 |
 News & Events
|
|
October 06, 2005 - Ingeo™ Fiber Backgrounder
The Fiber and the Brand
Ingeo™ fiber is the world's first and only man-made fiber based on NatureWorks® PLA and coming from 100 percent annually renewable resources such as maize, not oil. Ingeo represents an innovation for both responsible business practices as well as polymer science. It is a catalyst for innovation and creativity offering a more sustainable choice for all textiles in the future. Ingeo fiber offers the best of both worlds: the appeal and aesthetic of a natural based fiber with the cost and performance benefits needed to compete with conventional synthetic fibers that depend on familiar but limited petrochemical resources, the higher costs of which are currently being seen by the textile industry at large.
The Technology
NatureWorks LLC's proprietary process for manufacturing the polymer used to make Ingeo fiber on an industrial scale centers on the fermentation, distillation and polymerization of a simple plant sugar, maize dextrose. The company essentially harvests the carbon stored in the sugars to make the polylactide resin called NatureWorks® PLA. The resulting resin can then be spun or otherwise processed into Ingeo fiber for use in a wide range of textile applications.
Applications
The natural source and inherent performance attributes of Ingeo fiber make it ideal for use in a wide range of fiber applications:
Apparel - Ingeo fiber is used in many different apparel applications: contemporary sports and casualwear - t.shirts , fleece and jeans. Functional fashion separates- shirtings, trousers, duvet jackets, jersey dressing and essential next- to- skin items such as underwear and hosiery. Ingeo fiber can also be used in new fibrefill blends for thermal wadding that offers unique natural insulation properties
Hometextiles - Ingeo fiber is used in different hometextile product categories thanks to its unique features . It is suitable for bedding fiberfill (such as pillows, duvets and quilts), ticking fabrics, mattresses, blankets, carpets, draperies., upholstery fibrefill and in office wall panelling.
Nonwovens - Ingeo fiber is already in use in two non woven applications: wipes and feminine hygiene products. With its unique end-of-life options, it is well suited for use in cosmetics, diapers, apparel, agri and industrial applications.
Reduced Environmental Impact
Ingeo fiber leads the way toward producing a wide range of materials from renewable resources, to meet the world's needs today without compromising the earth's ability to meet the needs of tomorrow.
Ingeo fiber is an environmentally preferable option to petroleum-based synthetic materials:
It uses an annually renewable resource, field corn, instead of petroleum, to make synthetic materials.
NatureWorks PLA is the world's first greenhouse-gas-neutral polymer.*
Products made with Ingeo fiber are compostable where that attribute is desired.
From cradle to resin, production of Ingeo fiber uses 68 percent less fossil fuel resources than resins for traditional synthetic fibers.
For customers who view maize variety as an important market issue, the company offers certification, source offset and identity-preserved NatureWorks PLA.
About NatureWorks LLC
NatureWorks LLC is a stand-alone company wholly owned by Cargill. Dedicated to meeting the world's needs today without compromising the earth's ability to meet the needs of tomorrow, NatureWorks LLC is the first company to offer a family of commercially available polymers derived from 100 percent annually renewable resources with cost and performance that compete with petroleum-based packaging materials and fibers. The company applies its unique technology to the processing of natural plant sugars to create a proprietary polylactide polymer, which is marketed under the NatureWorks® PLA and Ingeo® fibers brand names. For more information about NatureWorks and its brands, please visit www.natureworksllc.com.
Note to editors:
Founded in 1997, NatureWorks LLC is based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, USA. It is the first company to offer a family of commercially available polymers derived from annually renewable resources with the cost and performance to compete with petroleum-based packaging materials and fibers. The company has achieved this breakthrough by applying its unique technology to the processing of natural plant sugars to create a proprietary polylactide polymer, which is marketed under the NatureWorks® PLA and Ingeo™ fiber brand names. For more information about NatureWorks and its brands, please visit www.ingeofibers.com.
Ingeo and the Ingeo logo are trademarks of NatureWorks LLC. | For Editorial Information: | | |
|
|