Partners to launch pilot for lyocell fibre from microbial cellulose
Australian biomaterials company Nanollose and Indian manmade fibre manufacturer Birla Cellulose have filed a joint patent-application joint patent application for a high-tenacity lyocell fibre made from microbial cellulose.
Nanollose uses a fermentation process to grow fibres that it believes could become “a sustainable alternative to conventional plant-derived cellulose fibres”.
It has described the new idea as “a major advancement” over its early versions of viscose, which it called Nullarbor and Nufolium, names that reflect the tree-free nature of its products.
It explained that fibre experts at the pulp and fibre innovation centre its new partner’s parent company, Grasim, runs in India had used the lyocell process to produce a Nullarbor fibre that Nanollose has described as “finer than silk and significantly stronger than the conventional lyocell that is traditionally produced from wood pulp”.
The companies now plan to go into pilot-phase production of the product and make initial commercial quantities of the fibre to enable commercial agreements with “a select number of fashion brands”.
