Production line operating costs have a decisive influence on the total costs of articles
produced. Even nonwovens and technical textiles producers face ever more decreasing profits. One
reason is tough competition due to globalization. Another is that more and more producers want to
share in these segments by diversifying their existing portfolios. In parallel, operating costs
have increased rapidly in recent years, caused mainly by rising energy costs. If nonwovens
producers want to save these costs, they must consider measures resulting directly in lower
specific energy consumption and measures indirectly but positively affecting energy consumption.

Three Production Steps


The nonwovens process comprises mainly three steps: First, a web is formed from individual
fibers. This web, still sensitive to pressure and traction, eventually is treated using bonding
processes to get the required dimensional stability. In the last step, the nonwovens are finished
using different methods to give the requested end-product characteristics.

The complete process requires a corresponding amount of energy, mainly electrical or
thermal. Depending on the process step and the applied methods, the portion of required electric
and thermal power and the relevant energy carrier’s absolute consumption differ very much.

While nonwovens formation requires electric power almost exclusively, the portion of thermal
energy increases significantly for bonding and finishing. Particularly energy-demanding are all
bonding methods, such as spray bonding, hydroentanglement, full bath or foam impregnation. And
nonwovens finishing technologies such as coating, printing, dyeing and others require the
evaporation of water or solvent.

Brückner’s Eco-Heat heat-recovery and Eco-Air exhaust-air cleaning systems are shown
installed on a nonwovens finishing line.

Electrokinetic Energy


Apart from thermal energy, it also is possible to save electrokinetic energy. Electrical
energy needs are determined by motor size and efficiency, a drive system that is optimally designed
and fine-tuned for the complete line, and the consequent use of highly efficient gears and motors,
which offers a big savings potential.

Brückner has calculated possible annual savings in a five-digit-euro range for production
lines. In addition, the use of suitable raw materials and high-capacity materials and thus
achievable weight savings also contributes to cost savings.

Thermal Energy


In nonwovens production, thermal energy is required almost solely for bonding and finishing.
Heat transfer from machine components onto the nonwovens is made by heated roller contact, infrared
radiation or convection. However, there is a difference between direct and indirect heating: With
direct heating, the heat generated by the energy carrier comes directly in contact with the
substrate. Indirect systems generate the primary heat basically in the same way, but the thermal
energy is first transferred to a carrier medium and then by means of a heat exchanger onto the
nonwoven
(See Table 1).

In this connection, two aspects are of particular importance regarding thermal energy cost.
Direct heating systems are approximately 92- to 96-percent efficient, while indirect systems
provide only 60 to 85 percent of the primary energy. Also, basic prices for the elementary energy
carriers’ power can differ considerably and thus directly affect the cost per generated kilowatt of
thermal energy.

Surprising Results


Some years ago, Brückner completed a study regarding life cycle costs, focusing on how a
machine’s operating and energy consumption costs are distributed over time for a convective heat
transfer process. The expenses for heating energy and power represent more than 50 percent of the
total costs
(See Table 2). However, most of the customers participating in the study overestimated
heavily the share of the machinery price, with an average estimate at 40 to 50 percent, whereas
energy costs were predicted only at 30 to 40 percent.

To reduce thermal energy costs in nonwovens bonding and finishing, it is a prerequisite to
know the parameters involved in the process and the corresponding energy inflow and outflow.
Thermal energy is required to heat the web to the desired temperature, evaporate moisture adhering
to the textile, and heat the exhaust air and/or the corresponding quantity of fresh air to remove
the evaporated water.

The evaporation of water and the heat removed with the exhaust air and the heating of fresh
air require most of the consumed thermal energy. The portions for fabric heating and heat losses
due to the transport system and machinery components are rather low in comparison. Heat losses in
modern convection machines are not more than 3 percent of the total heat required. Therefore,
machinery producers focus optimizing efforts mainly on cost drivers where possible savings are
higher. In practice, heat losses are often discussed, and it is correct to strive for improvements
here, too. However, as the use of high-capacity materials leads also to considerable cost increases
for the complete machine, the achievable benefit must be critically analyzed.

Energy Savings


The decisive saving potential is in the energy required for water evaporation, exhaust air
flow and fresh air heating. The first step is to provide for the best mechanical dewatering of the
web, as lower initial moisture leads to lower energy consumption.

The second step is to reduce exhaust-air volume. Drying requires air that is able to absorb
moisture. Lower exhaust-air flow means higher saturation of the circulating air with steam, but
absorptive capacity decreases with increasing humidity, and the dew point sets a physical limit.
The moisture in the dryer interior or in the exhaust-air ducts condenses when maximum saturation of
the circulating air is exceeded. Exhaust-air-flow reduction is always connected to dryer
performance and is thus a problem for optimization. According to Brückner, the optimization is
between 80 and 140 grams of moisture in the exhaust air per kilogram of exhaust air. A control
system allows setting this optimum for each drying process by automatically adapting exhaust-air
volume flow independent of exhaust-air moisture.

Control of exhaust-air volume flow and recovery of exhaust-air heat make up the third step.
It is possible to recover efficiently most of the heat discharged with the exhaust air by means of
heat-recovery systems. A possibility is to heat fresh air, which is then supplied to the convection
machine. In this context, there is a considerable difference in the heat-setting process: The use
of exhaust-air heat is also important because there is no measurand for the exhaust-air flow
control. Also, here, the exhaust-air flow should be as low as possible. However, condensation of
finishing vapors must be avoided. The only possibility for such processes is manually controlled
exhaustion.

Heat Recovery


Brückner provides two systems for exhaust-heat recovery: air-to-air; and air-to-water. Both
can be combined and varied and adapted to any convection machine or to customer specifications.
Also, when combined with an electrostatic precipitator, this efficient method of economic energy
utilization can be enlarged to be used as a high-capacity exhaust-air purification system. This
heat-recovery system can be used with a range of dryers, ovens and heat-treatment chambers.

Using an air-to-air system, process heat can be reduced by 12 to 15 percent; and using
heat-setting processes, by 33 to 36 percent. Another possibility is to use the hot fresh air to
air-condition the factory. With an air-to-water system, water can be heated to 90°C. These are
excellent savings possibilities regarding the overall energy balance of a plant for nonwovens
producers that use hot water for their wet-finishing.

Editor’s Note: Stefan Müller is sales director, Nonwovens, at Brückner Trockentechnik GmbH
& Co. KG.

May/June 2010

As some 100 industry and government officials met recently in Washington for the seventh
annual meeting of the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO), a subtitle for the 
meeting’s theme – “Knowledge, Innovation, Speed and Integrity: Leveraging the U.S. Advantage” –
might well have been “Thinking Outside the Box.” Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Textiles
Gail Strickler used that term in talking about government assistance for export financing. NCTO
President Cass Johnson did the same as he described NCTO’s lobbying activities. And Janet Labuda of
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seemed to be saying the same thing as she described a new
program to crack down on Chinese import fraud.

In his state-of-the-association report, NCTO Chairman Wally Darneille said 2009 had been a
“tough year for textiles,” pointing out that the nation faced the worst economic downturn since the
Great Depression. At the same time, Chinese imports surged after the removal of import safeguards;
subsidized imports from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Vietnam “gobbled up an even bigger share of
our market”; and textile exports to North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and Central
America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) nations fell off by 20 percent.
“Hopefully, the worst is behind us,” he said, noting that NCTO members are reporting increased
orders and prices are inching up a little, although input costs also are going up.

Darneille urged NCTO members to “focus daily on the competitive advantages we can create
within our supply chain,” saying: “Our knowledge, innovation, speed and integrity give us a total
value proposition that is clearly superior. We know what our customers want better than suppliers
in other parts of the world. We constantly innovate our products and our processes and stay ahead
of the curve. We can react to changes more quickly, and shorter supply chains mean lower
inventories for our customers, and they know they can depend on our integrity to deliver them the
proper quality on a timely basis. Our challenge is getting our customers to quantify that.”

In a report covering trade issues, Johnson cited as a major problem the steady decline in
trade with Western Hemisphere nations with which the United States has preferential trade
agreements that require use of U.S. and/or regional yarn and fabrics in duty-free apparel imports.
NCTO issued a report showing a drop in trade in a range of products including trousers, underwear,
T-shirts, socks, knit shirts and brassieres. The data show that qualifying regional apparel imports
between 2008 and 2009 were down 14 percent within the CAFTA-DR region, 16 percent within the NAFTA
region, 43 percent within the Andean region and 16 percent under the Caribbean Basin Initiative.
Johnson said China is the “major contributor to the decline.”

He added that there is a dangerous trend line and “we are trying to prevent worse things
happening.” He cited the need for meaningful actions against China and other nations that illegally
subsidize their exports. He also said NCTO is working with government agencies on innovative means
to obtain export financing. Another high-priority area is working with CBP and Congress to develop
better means to combat illegal imports.

 


Legislation


NCTO’s staff outlined a number of legislative issues and placed considerable emphasis on the
need for immediate passage of the duty suspension bill, which grants duty-free treatment to imports
that do not compete with U.S.-made products. There are a number of textiles on the list of duty
exemptions that expired at the end of last year, and some  products have been added. Johnson
said failure to act on the bill “is coming at the worst possible time.” NCTO supports legislation
calling for tougher Customs enforcement, measures in the House and Senate that would make it easier
to take anti-dumping and countervailing duties against countries that manipulate their currencies,
extension and expansion of the Buy America requirements for government procurement, and extension
of the Andean Free Trade Agreement.

Listed as threats are bills under consideration that would grant assistance to Haiti;
preference reform legislation that would grant duty preferences to Cambodia and Bangladesh; and the
cap-and-trade environmental control legislation. With respect to Haiti, NCTO says it has taken a
leadership role in supporting measures the would help bolster the Haitian apparel industry, but it
feels some measures under consideration by Congress would permit inputs from Asian nations that
would result in U.S. textile job losses. NCTO is opposed to granting new trade preferences to
Cambodia and Bangladesh, as they already are major suppliers to the U.S. market without special
treatment.

Thinking Outside The Box


A number of speakers at the meeting discussed new and innovative approaches to addressing
problems. Labuda described a new Customs program designed to crack down on Chinese import fraud
stemming from undervaluing exports. She said her agency has uncovered countless cases of imports
entering the United States at declared values that are only a fraction of their actual value. She
said her agency is investigating how the declaration system is being abused, and that, where
possible, it will levy fines and exclude entry of offending products. Johnson said Labuda has
“discovered a large hole in the system [and she is] pressing the government to fill it.” Labuda
also said her agency is monitoring the performance of trade preference programs to ensure that they
are being properly enforced, and the agency is stepping up its training of textile and apparel
specialists.

Strickler discussed new inter-agency efforts to help facilitate exports of textiles and
apparel. She noted export financing is a major problem, as many of the countries that present
market opportunities do not have the resources and effective systems to come up with the credit
needed to finance trade. She said the office is working with the Export-Import Bank, the Commerce
Department and other agencies, and that it is in contact with factors and others in the industry
who can contribute to developing new ways to address export financing.

NCTO reported on the creation of TexNet, a new grassroots network that draws on the
resources of outside organizations that have similar interests in the area of international trade.
This effectively doubles the number of employees involved in issues on the textile industry agenda.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., addresses problems with Chinese trade and says his
anti-currency manipulation bill would pass the Senate by a wide margin.

Congress And Textiles


Members of Congress speaking at the meeting emphasized the importance of trade to the U.S.
economy but said it must be not just free trade, but also fair trade. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R.-S.C.,
addressed problems with China trade and said, “We must bring balance to an imbalanced system.” One
way to do that would be to enact his bill, which for the first time would permit anti-dumping cases
to be brought based on currency manipulation. In view of widespread concern about China trade, he
believes his bill would pass the Senate by 75 to 80 votes. Rep. Bobby Bright, D-Ala., a member of
the Blue Dog Coalition of conservative Democrats, called for bipartisan legislation to bring down
the record level of unemployment, and said one step would be to improve credit access for small and
medium-size manufacturers to help them export. He also supports tax breaks for companies hiring new
employees. Saying there are many ways to promote fair trade, Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., called
for renewed efforts to open export markets but at the same time attack illegal subsidies of imports
and require fair labor standards in exporting countries. “We want to promote trade, and if we do it
right, we can boost our economy,” she said.

May/June 2010

“Fibers are the core business,” Weninger said. “Our company philosophy is to be the leading
fiber innovation company.”

In 2009, Lenzing produced 570,000 metric tons of viscose fibers, and 88.4 percent of the
Austrian production was exported. The most important markets for Lenzing are Indonesia, China, the
United States, Turkey, Europe in general, and Austria as a country of origin.

Friedrich Weninger

The Person


Weninger, a sporty engineer, holds a master’s degree, and is married and the father of two
children. His hobbies are golf, skiing, reading and his family. And what is his personal challenge?

Weninger: For my family, I want to provide our kids with the optimal education so
that they can manage their future properly. In my job, Lenzing should achieve high profits on a
sustainable basis. This shows that it is possible to survive as a fiber producer in high-cost areas
like Europe — in an industry that is facing competitors mainly sitting in the low-cost areas [such
as India and China]. Nearly all the former European and American fiber producers shut down their
[domestic] units and left the industry. But Lenzing is still expanding in Europe and the U.S. The
key elements are commitment and innovation.

R&D At Lenzing



TW
: As an innovation-driven company, does Lenzing have machinery or process patents?

Weninger: “As a global market leader, Lenzing holds about 2,000 patents. The
Lenzing Group as the leader in technology and innovation has been setting standards in the world of
cellulosic fibers for decades. Continuous development of viscose, lyocell and pulp technology
ensures that Lenzing will continue to enhance its lead in the future.

TW
: Where do you set priority in your R&D work?

Weninger: We are setting priority in innovative applications of all our fibers,
especially in new applications for nonwovens, technical applications and high-end textiles. Some
150 people are directly involved in R&D.

TW
: You call Lenzing an innovation leader. Can you give some current examples?

Weninger: With pleasure. Tencel® [lyocell] in powder form enables enhanced
moisture absorbency: Lenzing and Eurofoam [a division of Germany-based Greiner Group] – a leading
European producer of foam plastic – jointly developed cellpur, an innovative filling material for
mattresses, making it the first successful incorporation of Tencel in foam plastic and creating a
material with high moisture absorbency. It not only provides first-rate moisture management, but
breathability and permeability as well. Body moisture released while sleeping is absorbed and
transported, thus creating an even more comfortable sleep.

TW
: At Heimtextil 2010 in Germany, you mentioned that you will launch Tencel in carpets.

Weninger: This is another example of innovation: This year, we launched Tencel as
the first cellulosic fiber worldwide to be used in carpets. For the first time, we can transfer all
the advantages of cellulosic fibers into the wall-to-wall carpeting industry. The special
moisture-management properties inherent in Tencel help to optimize the indoor environment and to
avoid mold. We can combine soft touch with perfect durability and a maximum of hygienic standards –
absolutely moth-free for decades. We expect a very strong market perception for this innovative
application.

Large Fiber Portfolio


The viscose process covers all cellulosic fibers except Tencel lyocell, which has a totally
different technology approach. Lenzing’s  fiber production is based on the four pillars
Lenzing Viscose®, Tencel, Lenzing Modal® and Lenzing FR®. Weninger said viscose is the most
important fiber at the moment regarding turnover.

TW
: What is the environmental impact of each process? The lyocell process is a closed loop, but
what about the other viscose processes? Is Lenzing’s rayon process more environmentally friendly
than other rayon processes?

Weninger: In the lyocell process, no critical chemicals are involved. The viscose
process is a bit more challenging in terms of environmental issues as there are chemicals involved
like sulphur, zinc and others. Lenzing developed a production technology with almost closed process
cycles that enables us to produce viscose fibers on a very environmentally friendly basis.

TW
: Buhler Quality Yarns Corp., Jefferson, Ga., now offers a MicroTencel® yarn in the
United States. What is the difference between Tencel and MicroTencel?

Weninger: Microfibers generally spun into yarns give a different feel, touch,
softness and optical effect because more fibers are in the cross section of the yarn. Fine yarn
counts need finer fibers.

Market Situation



TW
: How do you see the current market situation? Was Lenzing hurt by the recent financial
crisis?

Weninger: After a very challenging first quarter in 2009, we saw a market upswing
in all major fibers markets in the course of 2009. Up to now, we are faced with very encouraging
demand for Lenzing fibers, and the absolute top seller at the moment is Lenzing Modal.

TW
: Lenzing’s reputation is to be a market leader. What do you think are the reasons for that
image?

Weninger: Well, we are the world leader in cellulosic fibers in terms of fiber
capacity, innovation, technology and service. We are setting the standards — in the last decades,
all major developments came from Lenzing. We are the only company worldwide that can provide all
three generations of cellulosic fibers – viscose, modal and lyocell — on an industrial basis. We
are proud of what we have achieved in the last 70 years, but this does not mean we will stop our
efforts to serve the textile and nonwovens markets with the highest possible innovation and service
in the next decades.

TW
: Comparing today’s market requirements and those of 10 years ago, what are the biggest
differences, and why?

Weninger: China has boosted the viscose industry by high expansion — viscose is
not seen any more as a niche product, but as a substitute for cotton now. China and India have
become big end-consumers for textile and nonwoven products as their per capita income has risen.
This will boost global fiber demand. These countries look very much for specialties and
differentiation.

TW
: Is there any influence from the retailers?

Weninger: Retailers are looking much more for differentiation. They want new
products and not just [price differentiation]. I think it’s much easier to innovate new ideas with
retailers than it was 10 years ago.

Lenzing’s headquarters site in Lenzing, Austria, is home to the company’s largest
integrated pulp and viscose production globally. Photograph courtesy of Lenzing AG

The Future



TW
: What will you do to keep your market position?

Weninger: We will keep our position as the global market leader through our speed
of innovation, the highest R&D expenses in the industry, an excellent technical service and
support as well as our global distribution power. We provide our customers with optimum quality for
their individual purposes. They get the best technical support and service worldwide. And we
guarantee reliability and environmentally sound production of our fibers.

Weninger is very optimistic that the strong demand for cellulosic fibers will continue over
the next couple of years, stating, “Reasons are the growing wealth in the emerging markets, the
fact that world cotton production has come to a limit, and the demand for fibers based on renewable
resources and produced on some environmentally friendly basis will steadily grow.”

May/June 2010