Nonwovens live

Invista’s $500 million eco bill

Fibre giant Invista is to pay a US$1.7 million civil penalty and spend up to an estimated $500 million to correct self-reported environmental violations, discovered at facilities across the USA, according to a joint announcement by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Justice Department.
The company disclosed more than 680 violations of water, air, hazardous-waste, emergency planning and preparedness and pesticide regulations to the EPA after auditing 12 facilities it acquired from DuPont in 2004.
“By correcting these violations, Invista will reduce harmful air pollution by nearly 10,000 tons per year,” said Catherine R. McCabe, acting assistant administrator of the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “Invista is making a clean start in a settlement that achieves significant environmental benefits, and we encourage other new owners to do the same.”
The joint statement says the emission reductions resulting from correcting these violations will result in estimated annual human health benefits valued at over $325 million, including 30 fewer premature deaths per year, 2,000 fewer days per year when people would miss school or work, and over 9,000 fewer cases of upper and lower respiratory symptoms.
The settlement resolves violations disclosed under Invista’s corporate audit agreement with the EPA. Invista conducted 45 separate audits of environmental practices and compliance at facilities located in Seaford, Delaware, Athens, Calhoun, and Dalton, Georgia, Kinston, North Carolina, Camden, South Carolina, Chattanooga, Tennessee, LaPorte, Orange, and Victoria, Texas, and Martinsville and Waynesboro, Virginia.
As part of its corrective action, Invista will install pollution-control equipment to treat air pollutants at four of its plants, while at others is has agreed to improve control of benzene wastes.
This is the largest settlement under the EPA’s audit policy, which was launched in 1995. The policy provides incentives to companies that voluntarily discover, promptly disclose, and expeditiously correct environmental violations. The companies must also take steps to prevent future violations.
The EPA may reduce or waive penalties for certain violations if the facility meets the conditions of the policy. Consistent with the audit policy, EPA waived a large portion of the penalty in this case.

New scheme for recycling Tyvek

DuPont Nonwovens and leading North American recycling business Waste Management have launched a new programme for banners, envelopes and other items printed on Tyvek.
It provides a simple alternative to adding Tyvek to landfills for printers and other large volume users of printed products.

Post recycled Tyvek and other items will be made into in decking, playground equipment and corrugated pipes.
“Tyvek is a unique, recyclable product made of high-density polyethylene that can be reused in many ways,” said Carolyn Burns, marketing manager of DuPont Nonwovens.
DuPont’s existing programme has recycled more than 1 million pounds to date, and our goal is to increase the amount of Tyvek recycled annually in the United States."
For more than 20 years, DuPont has had a programme in place to capture and recycle Tyvek envelopes at its plant in Richmond, Virginia, and recycles approximately 50,000 pounds annually at the site. The Waste Management alliance will allow DuPont to expand the programme in the United States and make it easier for customers to recycle their used banners, envelopes and other products. DuPont has an established recycling programme in Asia and has plans to expand it as well.
Last year, DuPont together with Bosch and Xerox, joined the Eco-Patent Commons – a business effort to help the environment by pledging environmentally-beneficial patents to the public domain. DuPont has contributed four patents, one of which involves waste reduction technology that uses selected enzymes to accelerate the conversion of certain non-recyclable plastics to beneficial fertilizers. The other three patents involve the company’s Lux technology for pollution detection.
Waste Management, based in Houston, Texas, has a corporate goal of nearly tripling the amount of recyclables it processes from eight million to 20 million tons by 2020.

Low & Bonar sees signs of upturn

UK-headquartered Low & Bonar reports some signs of sales improvement, particularly in construction and carpet tile sectors, during March and April, but says that automotive sector sales remain depressed.
An interim statement from the company gives an account of improvement in both the total level of sales and order enquiries in certain areas. The trend was most apparent in the civil engineering sector, Low & Bonar’s largest end market, which represented some 22% of sales in 2008. Sales into the carpet tile market also saw an improving trend. The company also said that there was some evidence that the supply chain destocking that was anticipated and has influenced the sales level in the year to date was starting to decline as customers reached their minimum inventory levels.
Overall, however, the group said that in the period since December 1 last year, it had continued to experience material year-on-year sales volume falls as the strained global economic conditions continued. Most particularly affected were sales to the truck and automotive sector which represented 14% of sales in 2008.
The company concluded that it would take some time for a clearer picture of underlying trading conditions and the outlook for the group in 2009 to emerge.

Rapid sub-micron fibre imaging

FEI is launching the Fibermetric system powered by the Phenom personal electron microscope designed to discover and quantify the properties of woven and nonwoven fibre samples in minutes.
This makes direct observation and measurement of micro and nanofibres faster, more accurate and easier.
 “This is the first integrated, turnkey system for sub-micron fibre imaging and automated measurement,” said Paul Scagnetti, Vice President and General Manager of FEI’s Industry Division. “Synthetic fibre manufacturers will typically forego the measurement of sub-micron fibres and pores, suffering the process control and product quality consequences, or they may use a more expensive and complex electron microscope in the lab, which can take several days before the data is available to those who need it.”

  
With the Fibermetric system, engineers can get the data they need themselves. The system automatically collects hundreds of measurements per image and generates fibre and pore size distribution plots for quality control and for predicting application properties such as filtration efficiency.
The Fibermetric system requires no laboratory infrastructure or specially-trained personnel. It has a sample loading time of less than 30 seconds, and its automated measurement capability generates statistically valid data in the time it takes to load a conventional scanning electron microscope (SEM). Magnifications up to 24,000 times produce accurate information on fibres as small as 100nm in diameter.  
The Fibermetric system accurately images and measures almost any fibre sample with its 4.9 nm/pixel resolution and a Gaussian fit function, which automatically finds and measures fibres and pores. Nanofibres with diameters of 100nm are routinely measured with greater than 97% accuracy.
 “The Fibermetric system is part of the FEI Phenom family of personal electron microscopes,” said Scagnetti. “With its affordable price, ease-of-use, speed and accuracy, it delivers a rapid return on investment and a sustainable competitive advantage.”

NSC equips new US medical grade manufacturer

NonWoven Solutions is a new US company located in Lakemoor, Illinois, which has installed an NSC line to provide very clean and uniform needlepunched nonwovens complying with US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) medical grade standards.
In addition to needlepunched nonwoven processing, the plant has been further equipped with flame singeing, calendering and precision slitting in both roll-to-toll and single-knife style. Off-line needling for multi-layer composites and high density felts is also carried out at the plant.
NSC has supplied Excelle machines with the latest process technology, including the ProDyn system which automatically adjusts the fibre weight according to the programmed width of the finished fabric. This automatic regulation is achieved by internal speed variations of the card and crosslapper and keeps the web structure and the fibre tension absolutely constant. 

The corrections applied in the MD and CD compensate for the variable amounts of distortion caused by all known bonding processes.
ProDyn offers a double advantage –  CV% of less than 1, and double closed loop control, which ensures the effectiveness of the system is maintained whatever the nature of the fibres being processed.
NWS maintains an inventory of most basic fibre styles and can make custom orders and engineered fabrics at very short notice. Products can be made in widths of up to 4.3 metres.

Day of diversity for Nonwovens Network UK

21st Century Nonwovens is the title of the 12th Nonwovens Network UK conference to be held in Bradford, West Yorkshire on June 25.
Subjects of this diverse day will include an examination of fibres for future nonwovens by Dr Niall Finn of CSIRO and the latest on Ingeo biopolymer from Eamonn Tighe of NatureWorks.
The ‘Bloodhound Electronic Nose’ – a unit for anti-odour and antimicrobial detection in fabrics – will be introduced by Tim Gibson of Scensive Technologies and Mark Pedley will provide details on the sensor-embedded textile systems of SmartLife Technology (pictured).
Other subjects to be covered are sustainability and ethics, fire testing, three dimensional fabrics and their applications and access to funding.
Contact: Dinah Wharton, Nonwovens Network.
Tel: +44 113 343 3758. d.j.wharton@leeds.ac.uk
www.nonwovensnetwork.com

Spunlace quarter century for Norafin

Norafin is celebrating 25 years of leadership in spunlaced nonwovens technology – having commenced production at its plant in Wiesenbad, Germany in 1984.
This followed a successful patent application in 1983 by the German research institute FIFT – now the Saxon Textile Research Institute (STFI) – entitled ‘Nozzle beams on a device for hydrodynamic fibre material entanglement’.
The Finora process for hydrodynamic nonwovens began at Norafin with the aid of the FIFT and among its important advantages, the following material characteristics emerged:
• No use of binding agents
• A soft textile feel
• Low density
• High absorption ability
• Good adhesion characteristics for coatings
Hilmar Fuchs, present chairman of the STFI, explained that the initial Finora fabrics had a tensile strength in the range of 30 to 70 Nm/tex for polyester and 15 to 30 Nm/tex for viscose with a weight range of between 30-80 gsm.
Potential applications at that time were envisaged as:
• Medical dressing materials
• Nonwoven material inserts
• Backing for artificial leather
• Insulation and filter material
• Basic material for printing
• Basic material for mounting
On the initial machine, the nozzle diameter was in the range of 0.05 to 0.3 mm and the pressure was up to 16 MPa. The jet speed was in the area of 30 to 200 m/s.

 
The finishing techniques developed during the 1980s for the line were dyeing, printing, carding, impregnating, spraying and coating.
“On the basis of the Finora process development, the production of Norafin products was started in the VEB Technotex, Wiesenbad plant, in 1984,” said Professor Fuchs. “The equipment was two metres wide and had 16 beams with four bonding units and the overall surface masses were in the range of 30 to 150 grammes per square metre. On this basis, Norafin developed today’s technology and spunlaced products.”
Just how far spunlace fabrics have progressed in those 25 years will be demonstrated at Norafin’s stand at the forthcoming Techtextil in Frankfurt.

Climate agenda

Climate change will be the main topic of the lectures at the 48th Dornbirn Manmade Fibre Congress, which takes place from September 16-18 in Dornbirn, Austria.
The programme committee has already selected more than 100 lectures from a huge number of highly-qualified proposals.
The plenary session on the opening day, for example, will include a lectures including:

• Climate Change – a Biological View – The Munich Zoological State Collection Munich, Germany.
• Green Chemistry – The American Chemical Society
• Market-Development Trends For Composites – AVK
• Strategies for the European ManMade Fibres Industry – CIRFS

Topics for other sessions will include:

• New Developments in Fibres
• Fibres for Medical and Hygiene Textiles
• Fibres for Composites, Transportation and Professional Wear
• Fibres and Textiles in the context of Climate Change
• The latest EU Research Projects.

Details: www.dornbirn-mfc.com

Feel the width

Germany’s Dilo has recently built the widest crosslapper ever for a papermachine felt producer in China.
The Dilo-Layer DLP 25/130 has a maximum layering width of 13 metres and can realise layering speeds of up to 90 m/min as a result of a newly designed torque drive system.

A patent-pending integrated web control system allows the almost draft-free feeding of the high precision web to the Dilo pre-needle loom.
The Dilo Group, comprising DiloTemafa, DiloSpinnbau, DiloMachines and DiloSystems, has installed more than 160 nonwoven plants worldwide since its formation in 1995.

New $1.5 million lab in Texas

The Institute of Environmental and Human Health (TIEHH) at Texas Tech University has opened its new Nonwovens and Advanced Materials Laboratory.
The 4,000-square-foot facility features contoured needlezone needlepunching technology, as well as thermobonding, in addition to an advanced air conditioning and humidification system and will allow for faster, more focused research into nonwoven technologies.
Funding $125,000 from Lubbock Economic Development Alliance and nearly $1 million from the US Department of Defense (DoD) for the machinery. Overall, nonwoven research at Texas Tech has received $2.5 million in DoD funding.
 “The opening is another big step forward for The Institute of Environmental and Human Health and for Texas Tech,” said Kent Hance, chancellor of Texas Tech University System. “I want to acknowledge the efforts of Congressman Neugebauer and the Lubbock Economic Development Alliance for their understanding of the benefits of this facility and their assistance in funding it.”
 “We are exclusive in the way we’re set up here with the unique needlepunch nonwoven technology and access to cotton,” said Ron Kendall, director of TIEHH. “This technology has been used successfully to develop products such as our nonwoven decontamination wipe, Fibertect. The need for decontamination wipes, such as the kind we’ve created, is a top priority for the Department of Defense. Years ago, we began the research, developed a product and met a top national security issue. Now we’re going to continue that research.”
 “Fibertect is a platform technology, and different fibers, including natural fibers such as cotton, can be used depending on applications and requirements,” explained Seshadri Ramkumar, associate professor and lab manager. “One of the main focuses of this lab will be used to develop new products from cotton and wool, such as thermal and acoustic insulation pads, and automotive and defence textiles. Our aim is to find value-added applications for products made of cotton grown on the High Plains.”
In December, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory performed an evaluation of several decontamination products including Fibertect. The wipe tested features an activated carbon core sandwiched between an absorbent polyester layer on one side and absorbent cellulose on the other. After testing with mustard gas and other toxic chemicals, the results showed that the Texas Tech-created dry fabric out-performed 30 different decontamination products, including materials currently used in military decontamination kits. Research in natural fibres has been supported by the Food and Fibers Research Grant program of the Texas Department of Agriculture, Texas State Support Program of Cotton Incorporated, The Cotton Foundation, The CH Foundation of Lubbock, Plains Cotton Growers Inc., and the USDA.