According to the company, the launch will enable the manufacturing of nonwoven materials that only contain biobased or biodegradable components, such as water-repellent disposable tablecloths or isolation material of cellulosic fibres for use in moist environments.

The first products containing the new binders are expected to be household products, such as disposable tablecloths, and it is anticipated that these products will reach the market by the end of 2014.

Use of biobased raw materials

Manufacturers of nonwovens using chemical bonding have long had to use petroleum-based chemicals to achieve the type of strength and durability in wet conditions that their customers require, the company reports.

“Throughout the years we have received numerous requests from customers who would like to produce cellulose-based nonwoven materials using only biobased raw materials, but where the end users’ requirements for water-repellency or durability in wet conditions have been impossible to achieve without using petroleum-based acrylic dispersions,” said Robin Grankvist, Business Area Manager for textile and nonwoven at OrganoClick.

“In many cases the cellulosic nonwoven material might contain 10 to 20 percent acrylics, and then one can argue that the eco-friendly characteristics of the cellulosic fibers are lost.”

Great strength and hydrophobicity

By combining its biobased binding system, including different levels of softness, hydrophobic and biodegradable polymers, with its unique organocatalytic technology, OrganoClick has succeeded in developing a number of new nonwoven binders that are said to offer great strength and hydrophobicity.

One example is the new OC-biobinder 26, a biobased nonwoven binder applied via coating or impregnation, which confers increased tensile strength and hydrophobicity to cellulosic nonwoven materials.

“We foresee that OC-biobinder 26 will be used, for example, in household products, such as disposable tablecloths or industrial isolation materials that must withstand certain amounts of water but where the end-user appreciates the fact that the material is fully biobased,” commented Robin Grankvist.

OrganoClick

OrganoClick is a Swedish cleantech company that develops, produces and markets environmentally friendly fibre chemistry, such as the water-repellent fabric treatment OrganoTex, the flame-resistant wood preservative OrganoWood and a strengthening additive for the paper production industry.

OrganoClick was founded in 2006 as a spinoff company utilising academic research results in the area of environmentally friendly fibre chemistry at Stockholm University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

www.organoclick.com