This year’s Dornbirn Man-made Fibers Congress 2016 a Europe-centred innovation platform for the fiber industry will highlight the latest activities of renowned viscose speciality fiber manufacturer Kelheim Fibres. It will show completely different applications of Kelheim’s viscose speciality fibers.

Dr. Roland Scholz — together with Dr. Jörg Zacharias from Krones AG — will report on the current status of a joint research project regarding the use of viscose fibers as a filtration aid in breweries, Sebastian Basel will talk about the use of viscose short cut fibers in hybrid nonwoven technologies as, for example, in the production of wet wipes.

Despite the completely different end uses, in both cases Kelheim’s specialities impress with their typical core properties: These fibers can easily be adapted to the specific needs of the customer. In beer filtration, the formation and the structure of the filter cake of a viscose precoat filter can be controlled by the fibers’ geometry. Cross section, diameter and length of the fibers play a key role.

Entirely different aspects are important for the broad range of nonwovens products in the hygiene sector: Here, softness, flushability or high absorbency are required. But these, too, can be controlled by modifications in Kelheim’s viscose short cut fibers — and not only by the last process steps of converting or finishing, as it is often assumed.

Another benefit is the environmental credentials of viscose fibers. Wet wipes and other everyday hygiene products are made for one-time use only. Shortcut fibers from Kelheim allow for the production of nonwoven wipes that can be flushed down the toilet without the danger of clogging and that are completely biodegradable.

In beer filtration, too, the object is to substitute diatomite — which is viewed in an increasingly critical manner — with eco-friendly viscose fibres that are a 100-percent compostable and can therefore be disposed at low cost.

And finally, there is another common aspect: both applications require an extremely high level of physiological safety and hygiene standards. That is self-explanatory when it comes to wipes for personal care and even more obvious in food and beverage filtration — viscose fibers from Kelheim are ideally suited for both applications.

More than 700 participants from over thirty countries make use of the congress to learn more about the most recent innovations in the global fiber industry.

Dornbirn man Made Fibres Congress will be taking place on 20 - 22 September, 2016 in Austria.