The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the clothing preference for many consumers as they now spend much of their time at home. Nowadays, more consumers look for comfortable, versatile, and sustainable apparel that can be worn for multiple occasions and last longer.
Singapore headquartered cellulosic fibre producer RGE, has released a progress report on its commitment to invest USD200 million in next-generation textile fibre innovation and technology over a ten-year period. The inaugural report is released a week ahead of the annual Textile Exchange Sustainability Conference where RGE announced its commitment a year ago.
The 28-page report provides a summary of the activities undertaken by RGE’s business groups involved in the fashion value chain to advance its ambition towards closed loop, circular and climate-positive cellulosic fibre.
Bey Soo Khiang, Vice Chairman, RGE, commented: “We pride ourselves on the fact that the virgin resources we draw on to make a range of daily essential products are renewable. But this does not mean that we rest on our laurels. In fact, we are taking our sustainability commitment to the next level by exploring how waste can also be used as a resource to regenerate new materials and give rise to a truly circular economy.”
The target allocation for the USD200 million investment over ten years is set at 70% in scaling up proven clean technology in fibre manufacturing, 20% in bringing pilot scale production to commercial scale, and 10% in R&D in emerging frontier solutions.
RGE has adopted a three-pronged approach to its investments: sourcing ready solutions in the market, investing in start-ups, and strengthening its in-house R&D capabilities.
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In the past 12 months, RGE explains, notable achievements included the launch of FINEX, a Recycled Claim Standard (RCS)-certified fibre containing up to 20% recycled content produced using a 35,000 ton per annum commercial line, inaugural production of Lyocell, a closed- loop fibre that uses minimal chemical and a solvent that is nearly fully recoverable and recycled, as well as new R&D facilities in China and Indonesia. It also initiated an in-house cotton textile waste recycling project.
RGE says it enhanced existing partnerships and forged new ones to promote progress towards broader goals. Its co-operation with Infinited Fiber Company now explores the retrofitting of viscose production with the start-up’s carbamate technology. A comprehensive study of the textile waste landscape in China in partnership with the China Association of Circular Economy is planned to commence early next year.
The report presents for the first-time related targets for RGE’s two viscose business groups in the coming decade. Sateri is set to have a product with 50% recycled content by 2023, and to reach 100% by 2030. It also aims for 20% of its feedstock to contain alternative or recycled materials by 2025. Asia Pacific Rayon (APR) will source 20% of its feedstock from alternative or recycled materials by 2030. In the area of closed-loop manufacturing, all existing Sateri and APR mills will meet EU-BAT emission limits by 2023.
Allen Zhang, President of Sateri, said: “I am very pleased with our progress in the past year. We have advanced quickly in spite of the challenges brought on by a global health pandemic. As a large and growing fibre producer known for product quality and cost-competitiveness, volume is both an advantage and disadvantage; while we are well-placed to scale solutions, we are currently constrained by the readiness of circularity-specific technology and, in the case of textile recycling and non-wood feedstock, the availability and volume of alternative feedstock. But with clear goals towards 2030, we are committed to accelerating our efforts.”
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According to Knitting fair, riding on this trend, global fibre producers, Lenzing and Hyosung, have teamed up to develop a Home Everywhere collection of performance fabrics that feature their renowned fibres and yarns to offer consumers comfortable, sustainable and attractive loungewear and activewear.
RGE is the world’s largest viscose producer, through its business groups Sateri and APR, with a strong presence in Asia where textile demand growth intersects with the textile production hub, presenting a real opportunity to drive change, the company says.
RGE was founded in 1973. The assets held by RGE companies today exceed US$20 billion. With more than 60,000 employees, it has operations in Indonesia, China, Brazil, Spain and Canada and continues to expand to engage newer markets and communities.
Source: RGE Website
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Carbon fiber is a super strong material that is extremely lightweight. It is five times as strong as steel, two times as stiff, yet weighs about two-thirds less. Carbon fiber is basically very thin strands of carbon (even thinner than human hair). The strands can be twisted together, like yarn and then be woven together, like cloth. To make carbon fiber take on a permanent shape, it can be laid over a mold and coated with a stiff resin or plastic. Carbon fiber can also be defined as a fiber containing at least 92 wt % carbons.knitting fair introduce to you.
Carbon fibers are a new breed of high-strength fiber. It came into existence in 1879 when Edison took out a patent for the manufacture of carbon filaments suitable for use in electric lamps. However, in the early 1960s, when there was a need f of the aerospace industry – especially for military aircraft – for better and lightweight materials, successful commercial production started.
In recent decades, carbon fibers have found wide usage in aeronautics, athletic performance, automobiles, building structures and, of course, musical instruments. Carbon fibers are used in composites with a lightweight matrix.
Carbon fiber composites are ideally suited for applications where strength, stiffness, lower weight, and outstanding fatigue characteristics are critical. They are used in the occasion where high temperature, chemical inertness, and high damping are important. They have been extensively used in composites in the form of woven textiles, prepregs, continuous fibers/roving, and chopped fibers. The composite parts can be produced through filament winding, tape winding, protrusion, compression molding, vacuum bagging, liquid molding, and injection molding.
There are two most important precursors in the carbon fiber industry are polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and mesophase pitch (MP). The structure and composition of the precursor affect the properties of the resultant carbon fibers significantly. Although the essential processes for carbon fiber production are similar, different precursors require different processing conditions in order to achieve improved Performance.
Examples of Application
Aerospace – flights, rockets, satellites
Environment and Energy-related – wind power blade, tube power tank, battery charging flywheel, fuel cell, tidal power blade, the electric cable core
Auto-mobile – hood, roof, propeller shaft, body panel for the bus, compressed natural gas tank
Industrial use- the body of trains, x-ray top panel, pc housing, robot hand for liquid crystal panel, bridge pier reinforcement
Sports material – fishing rod, bicycle, hockey stick, racket, golf shaft.
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Benefits of Carbon fiber
The potentially low-cost carbon fiber composites will be in a position to provide enormous advantages to a number of technologies for current and future everyday life applications, including a number of advanced technologies that are not currently commercially feasible. Lightweight components for automobiles, buses, trains, aircraft, ships, and applications including lightweight panels and load-bearing structures could result in weight savings, leading to a major saving in the nation’s and world’s energy consumption.
Low-cost carbon fiber is a national goal towards accomplishing a number of manufacturing technological breakthroughs.
Difficulties of Carbon Fiber
Cost is the main hurdle carbon fiber will have to overcome before it can provide a viable energy solution.
The second hurdle is waste disposal. When a typical car breaks down, its steel can be melted and used to construct another car (or building, or anything else made of steel). Carbon fiber can’t be melted down, and it’s not easy to recycle. When it is recycled, the recycled carbon fiber isn’t as strong as it was before recycling.
Lack of high-speed composite fabrication techniques.
Manufacturing of Carbon fibers
Carbon fiber is a super strong material that is extremely lightweight. Carbon fibers generally have excellent tensile properties, low densities, high thermal and chemical stabilities in the absence of oxidizing agents, good thermal and electrical conductivities, and excellent creep resistance. Therefore Carbon fiber is enabling advancement in aeronautics, athletic performance, automobiles, building structures and, of course, musical instruments.
Carbon fibers are manufactured by a controlled pyrolysis of stabilized precursor fibers. First Oxidization process is done wherein the stabilization of precursor fibers at about 200-400 °C in air is done. Then carbonization is done wherein these fibers which are stabilized and infusible are treated at a high temperature of about 1,000 °C in an inert atmosphere to remove hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and other non-carbon elements.
Then graphitized is done on those carbonized fibers at an even higher temperature up to around 3,000 °C to achieve higher carbon content and higher Young’s modulus in the fiber direction. The properties of the resultant carbon/graphite fibers are affected by many factors such as crystallinity, crystalline distribution, molecular orientation, carbon content, and the number of defects. The resulting carbon fibers are then post-treated to improve their adhesion to composite matrices.
Source: textiles school
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