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Join Simon Riepler,  IFG Group’s  R&D  Director and IFG  Asota  Managing  Director,  and Thanwa  Papaiwong, Global Marketing Manager,  PTT MCC Biochem Co. Ltd,  as they discuss BioPBS™:  From Pellets to Staple Fibre:  A story of a Sustainable Partnership.  

As the world moves towards a more sustainable future,  IFG are proving themselves as market leaders in the innovation of environmentally friendly fibre solutions.  In collaboration with PTT MCC Biochem,  IFG are focusing on a common goal of sustainability,  biodegradability and compatibility.  The team have been busy developing a new non-woven fibre solution to seal paper,  for use in filtration products,  compostable bags,  hygiene,  nursery and medical disposables,  to make them more sustainable. 

BioPBS ™ has many benefits,  not just that it is completely compostable and biodegradable in soil.  It is soft,  heat stable,  has great sealing and bonding qualities and is also processable in a short melt spinning line.  It is suitable for food contact to industry standards and is compatible with PLA. 

The webinar covers sustainability trends and the need to move away from fossil-based materials with improved end of life options and shares our vision to be the leading PBS solutions provider for sustainable society. 

 “Our mission is to continually enhance the performance characteristics of our fibres whilst bringing forward a new era of of environmental and sustainable fibre solutions,” says Simon Riepler. “We’d like to invite you to join IFG and PTT MCC on our journey and be part of our collaboration.” 

To find out more and register for the webinar, click here.. 

The new site will house the SF1000 Pilot Line, IFG’s state of the art, semi-industrial melt spinning line; which is the only one of its kind in the western world. The pilot line allows The Fibres Research Centre to constantly test and evaluate new and emerging polymer types, which can be developed and engineered specifically to meet the bespoke environmental and performance challenges of its customers, with the aim to find new and sustainable alternatives to traditionally fossil-based products. The new centre will allow the R&D team from IFG to host customers, and demonstrate the pilot line in action, and they are keen for existing and new customers to contact them to visit the centre.

Key launch partners include OMYA, Arkema and PTTMCC / Mitsubishi Chemicals. Approaches for collaborative research projects are welcomed by the IFG team, especially for those who have sustainable alternatives to fossil-based polymers and additives to test and develop.

Simon Riepler, IFG Group R&D Director “The new Fibres Research Centre sees itself as an international centre of competence for thermoplastic fibres. The goal was and is to create a place where state of the art fibre R&D can happen. Together with our suppliers, customers and development partners we work on the sustainable fibre solutions for the future where biobased, biodegradable and recycled materials are key of the scope.”

A new lab testing offering will serve customers will now provide testing for raw materials, denier testing, measurement of spin oil content, thermal shrinkage and UV testing, FTIR. DSC, and much more.

The inorganic tracers are customised to a spectral code that has been integrated in PP and PA6 with IFG Asota before. The idea to implement this solution in IFG Bio is consistent with market demands.

Tobias Herzog, Managing Director of Tailorlux: “The pilot line in Linz is the perfect place to test new tracer fibre developments for our customers. It is fascinating that a tracer fibre can be made from sugar cane”.

Simon Riepler, IFG Group R&D Director: “Tailorlux provides a tracer solution working for staple fibres that we have been seeking for many years. I am very excited about this partnership to jointly develop sustainable staple fibre solutions for the future.”

About Tailorlux

Tailorlux develops and implements industrial marking solutions to ensure material authenticity. The aim of the solution concepts is to protect and prove the integrity of materials and products. With well-known international customers, Tailorlux GmbH is one of the most important suppliers of covert industrial markings for recycling, product protection and digitization of bulk materials.

www.tailorlux.com

International Fibres Group (IFG) are delighted to announce a strategic R&D partnership with Omya, a leading global producer of Calcium Carbonate. The two companies will work together using IFG’s Fibres Research Centre in Linz, Austria, to explore new fibre product performance, characteristics and applications which will incorporate Omyafiber®, a specially developed calcium carbonate for fibre and nonwoven applications. The two companies will jointly promote their findings into the fibres and nonwovens industry.

The collaboration has commenced with successful trials of the incorporation of Omyafiber® masterbatches into PP and PLA staple fibres, and further polymer types are under consideration to be tested on the pilot line.

Calcium Carbonate is being considered as it is a sustainable and renewable raw material, addressing some of the environmental pressures on the fibres industry. Its carbon footprint is approximately 300kg CO₂ per tonne of Calcium Carbonate. It can be used in recycled materials and is also recyclable itself.

When Omyafiber® is combined with staple fibres, the research and development teams discovered improved haptics, opacity and whiteness. It can replace the use of titanium dioxide which has a significantly higher carbon footprint.

Due to the high thermal conductivity properties of Omyafiber® in the polymer matrix, it allows for products to be created that have lower sealing / bonding temperatures.

It is approved for use in applications that will come into contact with food.

In addition, Omyafiber® does not cause skin sensitivity and is OEKO-TEX® approved for use in apparel.

Simon Riepler, Head of Research and Development at IFG said of the collaboration: “Omya is a well known name in the industry and we are very happy about our fruitful cooperation. The quality of the calcium carbonate is excellent and we are looking forward bringing this quality into fibres and providing a sustainable product for our customers.”

Marco Viel, Vice President Polymers, Group Sales & Marketing at Omya said: “We are excited about this valuable cooperation with IFG that will significantly accelerate the market introduction of our Omyafiber® solution to the staple fibre market. “

The two companies will collaboratively launch their partnership with a dedicated seminar at the Dornbirn GFC https://www.dornbirn-gfc.com/ from 14-16 September 2022.

Companies announce strategic technical and marketing partnership to create biobased, compostable staple fibre products based on BIOPBS™ technology to support growing demand for sustainable materials in fibre and nonwoven markets.

At International Nonwoven Symposium, Lyon, France – 8 June 2022 – PTT MCC Biochem Company Limited (PTTMCC), a leading producer of bio-based polybutylene succinate (BioPBSTM) and International Fibres Group (IFG), industrial leader in staple fibres manufacturing, have announced that the two companies have established a strategic marketing partnership to collaboratively promote newly-developed staple fibres under the IFGBioTM brand. These will use biobased, compostable solutions based on PTTMCC’s BioPBSTM technology. This marketing partnership is aimed to accelerate greener fibre and nonwoven industry by introducing an alternative sustainable material for staple fibres in applications such as food & beverage, filtration, geotextile, construction etc. PTT MCC Biochem Company Limited (PTTMCC) is a leading provider in polybutylene succinate solution with the world largest commercial production of bio-based polybutylene succinate under the BioPBS tradename. The production facility of 20,000 tonnes per year is located in Rayong, Thailand.

PTTMCC is a strategic joint venture company between PTT Global Chemical Public Company Limited (GC) and Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (MCC). BioPBSTM is partially derived from renewable resources and has superior compostability performance at ambient temperature. BioPBSTM shows excellent performance in low temperature heat sealability, high heat resistance and flexibility compared to other biodegradable resins. PTTMCC is determined to become the global leader of compostable bioplastic material with fast tracking solution for customers to enjoy vast application possibilities.

International Fibres Group (IFG) is one of Europe’s leading independent producers of polypropylene-based staple fibre, a component with reinforcing, insulating, separating or draining properties. The fibre is used in the production of e.g. flooring, rugs, furniture, filtration, foodstuff packaging, car interiors and nonwoven fabrics, which means a diversified customer portfolio. IFG has production facilities in Belgium, the United Kingdom and Austria. To address the world’s sensitivity to the overuse of fossil-fuel based plastics, IFG has implemented a core strategy to develop an industry-leading range of more sustainable plant-based staple fibre solutions.

We have been working for many years on the development of a new fibre solution to seal paper, particularly for use in tea bags, and are now delighted to announce the launch of our solution, an addition to the IFG Bio range. 

We are now able to provide a PLA solution to the tea bag market. Historically the tea bag industry has come under fire for the utilisation of polypropylene fibres to heat seal the bags. Polypropylene (PP) is regarded as a non-sustainable source as it is petroleum-based and doesn’t biodegrade. 

As an alternative to polypropylene, PLA (polylactide) is produced from a sustainable source in the form of sugar cane. Once turned into a plastic and used in teabags, the material itself is then biodegradable under the right conditions. So the production and source is sustainable, and the end product does not contain environmental pollutants. 

IFG’s Technical Manager Jim Woo said: 

“The whole world is now talking about sustainability and microplastic pollution. People are becoming more and more aware of how industries are affecting the planet and as a consequence of that there is more and more environmental legislation. As a business it is important that we recognise our impact and reduce it where possible whilst remaining compliant with ever stricter legal requirements. For the world, it is about the planet and reducing pollution.” 

Join IFG on our journey towards a more sustainable future. Get in touch with the team today here. 

Join us as Dr. Christoph Burgstaller from TCKT discusses his latest projects in the modification of PLA fibres with IFG.

Managing Director and Head of Research at the Transfercenter für Kunststofftechnik (TCKT) in Wels, Austria. He has been involved in application-oriented research in the plastics technology sector since 2004 and completed his doctoral studies in chemical engineering at Johannes Kepler University, Linz, in 2006 with a thesis on the structure-property relationships of wood plastic composites. Since 2004, he has been involved in application-oriented research, including at PCCL and TCKT. He has now led more than 35 different research projects with industry participation, which dealt with various topics such as property modification and recycling. He is the head of TCKT since mid-2015 and in addition to this is a professor of plastics engineering at the Upper Austria University of Applied Sciences since October 2021.

His work deals with structure-processing-property relationships of thermoplastic materials in general, with a main focus on composites and blends, as well as recycling. He is the author of more than 45 peer-reviewed journal articles and more than 90 conference papers and a senior member of the “Society of Plastics Engineers”.

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