Net zero era Far Eastern New Century Corporation "reshaping" business opportunities

        At the annual TITAS exhibition, the R & D crystallization of Far Eastern New Century Corporation is always the most eye-catching and topical focus in the field. The new products that combine the concepts of innovation and environmental protection are not only amazing, but also subvert the imagination of all walks of life for the textile industry. The Far Eastern group enterprise research and development center has made great contributions to these proud achievements. In this issue, Liao Ruifen, deputy president, is invited to share how the R & D center can enlarge the R & D capacity and become a strong backing for far eastern New Century Corporation to lead the green future.

                Recycle bottle waste plastic gorgeous rebirth

                Global warming is becoming more and more serious, and environmental protection issues are heating up. The development of recycled economy products is highly expected by all walks of life. Therefore, green transformation has become the most urgent problem in the manufacturing industry.

        Adhering to the concept of caring for nature and respecting the environment, far eastern New Century Corporation stepped into the field of recycling more than 30 years ago. Now it has become the second largest supplier of recycled PET in the world. Behind the success, there is the foresight of taking the lead and the efforts to pursue eternal excellence. Liao Ruifen, deputy president, said: "with the progress of the times, physical recycling technology has become very popular. If you simply recycle the bottle, it will soon be eliminated by the market. The key to maintaining competitiveness is:" quality "

        It turns out that after recycling, the quality of each batch of recycled products will be uneven due to individual conditions and cleanliness. However, almost all recycled bottles have to go through at least four processing procedures to change back to ester particles, so the strength of ester particles is weakened and the color is not ideal. Only by improving the recycling technology, improving the quality of recycled ester particles, and even passing the food grade certification, can manufacturers win the favor. At present, the food grade recycled polyester production capacity of Far Eastern New Century Corporation ranks first in the world.

        In addition to making efforts in recycling technology, how to develop new applications of recycled PET is also an important task of the R & D center. As we all know, far eastern New Century Corporation pioneered marine recycling yarn made of marine waste plastics, but you may not know that many recycled PET derived materials are also the R & D achievements of Far Eastern New Century Corporation. "Once, the customer asked to use recycled PBT (polybutylene terephthalate) as material to enhance the green image of the brand, but the relevant technology was not mature at that time. After brainstorming, the team added butanediol (butanediol) to recycled PET (polybutylene terephthalate) , we have successfully developed a brand-new environment-friendly polyester PBET, which has satisfied customers and attracted more brands to cooperate. "This process impressed vice president Liao and further thought about how to expand the multiple uses of recycled PET, such as optimizing product properties or reducing process temperature through parameter adjustment and additives more in line with the green spirit, Achieving more energy-saving production is the direction of continuous efforts.

        A new solution to the pollution of recycled second-hand clothes

                With the increasing saturation of Baote bottle recycling market, far eastern New Century Corporation also shifted its R & D goal to second-hand used clothes. According to big data, up to 80% of second-hand clothes are treated as waste. If the old cloth can be made into new cloth, it can solve the huge problem of second-hand clothes recycling, reduce the waste of earth resources, and become an excellent publicity for manufacturers and clothing brands. Unexpectedly, this task made the R & D team meet the great devil!

        Deputy general manager Liao explained, "the biggest difference between second-hand clothes recycling and treasure bottle recycling is the complexity of materials. It is not technically difficult to simply recycle 100% polyester fabric, but the clothing shapes on the market are strange, and the clothing materials are also very complex. Splicing, blending, color, zipper, buttons, etc. of different materials are all thorny problems in second-hand clothes processing." therefore, Researchers must first divide the recycled clothes into two categories: polyester and cotton, and then through fenc ® TopGreen ® By chemcycle chemical recovery method, the original polyester raw materials such as PTA and eg are decomposed, purified and reconstituted into new polyester fibers.

        The challenge faced by the R & D team is not only that. Due to the continuous progress of the textile industry, today's clothing materials are colorful. Even the most difficult black dyes can be firmly attached to the cloth, which relatively improves the difficulty of subsequent recycling. Even if the decolorization is successfully completed, the color difference is inevitable when the regenerated silk is put together with the new cloth after dyeing. After brainstorming by the R & D team, we finally overcome all difficulties and successfully produced 100% textile to textile clothes, which were displayed at the TITAS venue in 2020 and became a hot topic of discussion at the venue.

        Recycle steel plant waste gas makes the earth less carbon gas

                Not only can second-hand clothes be reborn, but with the efforts of the team of Far Eastern New Century Corporation, even the waste gas from steel mills can be put on! In July this year, far eastern New Century Corporation announced its cooperation with lanzatech, an American biotechnology company, India glycols, an Indian MEG manufacturer, and lululemon, an international well-known brand, to successfully produce the world's first clothes made from waste gas from steel mills, which surprised all walks of life.

        Lanzatech is the most influential biotechnology company among the top 50 in the United States for several consecutive years. It has exclusive biotechnology. It can capture carbon emission gases (such as carbon dioxide, CO2, carbon monoxide and CO) from the factory, put them into a bucket full of microorganisms, ferment them, convert the gases into ethanol (i.e. alcohol), and then take over by its partner India glycols, Ethanol was converted into ethylene glycol and finally handed over to far eastern New Century Corporation to make polyester fiber cloth. This process is easy to say, but the development process is full of challenges. Vice president Liao recalled: "First, when the epidemic broke out, alcohol was not only the fuel for energy, but also became epidemic prevention materials. It was difficult to obtain and transport. Then, because there was no precedent to follow, how to verify the products became a big problem. Fortunately, with the assistance of shipping Dept., industrial fiber group, long fiber business group and many units, it finally successfully mass produced and turned the impossible dream into bio 3-pet Products. "

        Different from the traditional process of processing raw materials of the first generation (bio-1) of bio alcohol with sugar, or the second generation (bio-2) studied by the R & D center uses waste straw and wheat straw, and the third generation (bio-3) chooses to use steel plant waste gas for biological conversion in order to more effectively solve the problem of carbon reduction. Vice President Liao stressed, "everyone is talking about" carbon capture ", but we should further think about how to" use "after capture, rather than just" store ". After all, no matter how large the space is, there will always be a full day. We convert the carbon molecules in the exhaust gas into clothes through microorganisms, which not only reduces emissions, but also sequesters carbon."

        When it comes to carbon sequestration, many people advocate using bioplastics to reduce and fix carbon, but they may not really understand the mechanism. Bioplastics are divided into "biodegradable plastics" and "biological matrix plastics". As the name suggests, the former can be decomposed by microorganisms, but the source is not necessarily plants, such as fepol of Far Eastern New Century Corporation ® The source is oil, but it will decompose and do not pollute the environment. "Biological matrix plastics" are extracted from plants such as corn and rice straw, and can be divided into two categories: one is "biological matrix decomposable plastics", such as PLA, a common cold drink cup material, and the other is "biological matrix non decomposable plastics", such as biopet of Far Eastern New Century Corporation. Strictly speaking, after decomposable plastics are decomposed by microorganisms, carbon will return to the atmosphere in the form of CO2, which is equivalent to waste reduction. It is suitable for disposable products with health concerns and not suitable for recycling, such as diapers, wet paper towels, surgical clothes, etc; As for the biodegradable biopet, which was originally a biological matrix, the absorption of carbon dioxide by plants has reduced carbon. Through reuse, the carbon is fixed on products such as clothes or bottles for continuous recycling, which can also truly implement the environmental appeal of carbon reduction.

        Improve product features to create a green life

        "Environmental sustainability" is the decisive point for enterprises in the future, so almost 80% of the research topics of the R & D center are related to green environmental protection. "Deputy general manager Liao analyzed:" in addition to converting waste into renewable resources, we also continue to try to make the process more energy-saving, or develop new additives to replace chemicals that are not environmentally friendly. "Especially in recent years, covid-19 has swept the world, People rush to buy all kinds of antibacterial products, but the additives in some products turn pale. Therefore, the R & D center began to develop more environmentally friendly additives to move towards the goal of green anti epidemic.

        In addition, extending the shelf life of goods is also one of the specific actions of environmental protection. According to British research, food is sometimes discarded due to poor appearance, wear and tear during transportation, or even corruption and expiration. As a result, up to 50% of food materials are wasted. In order to maintain the freshness of food, the R & D center improved the existing plastic packaging materials and added oxygen getters and gas blocking properties to delay food oxidation. As expected, it succeeded in prolonging the preservation period of food and reducing food waste.

        Interestingly, because the Group operates in a wide range of fields and the content of R & D is also very diverse, vice president Liao said with a smile: "as long as we have the spirit of innovation and can make new attempts in different fields according to their characteristics, sometimes there will be unexpected gains." the R & D center has used the characteristics of textile materials to develop innovative biomedical applications, We also try to apply biomedical materials to the field of textile and sanitary materials after rectification, which virtually opens up more possibilities for the R & D of Wuhan far eastern new material.

                The global economic and trade environment is changing rapidly and the competition among enterprises is fierce. We must deploy as soon as possible in order to create a trend and lead the industry. Over the years, far eastern New Century Corporation has become a leader in green fiber spinning with its excellent R & D ability. In the future, with the full support of the R & D center, it will continue to develop high-tech and environmental protection Wuhan far eastern new material and seize the opportunity of net zero carbon emission!