall to $1.7bn from $2bn.

South Korea was singled out as the new market with greatest potential.  Here the per capita income is only $13,000 but already 45% of the diapers sold are bought on the web.  For comparison, only 4.5% of diapers are bought on the web in the USA.

Lenzing Group New Sustainability Report

The Lenzing Group has published a new report on its activities pertaining to the issue of sustainability entitled “Focus Sustainability – Taking Responsibility for Our Business.” The report focuses on fibers, the core segment of the Lenzing Group, which accounts for 90% of consolidated sales. For the first time, the contents of the report are geared to the standards contained in the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). In Lenzing’s view it fulfills the requirements of Application Level B in accordance with GRI requirements. The new report is based on figures and information from the 2011 financial year and in part from 2012.

In the 2011/12 reporting period, Lenzing intensified its efforts to systematize its internal sustainability work. The objective of these activities was to expand the list of key indicators for ecological, economic and social sustainability criteria in order to improve the transparency of reporting. The Steering Committee for Sustainability spearheaded this initiative. This body consists of one Management Board member, the two heads of the business units Textile Fibers and Nonwoven Fibers as well as the heads of the two Corporate Centers, namely Safety, Health and Environment and Corporate Communications.

Lenzing is committed to the classical model of sustainability according to Brundtland, which considers sustainability in three dimensions: responsibility for the environment, responsibility for people, and responsibility for the economy.

For the very first time, the Lenzing Group has committed itself (since November 2012) to voluntarily complying with specified environmental criteria. They are based on strict reference values defined by various international standards such as EU Ecolabel (”European Flower”). The Environmental Standards of the Lenzing Group apply to all its sites and regions, and are considered to be a yardstick according to which the future behavior of the company in the field of environmental protection will be oriented.

Source: Lenzing Tuesday, 09. April 2013

The Adult Incontinence Market in North America

Rory Holmes, Past-President of INDA said AI in NA was now worth $4.3bn and the market now consumed 11 billion pads per annum.  For comparison the figures for femcare and diapers are $5.39bn/46.9bn units and $7.36bn/29.4bn units respectively.  AI is now consuming 87,000 tonnes of nonwovens compared with 47,000 tonnes in femcare and 236,000 tonnes in diapers.  Of the body-worn AI nonwoven tonnage, 44,300 went through retail and 15,500 through hospitals and care homes.  23,500 tonnes went into underpads and 3,800 tonnes went to all AI products in Mexico. 

By 2017, 13bn units of AI products would be sold in NA, and this represented a growth rate of 3.5%, compared with 1.5% for diapers and 2.1% for femcare.  In tonnage terms the AI nonwoven use would be 103,500 tonnes compared with 52,000 of femcare and 261,000 tonnes for diapers.

The main growth driver is the increasing availability of well designed disposable light incontinence garments which are much thinner (i.e. use composite cores) and more like normal underwear.  They are stretchable, breathable and can incorporate odour control and wetness indicators for institutional use.

With 16% of the NA population expected to be over 65 by 2020, and the government encouraging home-care of the elderly, the home-care use of AI products is accelerating.  State agencies and retail organisations are therefore developing performance standards for AI.

Asked about the low growth of diaper sales, Dr Holmes thought the recession could be to blame.  What proportion of over 65’s has an incontinence problem? About 1/3^rd, but the proportion rises to about 70% for the over 80’s.  Incontinence in middle aged men due to prostate problems and in middle aged women after childbirth is also on the increase. There is as yet no surgical cure for the problem.

The State of the Nonwovens Industry

This the first of a series of summaries of papers presented at the INDA Vision Conference in Orlando, in January this year.

David Rousse, President of INDA reviewed the global nonwovens industry scene, reminding us that when a country’s Purchasing Power Parity rose above $1500 per capita per year, the disposable femcare market would begin to develop.  Above $3500/year, $8000/year and $10000/year, disposable diapers, wipes and incontinence products (respectively) would commence to be in demand.  $10000/year equated to an annual nonwoven consumption of about a kilo/capita and this consumption rose roughly linearly with PPP to reach about 5 kg/capita at the North American income of $50,000/capita. 

• Globally 7.9 million tonnes of nonwovens were produced in 2012 and this was expected to reach 11.3 million by 2017, a CAGR of 7.6%
• NAFTA was stuck in a low growth mode (~2%) but the dollar was stable and interest in environmental protection and sustainability was increasing.  NAFTA consumed 24.5% of global nonwovens.
• The EU is a no-growth or declining area overall with a declining Euro and a high and increasing interest in the environment.  The EU consumed 25.5% of global nonwovens
• Japan was declining, the population ageing, and incontinence products were now outselling disposable diapers.
• China was growing, but less strongly, had an appreciating currency and was flirting with sustainability issues.  Population age was stable, but labour costs were increasing. China consumed 23% of global nonwovens.
• India is where China was 25 years ago.  The rupee is down and the population is still growing. There’s no interest in sustainability and no infrastructure (outside the cities) to allow disposable use.
• China and ROW were the growth regions.  China now operated a quarter of the world’s SMS machines.
• Spunbond, needlepunch and spunlaced technologies were growing most (~8%/year to 2017 globally).
• Wipes and Filtration markets were the growing most rapidly (17%/year to 2017) while nonwovens for Automotive (15%) and Construction (12%) were also doing well.

Mr Rousse suggested we pay particular attention to the following “gamechangers”:

Galaxy® - new directions for the world's leading tampon fibre

How varied the possible fields of applications for the viscose speciality fibres from the Bavarian producer Kelheim Fibres can be is proven by their patented viscose fibre Galaxy®. Galaxy® is the world's leading viscose fibre for tampons - and can now be found in a completely different application, namely in a direct solar desalination panel. The solar desalination panel called CarocellTM made by the Australian company F Cubed, is used for the cleaning and the desalination of water and is designed to provide access to clean drinking water on a global scale. 

Almost one billion people have no safe drinking water supply which causes a death rate of 10,000 people per day due to water borne diseases and the majority of these deaths are among children; with its CarocellTM product F Cubed offers a solution for this huge social problem.CarocellTM is a very simple system which can easily be positioned almost anywhere; the polluted water is fed into the CarocellTM panel by gravity, pressure or a solar pump. Following the natural water cycle of evaporation and condensation, an average of 15 litres per day of pure water is produced - that is enough to meet the needs of a single family - and up to 25 litres and more can be produced on hot summer days. Only solar energy is used and there is no pollution of the environment with chemicals or greenhouse gases. CarocellTM is a modular unit and can therefore operate as a single panel or as multi-panels for higher water production for towns and commercial applications such as treating industrial or mining waste water.

In order to keep the cost of CarocellTM panels as low as possible while maintaining high levels of efficiency, the developers paid particular attention to the design and the materials used in the panel: so, the nonwoven inside the panel is made of the viscose speciality fibre Galaxy®. The excellent liquid absorption and distribution capacity of the Galaxy® fibre are not only of value in tampons: in a comparative test on different nonwoven fabrics, carried out by an independent institute, the fibre with its typical trilobal cross-section delivered the best distribution of water in the nonwoven; at the same time, the high surface area of Galaxy® improved the evaporation of the water.
Another benefit is the fact that Kelheim Fibres delivers the fibres in spun-dyed form and additional dyeing, which would be costly and laborious considering the small amount of fibres needed, is not necessary.

The CarocellTM units are already being exported to 23 countries with a growing demand from governments, NGO's and corporations looking for a sustainable future.

Source: Kelheim Fibres

Biodegradable Diapers from recycled cardboard

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has developed a process that enables recycled paper and cardboard to be used as a raw material for nonwovens. Hygiene and home care products, such as nappies, sanitary towels and cleaning cloths, are among the many items that can be manufactured from the biodegradable nonwovens. The manufacturing costs of cardboard-based nonwovens are around 20% lower than for nonwovens produced from wood raw materials. The forest industry will be among those likely to benefit from new business opportunities opened up by nonwovens based on recycled paper and cardboard.

Nonwovens are essentially consumer goods that once used will end up in a landfill site along with other community waste. In the metropolitan area alone, an estimated 10,000 tonnes of nappies and sanitary towels are disposed of each year. The principle raw material in nonwovens manufacture is biologically non-degradable polyester. Up to now, market entry for bio-based nonwovens derived from wood has stalled because of prohibitive production costs.

“Now for the first time we can make use of recycled paper and cardboard as a nonwovens raw material,” says Ali Harlin, Research Professor at VTT. “The new process means that bio-based nonwovens are now more competitive on price in comparison with plastic-based products. The manufacturing costs of cardboard-based nonwovens are around 20% lower than for nonwovens produced from wood raw materials. New business opportunities should open up fairly rapidly, since the technology required for manufacturing nonwovens from recycled materials is already in place.”

Every year Europe generates around 60 million tonnes of recycled paper, of which cardboard makes up around 40%. The demand exists for new applications and technology for exploiting recycled paper due to the EU’s objective of raising the proportion of recycled paper to 70 per cent. The method developed by VTT could extend future possibilities for re-use, particularly in the case of cardboard, which is more cost-effective as a raw material than fine paper.

Cleansing the cardboard of filler material, lignin and hemicellulose is a key part of nonwovens manufacture. VTT has matched several fibre-processing methods in the preparation of dissolving pulp to assist in obtaining pure cellulose from the recycled cardboard. The dissolving pulp produced in the research project was regenerated using VTT’s patented carbamate technology, which is safer and more environmentally friendly than the traditional viscose process. The nonwovens were manufactured with foam forming technology that uses little water.

Around 1.9 million tonnes of various types of nonwovens were manufactured in Europe in 2011. Strong growth in the global market for nonwovens is forecast to continue for the foreseeable future. Apart from hygiene, health and cleaning products, the nonwovens have further applications in, among others, the construction industry.

Source:  VTT Technical Research Centre Press Release 13/3/13

Photo1: Senior Scientist Marjo Määttänen holding a piece of nonwoven manufactured from recycled cardboard. Photo: Antonin Halas

Photo2: Pure cellulose is obtained from cardboard and finally turned into nonwovens. Photo: Antonin Halas

Photo3: A piece of nonwoven fabric manufactured from recycled cardboard.Photo: Antonin Halas

Nippon Paper Makes Cellulose Nanofibres from Pulp

Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd. (President: Yoshio Haga) has decided to build new verification and production facilities for cellulose nanofibers at Iwakuni Mill of Chemical Division to develop the cellulose nanofiber business using pulp as materials.

Cellulose nanofibers are materials obtained by breaking plant fibers (pulp) down to the nano-order level, several orders of magnitude smaller than a micron. They provide excellent features: the elasticity is as high as that of aramid fibers known for high intense fiber, they stretch well just like glass as temperature changes, and they provide high barrier performance to gas, including oxygen. Also, as they come from plant fibers, they are characterized by a low environmental footprint in production and disposal, as well as light weight. Cellulose nanofibers are expected to find many applications, such as reinforcements, thickener and gas barrier materials.

The new verification and production facilities for cellulose nanofibers will have an annual production capacity of 30 or more tons, and will start production in October 2013. The facilities will make it easy to disintegrate pulp by implementing prior treatment chemically. The basic development for this has already been conducted in a project called “Research and Development of Nanodevices for Practical Utilization of Nanotechnology” at the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). The new facilities will be Japan’s first full-fledged facilities producing cellulose nanofibers by chemical treatment. This project plan has been selected for the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s innovation site support business, “Subsidies for Maintenance, etc. of Advanced Technology Verification and Assessment Facilities.”

The establishment of the facilities enables the full-scale supply of samples to facilitate the cellulose nanofiber business, and accelerates the development of applications. As a comprehensive biomass company, the Nippon Paper Group plans to enhance its technology to promote the overall use of forest resources, which are recyclable resources, and expand its business domains.