Ashland Specialty Ingredients
Preserving wipe systems in line with natural product trends
Ashland Specialty Ingredients has recognized a need for preservatives that do not contain alcohol, parabens, isothiazolones, halogens or formaldehyde donors among manufacturers of wipes and other personal care products who, at the same time, request cost-effective progressive preservative systems. Ashland’s new Optiphen P preservative technology platform addresses these needs. The new technology offering is based on an optimized delivery system that maximizes the efficacy of the actives.

The Optiphen DP preservative is the first technology from this platform to be introduced to the market. It is based on benzoic acid and DHA and also contains propanediol, propylene carbonate and PVP. The product provides comprehensive antimicrobial protection in both aqueous and emulsion type formulations. Additionally, this preservative meets the growing consumer trend for natural products and conforms to the requirements of several eco-labels, including Bra Miljöval (Good Environmental Choice), Nordic Eco-labelling (Swan), and the EU Eco-label (Flower) 2014/893/EC.

The Optiphen DP preservative is easy to use. The addition of 1% Optiphen DP preservative showed excellent efficacy when combined with 0.3% of the booster Optiphen OD preservative in wipes systems. Specifically, baby wet wipes (pH 4.5 – 5.0) were inoculated with mixed microbial suspensions containing approximately 107 cfu/ml microorganisms. The wet wipes were then stored at room temperature in the dark and the microbial load was evaluated after seven, 14 and 21 days after inoculation. No growth of bacteria, yeast or fungi was detected after 21 days of inoculation. The antimicrobial activity was also improved by incorporating chelators such as EDTA
and GLDA (0.1 – 0.2%).  The wipe system did not show any yellowing.

The Optiphen DP preservative has been shown to protect products in the range of 0.3% to 2.0%. Optiphen DP preservative contains organic acids, and accordingly, is recommended for products at pH of 6.0 or lower.

Daikin America
Efforts to Phase Out C8 Underway
Daikin America, part of Daikin Industries, is a supplier of fluorine based water, oil, and alcohol repellent chemistries. The company has manufacturing assets in both the U.S. and Japan and offers inventory and technical support globally for the healthcare, filtration and automotive nonwoven markets.

Recent efforts have centered on phasing out C8, or long chain, PFC to comply with the U.S. EPA and other global agencies. Daikin now offers many products with different performance characteristics aimed at specific markets that require different functionality.

“Our focus over the last few years is to provide C6 chemistry to match the C8 performance,” says company spokesman Thomas Poston.
“This can be challenging, but doable. Our customers expect performance but are also determined to have consistent quality and supply, which we assure.”

To achieve this, Daikin has invested in facilities and research and development resources for long term supply and continuous product improvements. The result has been the company’s evolution from a fabric treatment supplier to a full surface modification supplier for many substrates. New efforts include products that improve weatherability, finger print smudges and other attributes.

Eastman Chemical Company
Cyphrex Microfibers Work in Wetlaid
Eastman’s Cyphrex microfibers bring together world-class technology and a proprietary microfiber process that lets Eastman produce synthetic microfibers in unique combinations of sizes, shapes and materials. The technology behind Cyphrex is unlike anything else on the market.

The highly engineered and highly uniform bicomponent fibers precursors are comprised of typical fiber-grade polymers such as polyesters, polyolefins or polyamides and a proprietary water-dispersible copolyester. These novel bicomponent fibers are then precisely cut to prescribed lengths, and they are then processed with nothing more than hot water to remove the proprietary water-dispersible polymer—the result being a wet-lap pulp of Cyphrex microfibers.

These microfibers have been shown to integrate easily into existing wetlaid processes, thereby taking nonwoven and specialty paper product design opportunities to the next level. The pulp is quite compatible with other fiber materials such as cellulosics and glass, according to Jon Woods, general manager of nonwovens/Knowaste Technologies, Eastman Chemical Company.

“With new-and-novel fiber materials, customers can unlock new possibilities, creating innovative and unique products on existing assets—a sea change that allows Eastman to explore a vast design space with our customers.”

Early work with Cyphrex microfibers focused on round shapes for high surface-area-to-mass ratio. More recently, ongoing work with nonwovens industry leaders has led to the development of flat PET microfibers that have a unique cross section.

“These flat microfibers are especially easy to disperse in water without special shear or agitation and have been shown to be very effective at contributing improved strength and uniformity to many wetlaid nonwoven formulation,” Woods says. “Eastman Cyphrex microfibers satisfy the ever-increasing performance needs for demanding roll goods and media markets—especially for customers whose wetlaid nonwoven applications will benefit from precision, strength and uniformity.”

In April, Eastman announced that Cyphrex microfibers can be considered a synthetic material option for use in the papermaking industry.

Cyphrex flat PET microfibers also offer many processing and functionality advantages over traditional synthetic fibers, including compatibility with traditional paper mill dispersion equipment as well as most papermaking machinery, and easy dispersion in water with minimal shear or agitation. Furthermore, these microfibers can be blended with cellulose fibers in any ratio to add strength, formation and permeability.

In addition to these process-related benefits, the unique cross section of Cyphrex flat PET microfibers enables them to orient parallel to the paper surface for a remarkably smooth finish, and this shape also improves fiber-to-fiber bonding to create papers with excellent formation and improved tensile, tear and burst strength.

Woods says he sees customer needs changing in both specialty papers and nonwovens. “First, they want to be able to differentiate their products while essentially being limited to the same undifferentiated raw materials as are used by their competitors,” he says, adding,

“Second, they wish to eliminate the processing or final product tradeoff decisions that often come with a wide range of raw materials (i.e. synthetic, cellulose and even glass fibers) in nonwoven and paper product development.”

Eastman Cyphrex microfibers not only provide a new, highly-functional tool for the product developer’s toolbox, but also allow that new functionality to be accessed without the need for significant process or asset modification.

“Not only have these new materials been shown (on commercial scale flat-wire machines at fiber consistencies comparable to cellulose) to produce high-performing, high-strength synthetic nonwovens, but also product developers who use Cyphrex microfibers can access unique performance attributes while avoiding many of the final product trade-offs that typically come with using a combinations of synthetic and cellulosic fibers,” Woods says. “Furthermore, their unique geometry and composition provide for wet strength unprecedented for a synthetic fiber, which allows for ease of production—even for 100% synthetic fiber media.”

Omnova Solutions
Unique Hydrophilic Finishing Treatment For Nonwovens
Omnova Solutions’ SoftWick NW 10 hydrophilic finishing treatment for nonwoven fabrics is a dual-action treatment, providing softness and wicking properties for improved fluid management. This product addresses the needs brought on by new market trends, namely thinner diapers.

“For many applications, best wicking means better fluid management, offering the potential to design garment systems that require less bulky material thus lowering bulk, weight and cost,” says Pablo Leon Escobar, global marketing, Omnova. “This helps deliver end-use advantages that conform to hygiene trends such as greater comfort and discretion.”

SoftWick NW10 has been developed for polyester, polyethylene, polypropylene and cellulose nonwoven substrates including disposable hygiene, wipes, medical gowns and other applications that require both softness and wicking properties.

Techmer PM
Additive for FDA Food Contact Regs
Techmer PM, a producer of value-added colors and additives for the plastics and fiber industries, recently introduced PM16888, an antistat additive designed for applications requiring components that are sanctioned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and not reportable under California’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Proposition 65).
The new additive, designed specifically to comply with Prop. 65, provides Techmer PM’s consumer products customers a competitive advantage because it meets FDA criteria for food contact, thereby offering a seamless solution for being in compliance with Prop. 65. Common customer applications for PM16888 include food packaging, as well as products designed to include FDA- sanctioned components.

“We are pleased to offer this new antistat additive to meet our customers’ diverse requirements for producing innovative products that are also in compliance with federal and state regulations,” says Kaan Serpersu, product development and analytical engineer. “The addition of PM16888 underscores Techmer PM’s innovation in the plastics industry. It also demonstrates our strategy to proactively address compliance issues facing our customers and be ahead of the curve on a far-reaching solution for California and beyond.”  n