53rd Man-Made Fibers Congress, Dornbirn 2014

Kelheim Fibres GmbH

2

Absorbency

Foodfiltration Reactive

modification

Surfacemodification

Intrinsicmodification

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Use of Functionalised Viscose Fibres

in Medicine and Hygiene

- Dr. Philipp Wimmer

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• Introduction

• Advanced wound care –new challenges for fibre materials

• Speciality fibres for hygiene products

• Adult incontinence products, washable, sustainable, performing

• Summary

Overview

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Introduction

Speciality fibres for hygiene and medicine

• Direct contact with skin and mucous membranes,

often used to absorb body liquids

– Regulatory requirements for medical products

• Kelheim Fibres, partner for hygiene and medical fibres

– Long experience in hygiene fibre manufacture

– Leadership guaranteed by highest quality standards

– Access restrictions to hygiene fibre production

� Producing fibres for medical and hygiene products

requires more than just knowing how to make fibres.

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Introduction

Wound care in the past

• Healing process is a complex process, knowledge started to develop from the end of 18th century

• Target until approx. 1960s: Absorption of wound liquids, keep wound dry

• Materials: – Flax lints

• Till second half of 19th century, for ~ 2.000 years

– Cotton• Used from end of 19th century, still in use today

�Both materials have poor absorbency

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Introduction

Breakthrough of viscose fibres

• Cotton shortage in Germany during World War 2• Performance of cotton fibre substitute viscose

better than of cotton and flax

Cotton

kidney-shapedhollow fibres

Viscose

round, cloud-shaped

full fibres

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Introduction

Advantages of viscose fibresvs. cotton / flax

• Higher absorbency

• Capillary surface structurefavours quick absorption

• Softer fibres, less skin irritation

• Free from contaminants(e.g. pesticide residues)

• Reproducible fibre production0

20

40

60

80

100

Wa

ter

rete

nti

on

(%

)

DIN

53

81

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Cotton Flax Viscose

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Advanced wound care

Traditional wound care / dry wound care

– Absorb wound liquids, keep wound dry

– Sufficient for little or sutured wounds

Advanced / modern wound care:

Keep wound moist, avoid scab formation

– Granulation / re-formation of skin is quicker

– Allows healing of chronical wounds

• Reduced scar formation

• Less pain

� New materials are needed for modern wound care

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Functional requirements

Ideally all of the following requirements in onemulti-functional product of renewable origin

• Mechanical protection

• Moisture management

• Absorption of wound liquids

• Hemostasis

• No wound adhesion

• Controlled release

• pH regulation

• Acceleration of tissue regeneration

• Temperature regulation

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Functional requirements

All functionalities in one product ?

Image: Georg Mittenecker, CC BY-SA 2.5

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Current materials / associated problems

Synthetic films (non-renewable)

– No absorbency

Hydrocolloids (partially renewable)

– Maceration

Alginates, hydrofibres (renewable)

– Maceration, dry out

Superabsorbent dressings (non-renewable)

– Contamination

Foams (non-renewable)

– Allergies

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Viscose speciality fibres for wound care

Intrinsic advantages

– Non allergenic, biocompatible

– Natural origin, CO2 neutral

– Known material for wound care

– Naturally high absorbency

– Functionalisation is possible

How to target additional functionalities?

– Optimum construction of the nonwoven

– Hollow fibres / fibres with incorporated

gel forming biopolymers

– Functionalisation with collagen or alginates

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Viscose speciality fibres for wound care

Additional functionalisation

– Structurally stable gel like fibres

– Hollow fibres as depot for

care substances or antibiotics

– Quaternary ammonium or

metal loaded ion exchange fibres

– pH buffer in fibres

– pH indicator in fibres

– Incorporated PCM

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The way to more functionality

Absorbency (nonwoven)

– 20 g/g minimum (normally exuding)

– 30-50 g/g target (strongly exuding)

Controlled / extended release

– Ability to release proven

– Indications for slow release

Adhesion prevention (gel fibres)

– Slippery fibres (industrial)

– Gel-like stable fibres (lab)

0

10

20

30

40

50

Status / Minimum Target

Absorbency (g/g) in nonwoven

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The way to more functionality

pH buffering / ion exchange– pH between 6 and 7.5

– Exchange system and capacity

to be identified

Antibacterial function

– Cationic fibres

– Ion exchange (Ag+)

Temperature regulation

– Optimum 28 - 37 ºC

– Specific heat of ~15 J/g to be

increased significantly

0

0,5

1

1,5

2

2,5

Verdi Poseidon Resin (wet)

Cation exchange capacity

Buffer capacity (meq/g)

?

Too cold,

no cell growth

Too hot,

inflammation

28°C 37°C

Optimum healing temperature

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Outlook

• Further development of functionalities

• Functionalisation using other biopolymers

• Fibre blends for multifunctional nonwovens

• Post-treatment of nonwovens

�Target: viscose-based multifunctionalnatural performance wound dressing

�Natural origin

�Multi-functional and performing

�Biocompatible and non-allergenic

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Functional viscose fibres for hygiene products

Tampons:

Viscose fibres for better absorption

Pantyliners, sanitary napkins, baby and incontinence diapers:

Hydrophobic viscose fibresfor coversheet

Adult incontinence:

Highly absorbing viscose fibres forwashable incontinence products

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Better tampons with functional viscose fibres

Galaxy® trilobal viscose fibre, number one tampon fibre

– Special fibre design gives safety by unique properties

• High syngina absorbency

• High water holding capacity

– Controlled manufacturing

• Perfect hygiene

• Free from contaminants

0

5

10

15

20

25

Syngina

absorbency(g/g)

Water holding (g/g)

Standard viscose Galaxy®

+ 20% + 25%

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Hydrophobic viscose fibres for coversheet

Standard viscose fibres for coversheet

– Unfavorable re-wet

– Now hydrophobic synthetic fibres

• Humidity management lost

� Hydrophobic viscose fibre Olea

• Water repellent

• Humidity management

• Transfer of liquids through

Olea layer into absorbent core

• Biodegradable

Dual layer spunlaced NW

Hydrophobic (Olea)

Hydrophilic (Danufil)

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High absorbency fibres for adult incontinence

Adult incontinence – a marginal phenomenon?

• 11% of population over 60 concerned

• Yearly sales ~ 500 million diapers (Germany)

• Increasing use and acceptance of incontinence products

• Target group increasing• Incontinence products used for

many years (difference to baby diapers)

�Big, growing market

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High absorbency fibres for adult incontinence

Adult incontinence – market and products?

• Dominated by disposables

• Neglectable market shareof washables

• Demand for performance

• Demand for environmentallyfriendly sustainable products

1

1,5

2

2,5

3

Mil

lio

n p

eo

ple

2010 2020 2030

Year

People suffering from

incontinence in Germany

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High absorbency fibres for adult incontinence

Can washables be as performing as disposables?

• Use of SAP not possible

• Preserve performance after

multiple washing cycles

�Fibre performance must be increased

to fit market requirements

– Higher absorbency and retention

– No loss of activity after washing

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High absorbency fibres for adult incontinence

Hollow viscose fibres for adult incontinence

• Double absorbency vs. standard viscose, water strongly bound by fibres

• Optimised nonwoven construction guarantees performance in any situation

Bramante hollow viscose fibre

Bramante absorbent pad vs.

existing washable solutions

0

25

50

75

100

Commercial

product

Commercial

product

Commercial

product

Bramante /

Polyester

Wa

ter

rete

nti

on

(%

)

0

5

10

15

20

Wa

ter h

old

ing

(g/g

)

Water retention (DIN 53814) Water Holding (EuPh)

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High absorbency fibres for adult incontinence

Adult incontinence – advantage of washables?

� Environment (resource consumption, waste reduction)

� Neighbours (no diapers in waste)

� Cost advantage of washing vs. disposal

265 EUR365 EURTotal

1 EUR145 EURDisposal (wet)

44 EUR0 EURWashing, tumbling

220 EUR220 EURPurchase

Washables(20 EUR, 100 washings)

Disposables(0.2 EUR, 3 per day)

YEARLY COSTS

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Summary

• Bio-based, multifunctional wound care materials can

be manufactured using viscose speciality fibres

• Replacement of oil-based fibres in disposable hygiene

products by viscose speciality fibres is possible

• Competitive washable incontinence products using

hollow viscose fibres for absorption are now available.

• Kelheim Fibres offers competence in fibres for

medical and hygiene products and is the preferred

partner of demanding customers and industries.

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Thank you for your attention

Please visit our stand in the exhibition area

in the foyer at the Dornbirn MFC 2014

philipp.wimmer@kelheim-fibres.com