use of functionalised viscose fibres in medicine and hygiene
TRANSCRIPT
53rd Man-Made Fibers Congress, Dornbirn 2014
Kelheim Fibres GmbH
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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