Innovation

The Lenzing biorefinery is at the center of our innovation agenda. Fully based on wood as the source material, our biorefinery produces cellulose fiber and biorefinery products, as well as bio-energy for our facilities.  

Our biorefinery concept respects the assets of every tree: Use all, spoil none—we make the best use of this natural resource and turn it into as many valuable products as possible. Cellulose makes for about half of a tree’s natural content. The remaining parts, however, are equally precious. Therefore, we aim to utilize and commercialize all of the wood’s natural components by turning them into useful solutions for various industries.

Our biorefinery products, for example, are valuable supplies to the food industry: acetic acid acts as the perfect ingredient to pickle vegetables, and xylitol is used as a low-calorie sugar substitute.

Behind every cellulose fiber innovation there’s a sophisticated, highly complex technological process. Hence, small-scale facilities for testing and pilot production are absolutely vital. Our R&D teams are provided with a state-of-the-art work environment to explore and experiment: 

• Pulping: Our technical center can simulate all established pulping technologies. This enables our researchers to continuously optimize cellulose production technologies.
• Bleaching: Back in the Seventies, Lenzing developed a ground-breaking, eco-conscious method for totally chlorine free (TCF) bleaching. Since then, thanks to top-notch research facilities, our R&D team has made even more progress with this technology—steadily improving and refining it to a level that is truly exceptional in our industry.
• Chromatography and Spectroscopy: Numerous modern analytical devices and instrumental methods focusing on chromatography and spectroscopy serve as the basis for the dedicated characterization of wood, pulp, fiber and process media. Thus, our R&D teams can properly address even the most complex technological issues.    

When we process the natural and renewable raw material cellulose into fibers, we apply methods that are as environment-friendly as possible. This complex and sophisticated technology is our core competence, which lies at the center of Lenzing’s innovation agenda.

Lenzing produces wood-based cellulose fibers in great quantities. Our fibers are manufactured either by the Lyocell process, or the viscose process. For both processes, our R&D department can rely on advanced small-scale testing facilities and laboratory simulations to thoroughly analyze this technology for further improvement.

The Lyocell technology, used to produce fibers such as TENCEL™ and VEOCEL™, is our main priority in R&D. The capabilities of our fibers amaze us each and every day: They offer seemingly endless potential for meaningful, life-improving applications. At the same time, they are unmatched regarding resource preservation. And our next-level, advanced Lyocell technologies are underway: We’re currently exploring and testing them in our pilot plants.

Each Lenzing innovation is driven by the ambition to improve people’s lives. Our inspirations are the needs of consumers and product users, as well as the requirements of our business partners. To the latter, fiber quality and process efficiency are most relevant. That’s how we came to generating ideas like flame retardant fibers for protection wear or the new filament yarn TENCEL™ Luxe for luxury fashion.

Besides exploring new products, we’re also committed to our pioneer spirit when it comes to improving existing fibers. More often than not, these developments are based on close collaboration with our partners. To begin, our researchers provide the scientific fundamentals on fiber specifications and achievable product properties. We then develop the applications while carefully considering our partner’s individual requirements. Due to this efficient workflow, costly flops and failures are effectively prevented. 

We strongly believe in the innovative power of shared expertise. Therefore, the development of new fiber applications is mostly done in close collaboration with our partners as well. Together, we invent new solutions for clothing (e.g. denim, shirts, work wear) and home textiles (e.g. carpets, bedding). We closely work together to explore Nonwoven innovations and to improve applications, such as hygiene products or wipes. With our industrial partners, we work on advanced solutions, such as sustainable packaging or battery separators. Mutual inspiration, intercultural exchange, task sharing and our dedication to support and service can open the path to truly innovative ideas. Realizing great ideas together with our global network of partners is something we are very proud of.  

Consistently looking beyond fiber, we seek to know how our products prove themselves in practice. We want our fibers to perform excellently when our partners develop them into smart, desirable fashion pieces. Therefore, our operations in Lenzing and Hong Kong offer a variety of testing facilities. In these technical centers, we provide state-of-the-art facilities for spinning, weaving, knitting and dye work. Our textile industry partners and customers can test our fibers during each stage of their production process, from start to finish. At our Lenzing site, equally sophisticated laboratory and testing facilities are available for Nonwoven applications. 

With our technical application center, we make a substantial contribution to our partners’ business success: Starting with the very first unit they process, our customers know exactly how to optimize their manufacturing set-up and configurations to make the best possible use of Lenzing fibers.

Testing at Lenzing also extends to everyday product use. We evaluate functional and practical performance under laboratory conditions. For example:

• the flammability of a woven material
• the appearance of a fabric after repeated washing and ironing
• the appearance of a fabric after being subject to long-term mechanical strain

In the textile industry, Lenzing is the preferred partner for leading companies. Besides our engineering excellence, there is another good reason for the high esteem we enjoy: our team in Technical Customer Service (TCS). This group of experts offers consultancy and support to businesses around the world, thus helping our partners to maximize the value of Lenzing fibers in their operations.

Our TCS experts are an international group of seasoned specialists in fiber applications. Their knowhow stretches from spinning, weaving and knitting, to all stages of converting, processing and finish. The Lenzing site is home base for the TCS team. Here the team draws on the valuable insights and learnings from our application technology and testing work. TCS then takes this knowhow directly to our global customers and partners, which helps support them in their operation optimization. This value-adding service offer is truly one of a kind in the global fiber industry. And undoubtedly one of the top secrets behind Lenzing’s success.