TENCEL PLANT BEING ERECTED AT GRIMSBY (1988)

Commercial evaluation of the Tencel solvent spun cellulosic fibre from Courtaulds should be possible by the end of the year following completion of the company's Grimsby extrusion facility, part of the Genesis project. Trials comparing the fibre with viscose fibres report the following properties:

• stronger stiffer fabrics when bonded under conditions used for viscose rayon, 
• wet properties better than dry, 
• firmer handle than regular or high wet modulus viscose, 
• lower moisture uptake, and more efficient bonding in latex impregnated constructions. 
• The inherent strength of Tencel could result in fibre economies in some types of dry-laid fabrics.

Tencel is expected to find application in specialised, low-volume nonwovens where performance factors justify the extra cost of the fibre.

Anon, Nonwovens Rep. Int. no. 206, May 1988, p. 2

So, do we conclude that Genesis became Tencel in early 88?  

Maybe this one helps with Iain's question in his comment on the earlier release.

Apart from the "Genesis..forms a new range of clothes" in the ealier release I've found no PR for Genesis in textiles.  Can anyone recall any?

Please Click on "comments" below to reply.

Stewart Alsop

I worked on the project from '79 to 82, and carried out all the early spinning work, up to commissioning the first pilot plant. We started air-gap spinning and soon realised the spin bath had to run co-curently with the fibre flow. We experimented with draw ratios to alter tenacity, and I wrote a Basic program on an Apple IIe(!) to determine the spinning settings, since everything was linked back to the cellulose content of the dope, which we could only make in small batches, courtesy of the resurrected z-blade mixer Ian referred to. We also had a few incidents making the amine oxide, and fires wre an occasional feature. It was my idea to try ion exchange resins to purify the spin bath, and I was delighted to see that was one secret Lenzing never discovered, until they bought the Tencel plant.

After leaving Courtaulds Research I move to Leek Chemicals, which under the inspirational leadership of Ian Roxburgh, quickly led to the set-up of Courtaulds Chemicals. I left there in December 88, to become the technical director of the country's last commercial high temperature coal tar distiller. The company was progressively taken over by Koppers Inc., and I was made redundant in 2004. I then worked in a specialist foundry for a few years, and led their efforts in Lean Manufacturing. 

I was headhunted for my current job, technical manager for the world's first company to recycle carbon fibre on a commercial scale. As a dedicated aviator and F1 enthusiast it is a dream job. I made all the technical input into the patenting process, and am currently leading a £multi-million project to expand and de-bottleneck the facility in Coseley, which will then be the model for new plants around the world. In the background, I'm working on the next-generation design, which should have a negative carbon foot-print.

Regards

Stewart

Market Review 2/10/1987

This meeting was arranged at a time when we were beginning to introduce Genesis to Viscose Division customers and they were getting a little concerned that we might not all be singing from the same hymn sheet.  So not a proper Genesis meeting  but it contains some useful summaries of the activities at that time.  I'll probably post more later.

The following attended, and as I recall, only BSM, PAW, GRa, DJC, GRo, and CRW were active in Genesis Fibre development at that time.

COURTAULDS REFOCUSING 'GENESIS' ON NONWOVENS (1988)

The Courtaulds, UK, Genesis solvent spun cellulose process was not developed primarily for nonwovens production, but the company is emphasing how the process fits well with thermal bonding, hydroentanglement and latex bonding nonwovens technology. Courtaulds states that more possibilities of developing special fibres for nonwovens do exist.


Anon, Nonwovens Ind., vol. 19, no. 1, Jan. 1988, p. 15


This must have been at the time the problems with fibrillation in textile processing were slowing down development of the yarn/fabric route.  Maybe this also accounted for the relative PR silence in 1987.  Comments from those involved on the textile side would be valuable.

Plant a Tree for Chemistry (1987)

This is the only published reference to Genesis (or Tencel or lyocell) I could find for 1987.  I guess this was the year of the construction of S25 at Grimsby and maybe we were keeping a low profile until sure that we could follow up on the interest generated by the Coventry-produced fibre.  Nevertheless the story of how we came to justify S25, its construction and start up would be well worth airing.

From "Plant a Tree for Chemistry", John Emsley New Scientist 8/10/1987 p 41