Early Tencel History from "Regenerated Cellulose Fibres" (part 3)

Regenerated Cellulose Fibres published by Woodhead Publishing Ltd in 2001 contains a history of the Tencel development, the third extract of which appears below. (see the original for references - click here for first extract)

American Enka decided not to commercialise the process and stopped the research in 1981, probably because at that time engineering issues associated with the difficulty of avoiding exothermic reactions looked too hard to resolve economically. However when Courtaulds had demonstrated practical solutions to the many problems discovered during American Enka's early work, they (Enka that is, now part of Akzo-Nobel) re-entered the field with the continuous filament version of the lyocell process under their brand name "Newcell". The Akzo deal with Courtaulds involved their gaining access to Courtaulds technology in exchange for granting Courtaulds rights to use some of the key steps in the early patents mentioned above.Coming right up to date, Akzo Nobel acquired Courtaulds in 1998, and formed Acordis Fibres, bringing together in one company all the key lyocell technology. However, Akzo-Nobel had earlier granted a lyocell license to Lenzing, the Austrian viscose fibre maker, allowing Lenzing to enter the field with a very similar process to Courtaulds. The ensuing patent litigation between Lenzing and Courtaulds was to prove costly to both companies.
Lenzing obtained a patent in the USA for a process, some aspects of which had been operated by Courtaulds for many years, and indeed were used in production at Courtaulds Tencel® plant in Mobile. Courtaulds naturally objected,

Acordis mulls a 'Tencel' plant in Asia (1998)

Geoff Blackburn was at the Genesis launch as Viscose Europe's Sales Director in 1986 and here he is 12 years later as President Acordis Asia. 

TAIPEI (CNI)--The world's largest dedicated fibres company, Acordis, may set up a Tencel manufacturing facility in Asia to tap the growing demand for lyocell fibre in the region, CNI learned Thursday.

Here on a business visit, Acordis president for Asia, Geoff Blackburn, said the company will study the demand/supply outlook to determine its precise approach.

"Theoretically, having a facility in Asia would position us to better serve regional customers," he added. "But we'll need to do more groundwork first."

Blackburn said Taiwan is a market where demand for Tencel has grown by 30%/year to reach 1000 tonne in 1998. He is optimistic that demand here will increase by another 30% next year.

Acordis is the new company that combines Courtaulds and Akzo Nobel's fibres operations, following Akzo's acquisition of Courtaulds last July.

05 November 1998 04:59  [Source: ICIS news]

Geoffrey Owen's Tencel lyocell history (part 1)

Geoffrey Owen of the Department of Management, London School of Economics presented a paper at SPRU in October this year entitled "Innovation in the man-made fibres industry: corporate strategy and national institutions." It is based on unpublished material made available to him by Akzo Nobel, Lenzing and Courtaulds (amongst others) and a draft is available in full here on the web as a PDF file.  It contains excellent sections on Tencel lyocell development history, the first extract of which is reproduced below. The subject is also covered in his recent book - essential reading for any students of success and failure in fibre development - "The Rise and Fall of Great Companies: Courtaulds and the reshaping of the man-made fibres industry" published by OUP, 2010.

Lyocell (Tencel): Courtaulds versus Lenzing: 

Background

A disadvantage of the viscose process – and this was one of the reasons why several companies abandoned it – was that it was highly polluting. It used several toxic chemicals, most of which had to be disposed of as effluent. The search for a cleaner process, which began in the 1920s, was based on the idea that, instead of breaking up the cellulose extracted from woodpulp and regenerating it, cellulose might be dissolved directly using chemicals which would be easy to use and recover. The most promising solvent, first identified by two Swiss chemists in 1939, was an amine oxide, a non-toxic chemical, and this work was taken further after the war by Eastman Kodak in the US.

Eastman’s scientists filed their first solvent-spinning patent in 1966 but the company decided not to commercialise the process. American Enka, the US affiliate of the Dutch company Akzo, acquired the patents and made further improvements, principally in the solvent composition and in spinning. However, the company ran into problems when it tried to produce fibre on a large scale and spinning quality was poor. The Dutch parent company discontinued the work on solvent spinning and in 1985 sold American Enka to the German chemical company, BASF. The patents that American Enka had filed were put together in a manual and offered for sale.

(More to come)

---------------------------------

The Eastman scientist who filed the first patent on NMMO as way of making cellulose dopes was Dee Lynn Johnson who moved to 3M later in his career.  In the early 90's I was invited to give a talk on lyocell at 3M's Technical Center in Minneapolis and had the pleasure of meeting Dee, then recently retired.  He was of course delighted that his cellulose dope idea was at last being commercialised to make Tencel fibre in Mobile.

Acordis shuts US Tencel plant (1999)

Acordis, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Akzo Nobel, is halting production of Tencel at its 43000 tonne/year Mobile, Alabama, US, plant,focusing operations at its other 42000 tonne/year plant in Grimsby, UK.

The company blames current market conditions for the closure and said the Tencel operations have been making a loss since the start of the Asian crisis. 'Until the Asian crisis, demand frequently exceeded our ability to supply,' said David Wilkinson, Acordis director responsible for Tencel.

Some sources believe Tencel's problem, since its launch in 1992, lies with its relatively high price relative to other fibres.

But Acordis maintains this is a temporary setback. The Mobile plant will be maintained in operational condition so that it can be brought back onstream when demand improves.

Acordis remains committed to Tencel, adding that programmes with major

Tencel Christmas Lunch 28/12/2012

Here are 2 snaps from the Christmas lunch gathering at at the Dog and Duck in Shardlow on 28/12/12.  Many more were taken by others there and if they    can be emailed to me I can add them here.

From Left to Right:  Barry Goddard, Calvin Woodings, Bob Morley, Geoff Blackburn, Pat White

From Left to Right:  Barry Goddard, Calvin Woodings, Geoff Blackburn, Pat White, Brian Fulleylove