After a fire at Kelheim Fibres’ production plant in October 2018, the Bavarian viscose fiber specialists are gradually rebuilding their production capacity from currently 40% to full capacity by the middle of 2020.
While doing so, Kelheim Fibres deliberately focuses on the opportunities offered by the reconstruction of their plant: “In the future we will concentrate even more ever on specialty fibers. This strategy, combined with new state-of-the-art production lines, even better environmental performance and more than 80 years of experience in viscose fiber production will make us stronger and our business even more robust”, says Matthew North, Commercial Director at Kelheim Fibres. “‘Coming back stronger’ will be our motto for 2019.”
The IDEA19 fair provides the perfect platform to prove this point: Kelheim Fibres will present a new viscose fiber specialty, Danufil QR, which was specifically designed for use in disinfectant wipes. While standard viscose fibers, due to their negative charge, bind up to 80% of so-called “quats” (quarternary ammonium compounds, a common disinfectant) and so hinder their actual purpose, the positively charged Danufil QR can reduce this undesired effect to less than 10%.
Softness, excellent fluid management and full biodegradability are the typical properties of viscose fibers – with the use of Danufil QR, disinfectant wipes can now also benefit from these. The new specialty fiber has already impressed one panel of experts: Danufil QR has been selected as a finalist for the IDEA 2019 Achievement Awards in the category “raw materials”.
Alongside Danufil QR, the Kelheim Fibres team will showcase a broad range of established as well as new fiber specialties at IDEA19, such as, Galaxy, the world’s leading fiber for tampon production, and Viloft shortcut fibers for the manufacturing of flushable wipes in hall B, booth no. 834.