Stretching to meet demand

17 December 2001 00:00  [Source: ICB]

End-users for fibres continue to diversify and consumers are demanding ever more flexible and soft materials, fuelling demand for innovative textile auxilliaries. Ian Holme reports on the latest trends and innovations.

Textiles is a growing industry and the increasing consumer demand for comfortable, easy-care clothing is driving a healthy market for innovative textile auxiliaries.

Global demand for textile fibres increased from 52m tonne/year in 1996 to 60m tonne/year in 2000. Asia, which now dominates textile production, currently accounts for 40% of the world market, and its share is anticipated to grow to be larger than that of the US and west European markets combined. Within eastern Europe, the market is expected to reach $485m by 2004, up from $385m in 1999, but the drift of textile manufacturing into Asia means that demand in eastern Europe will decrease to 2.8% of global textile chemical demand by 2004.

The end-uses for fibres continue to diversify each year, requiring different levels of aesthetics and functional performance qualities that are only achievable by using textile auxiliaries.

Textile auxiliaries are used in the manufacture and processing of all types of fibres and fibrous materials including yarns, fabrics, garments, and carpets. Increasingly, they are used to provide the higher standards of aesthetics, comfort, protection and performance demanded by the global consumer market.

According to the Freedonia Group, the world market for textile auxiliaries is now worth almost $15bn/year. By 2004, it is likely to reach $17bn/year, representing an average growth rate of 4.6%/year, driven by a greater emphasis on product quality, as well as consumer demands for comfort and durability.

Major product segments include fibre and yarn processing aids, sizes, and auxiliaries for chemical pretreatment (eg desizing, scouring and bleaching), dyeing, printing and chemical finishing. The largest product sector, Freedonia says, is colourants and related dyeing and printing auxiliaries, which by 2004 will account for an estimated 46% of the total sales of textile processing and finishing chemicals.

Textile auxiliaries are manufactured globally, and increasingly their production is moving into Asia to be nearer to the growing textile and chemical manufacturing bases in China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines. The number of manufacturers worldwide runs into thousands, and the total number of auxiliaries used globally is considerably higher than the estimated 10 000 or so commercial products used in western Europe.

Responding to globalisation

As the textile industry becomes increasingly global, textile auxiliary companies have had to operate on a worldwide basis, and this has favoured larger companies. As a result, a number of mergers and acquisitions have taken place among the larger companies in the sector. Smaller firms are also merging to provide a broader product range with the aim of achieving a larger global market share.

Over the past decade, the major European manufacturers have set up regional centres in Europe, Asia, North America and South America. For example, BASF Textile Chemicals operates through such regional centres, together with a combination of direct, partner and agency representation in major countries. Its focus has been on improved efficiency, optimisation of production, quality and innovative concepts.

Clariant, which was split off from Sandoz, absorbed the textile auxiliary business of Hoechst, giving it a combined range of over 900 textile auxiliaries. In 2000, it acquired the leading Mexican producer of surfactants, Christianson. Clariant operates with more than 100 group companies in six divisions, including its textile, leather and paper chemicals group. Sales in the textile, leather and paper chemicals division increased by 15% in 2000. 25% of the company's textile chemicals sales are in Asia. It has product innovation in Europe, and production facilities in China, India, Pakistan, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan and Australia and a technical service unit in Hong Kong.

Ciba Speciality Chemicals manufactures textile auxiliaries in China, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand and some 30% of its sales are in Asia. A factory and service unit is being built at Panyu, southwest China, at a cost of over SF10m ($6m) to support the sales growth in Asia. The company acquired Allied Colloids, further expanding its range of dyeing and printing auxiliaries, and in March this year announced a reorganisation bringing most of its textile-related activities into a single division called the textile effects segment. This combines the colours for textiles and textiles chemicals business units. The global roll-out of its e-business service has been completed with 38 sales and marketing centres around the world, servicing customers in over 120 countries.

In collaboration with DuPont, Ciba markets the Teflon fluorocarbons manufactured by DuPont for finishing textiles with stain protection and high levels of water, dust and soil repellency. Ciba has also recently announced a sales partnership with Kanebo Chemical Industries to distribute its inorganic antimicrobials.

Henkel has sold Cognis, the textile chemicals business, to a consortium of Schroder Ventures and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners. The company was valued at around £1650m ($2353m). Textile auxiliaries in Asia represent about 25% of its sales which, with an annual turnover increase of more than 10%, are already higher than sales in the US. Cognis has production facilities worldwide, and in Asia it has sites in India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Korea, and in Jinshan, near Shanghai, China, as well as in Australia. The range of textile auxiliaries covers enzymes for desizing and biofinishing, products for abrasion and biostoning, washing, bleaching, softening and finishing, as well as pretreatment and dyeing of garments.

Following the merger of the dyestuffs business of BASF into DyStar, itself formed by the merger of the colourants businesses of Bayer and Hoechst, BASF Textile Chemicals Group is active over the whole gamut of textile auxiliaries, being particularly well known for its ranges of auxiliaries for chemical pretreatment and finishing, especially easy-care finishing of cellulosic fibres and blends.

Bayer has acquired Sybron Chemicals and Tanatex, providing it with a wide range of textile auxiliaries covering every aspect of textile wet processing.

Rotta is linked with Uniqema, a business unit of ICI, through an arrangement whereby Rotta supplies exclusively all of Uniqema's textile auxiliaries in Turkey, Germany, Scandinavia and parts of central and eastern Europe including Poland and the former Soviet Union. Thus, the strength of Rotta in finishing and garment processing auxiliaries is combined with Uniqema's strength in surfactants.

Meeting customer demands

The growth in local manufacture of auxiliaries in many countries has increased global competition, and over the last decade profit margins have been eroded and the market has become increasingly commoditised. Mergers and acquisitions will ultimately lead to a rationalisation in product ranges. Companies will focus on their core competencies and work closely with textile customers to innovate and develop auxiliaries that are novel and meet current and future market demands.

This also leads to the development of products that work together on a 'tool box' principle, whereby products can be combined to achieve the desired process or effect.

Automated dispensing systems in textile wet processing favour the use of liquid products and, for convenience, 'one-shot' multifunctional textile auxiliaries containing an appropriately balanced mixture of products are also used. Thus, a wetting agent, sequestrant, dispersing agent and pH buffering system may be provided for dyeing by automatically dispensing one liquid product into a dyebath. As the volume of water in processing machinery decreases, to reduce water, energy and effluent treatment costs, more concentrated liquid auxiliaries have been developed. These also save on transportation costs when serving a global market.

Technical textiles are an important and rapidly developing market segment, particularly in western Europe and North America, where the level of technology is higher than in developing countries. However, China and India are expanding their interest in technical fabrics and textile and chemical companies need to keep abreast of technical and market developments.

Technical textiles encompass a wide diversity of application areas and product types (eg fibres, yarns, woven fabrics etc). A variety of textile auxiliaries are therefore used to facilitate efficient manufacture and processing and to add value and high levels of functional performance materials such as conveyor fabrics, tarpaulins, awnings and fabrics used in building construction and geotextiles.

TEXTILE AUXILIARIES AND APPLICATION AREAS

Fibre, tow and yarn manufacture	Fabric manufacture	Chemical pretreatment
Spin Finishes	Sizes	Enzymes (Amylases)
Processing Aids	Size additives	Oxidative bleaching agents
Antistatic Agents	Antistatic Agents	Reductive bleaching agents
	Lubricants	Bleach Stabilisers
		Alkalis
		Sequestrants
		Antifoams
		Surfactants
Dyeing	Printing	Finishing
Surfactants	Thickeners	Easy care/Durable press
Antifoams	Binders	Resins/cross-linking agents
Sequestrants	Dispersing agents	Catalysts
pH control chemicals	Antifoams	Enzymes (cellulases)
Electrolytes	Antifrosting agents	Softeners
Levelling agents	Electrolytes	Flame retardants
Carriers	Acids	Water, oil and stain repellents
Mordants	Alkalis	Antimicrobial finishes
Blocking agents		Rotproofing
After-treatments		Insect-resist finishes
Dyebath lubricants		Shrink-resist fininshes
Stripping agents		Antistatic finishes
Anti-migration agents		Hydrophilic finishes
Acids		Stonewash finishes coatings
Alkalis		Lamination/bonding
		Microencapsulated finishes (eg fragrance)

Source:David Rigby associates

Functional finishes are also used to add value. Innovation in the sector is driven by consumer demand for comfort; fashion; addressing ecological concerns and complying with legal requirements; complying with health regulations and personal protection requirements; and developments in products and processes and new applications.

Within the apparel market, fashion and consumer demand are dominant factors. Due to demand for more casual styles of clothing, comfort has become essential. The demand for cellulase enzyme treatments to remove surface hairs from fabrics and the introduction of supersoft aminofunctional polysiloxane softeners in macroemulsion and microemulsion forms have been major advances.

Easy-care properties are now demanded by consumers who want garments that resist soiling and staining, wash easily at low temperatures in a domestic washing machine and require no, or minimum, ironing. Thus wrinkle-free and durable press finishing of cellulosic textiles require the use of fibre crosslinking agents such as DMDHEU (dimethylol-dihydroxyethylene urea), acidic catalysts (eg MgCl2) and softeners.

Increasing use is also being made of polycarboxylic acids such as citric acid and polymaleic acid finishes using sodium hypophosphite as a catalyst to achieve a wrinkle-free finish. The use of alternative finishes to DMDHEU is increasing because of environmental requirements for zero formaldehyde finishes like the polycarboxylic acid finishes or DMeDHEU (dimethyldihydroxyethylene urea).

Polyurethanes are used as microporous coatings or as hydrophilic coatings to provide waterproof breathable fabrics. Silicones may be applied via thin film encapsulation to achieve similar levels of performance, each fibre being individually sheathed but separate from surrounding fibres.

A major thrust has been the considerable growth in the use of fluorocarbon (fluorochemical) finishes. These are now widely used to provide value-added textile products with high levels of repellency to water, oil and stains. These are used in personal protective clothing, water repellent breathable apparel and even on silk tie fabrics to resist staining. A major advance here has been the introduction of laundry tumble dry and laundry air dry performance. Thus, a simple tumble drying treatment or simple air drying treatment restores the effective repellency action of the finish after laundering. Within Europe, the fluorocarbon finish market is split between the clothing sector (60%) and household textiles (excluding textile floorcoverings) (20%) and technical textiles (20%).

At present, fluorocarbons are manufactured by telomerisation by Clariant, DuPont, AsahiGlass, Daikin and Elf Atochem, while electrochemical fluorination has been used by 3M, DIC and Miteni. 3M has stopped using this process because of concerns over the persistence in the environment of perfluorooctanyl sulphonate.

The growth in leisure and sportswear has also awakened a greater sensitivity to the problems of odours generated by bacteria in perspiration trapped in clothing. There has been considerable promotion of the benefits of antimicrobial finishes in providing a healthy and safe environment. In addition, antimicrobials can protect fibres from biodeterioration, important in the technical textiles sector.

In the flame retardancy field, environmental constraints are forcing manufacturers to look for new finishes to replace those that may contain formaldehyde, antimony, or organobromine compounds. Thor Specialities has been one of the first companies to introduce an intumescent flame retardant for use on textiles. A number of companies will be exploring the advantages that intumescence could offer.

Ian Holme is an associate consultant for David Rigby Associates.

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