Fibers & Textiles The Austrian Company NaKu aus Natürlichem Kunststoff ® (means “made from Natural Polymers”) offers raw materials as well as fully developed products made from bioplastics. NaKu PLA nonwoven, 25 g/m 2 , 200 x magification New bioplastics fibres Biodegradable meat pad NaKu standard fibre In the fibre industry the utilisation of renewable crude materials to replace common chemical products is also an issue. Until a few years ago, when choosing a type of fibre, one had to decide between petrochemical fibres and natural ones such as cotton. In addition natural fibres have to travel long distances and can sometimes carry a serious pesticide load. With fibres from biobased plastics the advantages of the stable, high quality of synthetic fibres can be combined with natural and renewable raw materials. “We optimised a PLA-based NaKu compound for temperature and hydrolysis stability, because our kitchenware products have to withstand up to 120°C in the microwave. To transfer this specification to the fibre technology was our motivation for starting in this sector two years ago”, says Johann Zimmermann, owner of the NaKu company. Currently the following finished products can be purchased from NaKu: • filaments and fibres down to a fineness of 2.4 dtex • nonwovens from 20 g/m 2 up to 60 g/m 2 and up to a width of 3 m • yarn • fabric • and other products, such as biodegradable fluid absorbent pads for meat packaging. Typical applications for the NaKu fibre are, for example, in the agriculture and gardening business using fabric and strings that should eventually rot away after some time. In the hygiene business, the NaKu-Fibre can be used, for example, for diapers. Also, the paper and filter industry require this new fibre. At the moment, NaKu is developing the NaKu-HT Fibre. This fibre can already stand 100°C boiling water. In this area NaKu works partially exclusively with certain partners. The company is still looking for additional application partners who see the advantages of the NaKu-HT Fibre and are interested to use this fibre for their strategic edge in a sustainability-conscious market. MT www.naku.at 16 bioplastics MAGAZINE [05/13] Vol. 8
Polylactic Acid Uhde Inventa-Fischer has expanded its product portfolio to include the innovative stateof-the-art PLAneo ® process. The feedstock for our PLA process is lactic acid, which can be produced from local agricultural products containing starch or sugar. The application range of PLA is similar to that of polymers based on fossil resources as its physical properties can be tailored to meet packaging, textile and other requirements. Think. Invest. Earn. Uhde Inventa-Fischer GmbH Holzhauser Strasse 157–159 13509 Berlin Germany Tel. +49 30 43 567 5 Fax +49 30 43 567 699 Uhde Inventa-Fischer AG Via Innovativa 31 7013 Domat/Ems Switzerland Tel. +41 81 632 63 11 Fax +41 81 632 74 03 marketing@uhde-inventa-fi scher.com www.uhde-inventa-fi scher.com Uhde Inventa-Fischer
