From the Sector

AMUT’s strategic partnership with EREMA contributes to accelerate the transition towards a greener world.  In summer 2021, EREMA in collaboration with AMUT  has finalized the installation and commissioning of ALTO packaging ́s first extrusion line for food grade PET sheets in New Zealand market. At the ALTO Plastic Packaging site, in Albany, the plant now processes 100 % washed post-
consumer flakes into 100 % food contact grade monolayer thermoforming sheet. In New Zealand, this milestone represents the first system to be installed for this special application.

The plastic packaging company ALTO, a division of PACT Group, invested for this new food grade PET sheet extrusion line as a part of Pact Group ́s vision to lead Circular Economy through Packaging in Australia and New Zealand.

Thanks to the direct combination of VACUREMA® PET recycling technology and the AMUT Inline Sheet production technology there is no longer any extra process stage. This is, because the melt goes straight from the VACUREMA® 1716 T Basic to the AMUT plant without the detour of pelletising. The post-consumer PET material is already decontaminated and pre-dried prior to extrusion in the vacuum reactor of the VACUREMA® Basic, with a throughput of up to 1,500 kg per hour. After high capacity filtration by EREMA SW-RTF backflush filter and online IV measurement, the melt goes directly into the AMUT Inline Sheet plant where it is processed into thermoforming sheet from 0.15 mm till 1.2 mm thickness. The monolayer thermoforming sheet produced from pure rPET is not only 100 % food contact compliant, it also fulfils the FDA and further regulations. At ALTO it is further processed into trays and food containers.

AMUT played its part by providing a full range of downstream equipment ranging from the Automatic Tdie, three rolls stack calender with automatic gap control and motorized cross axing unit, lamination unit for welding and barrier films, thickness control gauge to anti-static silicon coating unit, fully automatic two shafts turret winder and in line edge trims grinding and recycling.

The special features of this extrusion line come from the complete automatic and easy management of the line. This is due to the new Amut`s software including the Easy Start and Easy Change functions that will allow the operator to start the extrusion line and change product formats in automatic mode.

EREMA and AMUT are long-term partners in the Inline Sheet sector. EREMA ́s VACUREMA® technology is currently in use in more than 100 Inline Sheet facilities around the world, also for PACT Group companies in Australia. 

Sappi has approved an investment in Kirkniemi Mill in Lohja, Finland which enables a switch in its energy sourcing to renewable bioenergy. With this investment the mill’s direct fossil greenhouse gas emissions will reduce by ca. 90 percent, which is equivalent to 230 000 tons of carbon dioxide annually.

The project, set for completion in early 2023, will contribute significantly to Sappi Europe’s decarbonisation roadmap by exiting coal at one of its last facilities partially using this fuel type. Biomass will then be used in Kirkniemi’s multi-fuel boiler, built in 2015. The move advances Sappi towards its 2025 targets which include reducing specific greenhouse gas emissions (scope 1 and 2) by 25 percent and increasing renewable energy share to 50 percent in Europe compared to 2019.

The investment will establish the equipment needed to receive, store and handle woody biomass like the bark, sawdust and wood chips used for biofuel production. Such biomass types are by-products from the forest-based industry and utilising them for energy production derives further value from the forest resource.

In addition to increasing share of renewable energy, Sappi’s mills are also focused on reducing energy consumption. Sappi Kirkniemi Mill is party to Finland’s National Energy Efficiency Agreement and consistently reaches their energy saving targets. Kirkniemi’s ISO 50001 certification provides further evidence of the mill’s systematic improvement in energy efficiency.

Stahl, an active proponent of responsible chemistry, today announces that – by the end of Q2 2022 – it will extend its GHG reduction targets to cover Scope 3 emissions. This step underlines Stahl’s commitment to aligning its strategy with the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement goals, updated at the recent COP26 in Glasgow.

Between 2015 and 2020 Stahl reduced its Scope 1 and 2 (direct) GHG emissions by 37%, and has committed to a further 2% reduction each year to 2030. Scope 3 emissions cover all the indirect emissions that can occur in a company’s value chain, including raw material acquisition, transportation, and the end-of-life impact of its products. By focusing on Scope 3 emissions, Stahl is committing to de-fossilizing its supply chain and ensuring further accountability for its total environmental impact.

Michael Costello, Stahl Group ESG Director: “Only by focusing on reducing Scope 3 emissions can we accurately align our de-fossilization strategy with the global goal of limiting global average temperature increase to 1.5°C, as agreed at the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement and the COP26 in Glasgow. We look forward to working with partners across our industry and value chain to make this happen.”

Stahl, an active proponent of responsible chemistry, has taken an important step toward realizing its target of having lifecycle assessment (LCA) data for all strategic products by the end of 2023. By working closely together with Spin 360, a tech-enabled sustainability consultancy, Stahl has achieved certification of LCA data generation systems, allowing verifiable information to be collected for its products.
LCA is a methodology that measures the impact of any product on the environment over the course of its life. The LCA methodology can provide quantitative data in a format that permits comparisons to be made. The certification of LCA data generation systems is a foundational step to ensuring the accuracy and reliability of future LCA analyses.

Through close collaboration, Stahl and Spin 360 have implemented an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) system – certified by Bureau Veritas – at Stahl’s site in Palazzolo, Italy. An EPD is an independently verified and registered document that communicates transparent and comparable information about the environment impact of products across their entire lifecycle. This implementation underlines Stahl’s commitment to enabling the sustainable development of its industry by driving accountability and transparency.

Michael Costello, Stahl Group ESG Director: “One of Stahl’s strategic ESG goals is to collect verifiable, high-quality LCA data for its products, thereby paving the way to lowering the environmental impact of the whole supply chain. This EPD system certification is an important achievement, and a key step in realizing this goal. Looking ahead, we’ll continue to work with our partners to enable our certified LCA data availability and shape a better industry.”

Federico Brugnoli, CEO of Spin 360: “We are very proud to have supported this complex process that will ensure the complete reliability of Stahl’s LCA data. Now we will look at the next steps in supporting Stahl, focusing environmental footprint reductions through science-based evolution of the industry. We’re confident that – together – we can ensure a better future for us all.”

After its launch on 20 September 2020, the RCI is proud to celebrate its first anniversary this fall. The balance sheet of the first year is impressive: starting from 11 founding members, that number increased to 30 member companies within 12 months. Numerous webinars, press releases, background information, a glossary and a comic allowed to convey the “Renewable Carbon” concept to the public. The RCI is actively working on labelling and policy analysis, and more activities will follow in the next year.

Key for this success: the topic of renewable carbon in chemicals and materials is increasingly becoming a focus of politics and industry. Larger companies will have to report their GHG emissions and also the footprint of their products as part of legislative changes surrounding the European Green Deal. In this context, indirect emissions and the carbon sources of materials will play a much more crucial role. The RCI is actively working on solutions for companies to shift from fossil to renewable carbon, which consists of the use of bio-based feedstock, CO2-based resources and recycling. In the future, reporting on GHG emissions will also include Scope 3 emissions, which are all indirect emissions that occur along the company’s value and supply chain and where the used raw materials account for a large proportion of the footprint. Here is where the carbon source of chemicals and plastics comes into play as an important contributor to the carbon footprint. Without a shift from fossil to renewable carbon feedstocks (combining bio-based, CO2-based and recycled), a sustainable future and the Paris climate targets will be almost impossible to master.

To discuss, promote and realise the shift, 30 innovative companies have already joined forces to support the transition to renewable carbon, considering both technological and economical approaches – and helping to shape the political framework accordingly.

For the second year, RCI plans to focus on a comprehensive understanding of the expected political framework conditions in Europe and across the globe, since they will determine the future of chemistry and materials more than ever. Building on this knowledge, the topic of renewable carbon could then to be systematically integrated into new political directives, which has so far not been effectively managed.

In reality, the political focus lies on the strategy of decarbonising the energy sector, a very central and Herculean task. However, it cannot be applied to the chemical and material world because carbon is usually the central building block that cannot be dispensed with. On the contrary, the demand for carbon in the chemical and materials sectors is expected to more than double by 2050. In order to meet this demand in a sustainable manner, we must move towards quitting fossil carbon. For the first time in industrial history, it is possible to decouple chemistry and materials from petrochemicals and completely cover the demand through the utilisation of biomass, CO2 and recycling.

It looks like a normal shirt, but it has it all: The new SmartTex shirt uses integrated sensors to transfer physiological data from astronauts to Earth via a wireless communication network. In this way, the effects of the space environment on the human cardiovascular system will be evaluated and documented, especially with regard to long-term manned space missions. Developed by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in cooperation with DSI Aerospace Technology, the Medical Faculty of Bielefeld University and textile research partner Hohenstein, SmartTex will be tested for the first time as part of the Wireless Compose-2 (WICO2) project by German ESA astronaut Dr. Matthias Maurer, who will leave for his ‘Cosmic Kiss’ mission on the International Space Station (ISS) for six months on October 30, 2021.

"We were already able to gain valuable insights into the interaction of the body, clothing and climate under microgravity conditions during the previous projects Spacetex (2014) and Spacetex2 (2018)," explains Hohenstein Senior Scientific Expert Dr. Jan Beringer. The insights provided at the time by the mission of ESA astronaut Dr. Alexander Gerst have now been directly incorporated into the development of the new SmartTex shirt at Hohenstein. "Matthias Maurer can wear his tailor-made shirt comfortably on his body during his everyday work on the International Space Station. For this, we used his body measurements as the basis for our cut development and the production of the shirt. We integrated the necessary sensors as well as data processing and communication modules into the shirt's cut in such a way that they interfere as little as possible and are always positioned in the right place, regardless of the wearing situation. This is the prerequisite for reliably measuring the relevant physiological data." The SmartTex shirt is intended to provide a continuous picture of the vital functions of astronauts. This will be particularly relevant for future long-term manned space missions to the Moon and Mars.

For example, during the BEAT experiment (Ballistocardiography for Extraterrestrial Applications and long-Term missions), Matthias Maurer will be the first astronaut to wear a T-shirt equipped with sensors that measure his ballistocardiographic data such as pulse and relative blood pressure. For this purpose, the sensors were calibrated in the :envihab research facility at the DLR Institute of Aerospace Medicine in Cologne. Details on the contraction rate and opening and closing times of the heart valves, which are normally only accessible via sonography or computer tomography, can also be read from the data material. The goal is to study the effects of the space environment on the human cardiovascular system. To be able to analyse these effects realistically, Matthias Maurer's ballistocardiographic data will be recorded before, during and after his stay on the ISS. For the future, a technology transfer of the SmartTex shirt for application in the field of fitness or even in telemedicine is conceivable.

Wireless Compose-2 (WICO2)
The project was planned and prepared by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and its cooperation partners DSI Aerospace Technology, Hohenstein and the University of Bielefeld. The wireless communication network reads sensor data and can determine the position of people and objects in space by propagation times of radio pulses. It is also available as a platform for several experiments on the ISS. The determined data is temporarily stored within the network and read out at regular intervals by the astronauts. These data packets are then transferred to Earth via the ISS link and analysed by the research teams. It can generate its own energy from artificial light sources via solar cells.

ESA astronaut Dr. Matthias Maurer in summer 2021 during preliminary talks on the Cosmic Kiss mission in DLR's :envihab in Cologne. © DLR

Sensors measure physiological data during a test run on Earth. © DLR

With the "SmartTex" shirt, astronauts can wear the necessary sensors comfortably on their bodies. © DLR

Dr. Jan Beringer, Hohenstein Senior Scientific Expert. © Hohenstein

On 21st October the Managing Director of Officina+39 Andrea Venier has joined a panel discussion in the prestigious arena of the Kingpins24 Digital Show. He contributed to the discussion with his and Officina+39’s point of view on “Water Conservation”, together with Emrah Özkorkmaz from Bregla and Taimur Malik from Stylers International, with Edward Hertzman from Sourcing Journal & Rivet as moderator.

Water crisis remains one of the top issues for humanity and 90% of the world's natural disasters are related to water. Officina+39 has been working hard to rethink the way water is used throughout the denim processes: Andrea's contribution emphasized the company’s practical and consolidated experience in this field, as in recent years their main objective has been to drastically reduce water use in line with UN SDG6.

Andrea pointed out how “fashion industry is still currently deeply rooted in a linear approach: make, use, dispose.” Accordingly to Andrea and Officina+39, the fashion world is becoming aware of this reality and is trying to reinvent itself in order to decrease the use of this precious resource and its negative impacts but there is still work to do in order to redesign a better sustainable model, where circularity should represent the new sustainability: circularity not only when it comes to the materials, but also to water.

In the textile industry water is used as the vehicle for colors and chemical auxiliaries but luckily today many technologies aim at significantly reducing water consumption. Officina+39 is really focused on this target: Andrea explained that “Officina+39 has developed the AQUALESS MISSION, a process suitable for conventional machines that leads to a 75% reduction of the water typically used in denim and garment laundry processes, using a waterless technology and saving costs for producers.”

Despite the start-up cost of investing in the development of sustainable technologies may discourage some in the industry, it is about time to realize that these actions cannot be delayed and that we will increasingly hear about water scarcity, water stress and water risk.

Andrea stated: “It is necessary to develop water management strategies and systems in any company: today there is ISO 14000 related to environmental management, but I believe that governments, brands and related organisations should think about an ISO related just to water management. In this way, every company can understand how much value can be generated in the medium-term and how much money could be saved by investing in this kind of technologies. To create new standards related to water management, we must change the approach.”

Kornit Digital Ltd. announced the release of its Kornit Presto MAX system for sustainable on-demand production of apparel and other textile goods. The new system will make its live debut at Kornit Fashion Week Los Angeles + Industry 4.0 Event, which the company is hosting November 2-5 to showcase technology innovations, partnerships, and proven strategies driving the business case for sustainable, on-demand production of fashion and textile goods worldwide.

Kornit Presto MAX is the first digital print system to offer white printing on colored fabrics, enhancing decoration capabilities for dark colored fabrics more broadly. It is the only single-step solution for direct-to-fabric printing, delivering the highest quality and softest feel with brilliant whites and brighter neon colors. The system is ready to incorporate future iterations and evolutions of XDi technology—3D decorative applications to produce threadless embroidery, high-density, vinyl, screen transfer, and other innovative effects.

Kornit Presto MAX is compatible with natural fabrics, synthetics, and blends, and includes advanced algorithms for smart autonomous calibration, to deliver high-quality results with short cycle times and minimal manual interruptions or defects. The system was devised for compatibility with the KornitX global fulfillment ecosystem to enable anywhere, anytime production, supporting a true distributed production model that fulfills nearer the end consumer, eliminating time and logistical waste from the experience while empowering brands to ensure quality and consistency across all systems and production sites.

Kornit Presto MAX provides the cornerstone of a smart, efficient, sustainable EcoFactory that empowers producers to cover and integrate more parts of the process, from design to finished product, to decrease their carbon footprint, use minimum manpower, and generate less waste. This means eliminating excessive time, labor, and shipping throughout the value chain, enabling proximity production to meet the accelerated demands of a web-driven global marketplace—revealing new sales channels and clever business models to grow the business long-term.

• EFI Reggiani TERRA Silver Makes Debut at Fespa Global Print Expo 2021 for a Short, Smart and Green Process
• The new, industrial, entry-level EFI™ Reggiani TERRA Silver textile printer from Electronics For Imaging, Inc. is making its debut at the Fespa Global Print Expo 2021 tradeshow, 12-15 October at RAI Amsterdam.
• The EFI Reggiani TERRA Silver uses unique TERRA pigment ink for high-quality, highly sustainable direct-to-textile printing without steaming or washing.       

“This is one of the first trade shows to return after the pandemic, and we are very excited to again meet customers in person and showcase an innovative offering that delivers superior printing results while using less time, water and energy,” said EFI Reggiani Vice President and General Manager Adele Genoni. “We are introducing this advanced EFI Reggiani TERRA Silver solution to the many print service providers at Fespa, presenting them with an ideal path to enter the industrial textile segment with a short, smart and green production process.”

The new-version TERRA Silver printer is part of EFI’s complete TERRA line-up of pigment ink printer solutions. It is a 180-cm wide printer that can print up to 190 sqm per hour with eight dual-channel printheads. The printer also features:

•    A new recirculating ink system for superior reliability and minimum maintenance
•    Several printing modes to ensure maximum flexibility in terms of design capability
•    New, real-time image processing that eliminates time spent in image pre-calculations
•    A user friendly, intuitive interface
•    A more-efficient polymerisation process that takes place as printed textile goes through the printer’s on-board dryer.

In Fespa stand 1-G71, attendees can see the EFI Reggiani TERRA Silver print smoothly and precisely on knitted and woven fabrics. The printer’s quality is evident in its high-uniformity printing modes, and it delivers numerous features that enhance the production process, including an accurate WYSIWYG interface and flexible queue management.
 
EFI Reggiani is also a leading developer of textile inks. The EFI Reggiani TERRA pigment inks used on the Silver model deliver excellent wet and dry fastness properties and remarkable sharpness in detail. Designed to leverage EFI Reggiani digital printers’ market-proven industrial performance capabilities, these eco-friendly, water-based inks provide an extraordinary level of print durability and yield longer print head life with reduced maintenance costs. The high-performance digital pigment inks also use an innovative binder technology for fast, sustainable, and cost-competitive industrial textile printing on the widest range of fabrics. Users also gain superior print definition and colour intensity.
 
This year, EFI Reggiani celebrates 75 years of heritage and innovation in the textile world. Always committed to deliver to the market new cutting-edge technologies, EFI Reggiani has world-class products offering boosted uptime and reliability, high performance throughput, and remarkable printing uniformity and accuracy – all while helping customers increase the sustainability of their textile manufacturing activities. Green EFI Reggiani processes give users fast, complete and sustainable solutions across a broad range of textile applications.
 
In this 75th anniversary year, EFI Reggiani has also launched several other ground-breaking solutions, such as EFI Reggiani HYPER, the fastest scanning digital printer on the market, and the EFI Reggiani BLAZE, an industrial entry-level, easy-to-use printer designed to give new textile companies the opportunity to adopt digital inkjet production with a compact solution to blaze a successful path into the industry.

Recycling is the key factor in achieving the EU climate targets. This is shown by the results of the "resources SAVED by recycling" study published today, which Fraunhofer UMSICHT prepared on behalf of the ALBA Group, one of the ten leading recycling companies worldwide. According to the study, 3.5 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions and 28.8 million tons of primary resources could be saved in 2020 alone. Further potential could be raised, for example, through minimum quotas for the use of recycled raw materials.

“Fit for 55” thanks to the circular economy: the recycling of raw materials leads to a systematic reduction in the greenhouse gas emissions of our civilisation – and can therefore make a key contribution to achieving the EU climate goals. This is the outcome of the “resources SAVED by recycling” study presented today, which the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT prepared on behalf of the ALBA Group. Thanks to the closed-loop circulation of 4.8 million tonnes of recyclable materials, the ALBA Group succeeded in preventing some 3.5 million tonnes of climate-damaging greenhouse gas emissions in the year 2020 alone. This amount is equivalent to the emissions from some five million return flights between Frankfurt am Main and Mallorca. At the same time, recycling also secures valuable raw materials for the industry: in 2020, in comparison with primary production, recycling saved 28.8 million tonnes of resources, such as crude oil and iron ore.

“The circular economy is one of the strongest pace-setters on the journey to achieving climate neutrality,” highlights Dr. Axel Schweitzer, CEO of the ALBA Group. “We will only achieve the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 per cent throughout Europe by 2030 if we make consistent use of recycled raw materials.” This includes the area of plastics, for example: compared with primary plastics made from crude oil, the use of high-quality recycled plastics achieves a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of more than 50 per cent. “It is now necessary to lever this potential,” explains Schweitzer. “We are expecting the new Federal Government in Germany to act decisively and push ahead directly with the transition to a circular economy. The environmental benefits of recycling due to its clearly superior CO2 balance should also find reflection in prices. As immediate climate protection measures, clear industry standards for recyclates combined with minimum quotas on the use of recycled raw materials in products and packaging are also urgently necessary. Last but not least, the state sector is also called upon to prioritise resource protection in the area of procurement. Sustainable procurement can ultimately provide a significant boost to the circular economy”.

Plastics, metals, waste electrical (and electronic) equipment, wood, paper, cardboard, cartons or glass: the Fraunhofer UMSICHT has now been researching the specific benefits of recycling for 14 years. Detailed comparisons have also been made of the primary processes and recycling processes for the various material flows. “This means we can precisely quantify the extent to which the recycling activities of the ALBA Group can contribute to reducing the burden on the environment,” explains Dr.-Ing. Markus Hiebel, Director of the Department for Sustainability and Participation at Fraunhofer UMSICHT. Hiebel believes that the greatest savings can be achieved if the entire value chain is aligned consistently with the circular principle: “The transformation towards a genuine circular economy requires completely new thinking. Products should be designed and managed to ensure that they contain recycled raw materials right from the start – which enables them to be recycled appropriately.”