Procotex, a provider of environment-friendly fibres

JEC Composites Magazine: Procotex specializes in flax fi-bres and in the recycling of syn-thetic fibres (primarily PP) and technical fibres such as carbon and aramid. Which are the larg-est markets for your products in composite manufacturing?Bruno Douchy : The ap-plications of our recycled fibres are quite diverse. PP fibres are mostly used as thermobonding fibres in the automotive and felt sectors. If you blend 50% of PP fibres with 50% of natural fibres such as flax or kenaf, you can produce hard interior panels such as doors, shelves, etc. Using only 10% PP fibres in a blend with other inexpen-sive recycled synthetic fibres, then you can produce insula-tion felts/paddings. Another application is the manufacture of geotextile felts. Mixed 100% synthetic fibres are mostly used to wrap drainage tubes, etc. Flax and recycled natural

fibres are mainly used in the geotextile and mattress sectors. Natural fibres are also increas-ingly used in automotive applications as they are strong, recyclable and absorb impact/vibrations and noise. Technical fibres such as recycled carbon and aramid fibres are mostly used in high-end markets such as thermoset and thermoplas-tic applications that need extra strength or extra electrical con-ductivity (carbon). Recycled dry/wet milled aramid (pulp) is also used in applications where friction plays a major role. Last but not least, the spinning industry can use our pulled recycled aramid fibres for spinning. These strong and heat-resistant products are used, for example, in gloves to protect workers from cutting and burning.JCM: Procotex has subsidiaries in Belgium, France, Lithuania and Turkey. Do you have other investment plans abroad? How

ing of the borders worldwide (WTO agreements). A major part of the European spinning industry moved to China and Far-East countries. Price has become a crucial parameter in the textile industry. So we had no other choice than delocal-ize our mill from Belgium to Lithuania to become competi-tive again in the world market. Luckily, the raw materials for flax fibres will always remain in Northern France (Nor-mandy) and Belgium as these two countries have the ideal climate, soil and experience to cultivate flax. Only the process-ing industry has moved to low-wage countries. Unfortunately, this also hap-pened in the carpet industry, where Belgium used to be the world leader for the manu-facture of PP carpets. Today, Turkey is taking over this role. For this reason, we had to follow to be able to recycle PP waste where it is produced. But

many countries are you cur-rently working with?B.D. : As you know, the Euro-pean textile industry has been experiencing a continuous restructuring since the open-

interviewBruno Douchy

Director SaleS

Procotex

point of view: greener solutions

4 jec composites magazine / No88 April 2014

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Masters in flax, recycled natural, synthetic and technical fibres. This is how Procotex Corporation defines itself. The Belgium-headquar-

tered company can deliver a wide range of environment-friendly solutions. Let’s see with Bruno Douchy, Sales Director of Procotex,

what his company’s portfolio has to offer to composites.

We see a lot of opportunities and applications in the near future for recycled carbon and aramid fibres

We see a lot of opportunities and applications in the near future for recycled carbon and aramid fibres

In composites, the best mechanical properties are achieved by using full unidirectional layers rather than yarns, fabrics or flax rovings. Unidirectional layers have high mechanical properties due to the absence of torque (twist) and shrinkage. A cross-ply laminate of UD layers made of flax and a PP matrix

offers a rigidity of more than 10 GPa for a 35% fibre volume fraction. In a composite, this results in a strength of 130 MPa and a density of 1.05 g/cm³. Precisely because of its many years of hackling experience, Procotex can offer UD flax prepregs which are quite regular in weight and fibre per square meter. Procotex provides UD flax prepregs for both the thermoplastics and thermoset markets. In coope-ration with the customer, by-products can also be delivered such as UD flax fibres in the form of a flat strip (raffia), spread tow fabrics, etc.

we are still very positive about Europe as regards innovative technical textiles for compos-ites. Knowledge and innova-tion on a smaller scale are the key words to succeed in this market. The consumption of carbon fibres is growing rapidly in the composite sector. Today, certain airplanes include up to 50% or more composite ma-terials, which are much lighter than steel. The automotive sector is beginning to follow this trend with cars made from carbon fibre-based materials. With this growth in applica-tions, we have seen increases in the quantities of waste. We are happy, as a recycler of natural and synthetic fibres, to enter the world of technical fibres. We see a lot of opportunities and applications in the near future for recycled carbon and aramid fibres, which are very expensive as a first choice material.

Thanks to the acquisition of Apply Carbon in France, Procotex inherited many years of technological experience in the milling and cutting of carbon and aramid waste lots. Because of their excellent properties, carbon and aramid fibres are increasingly used in the composite industry. This is also why, together with the

industry, we are working on a solution involving industrial waste and end-of-life carbon/aramid waste. Sustainabil-ity and conservation of raw materials have always been the cornerstones of our corporate philosophy.

By using post-industrial carbon/aramid waste lots, Procotex is able to take on a really competitive position. Strict daily quality control in our modern laboratory is also a competitive benefit that makes Procotex really unique. A unique service for an excep-tional product! Did you know that carbon fibres can help increase the strength, rigidity, dimensional stability, electrical conductivity and sound damp-ening properties of polymers?

Today, we do not have specific countries in mind where we could invest in the near future. But if we encounter new op-portunities, we will certainly study them.

To reply to the second part of the question, Procotex is exporting its products to more than 39 countries worldwide. As you know, the world has become a small village. We can no longer live on the local market alone.

JCM: How do you find a balance between buying and selling recycled fibres? What are the minimum quantities that you buy? B.D. : It is indeed true that we have to live from the waste available on the market. We can’t do like in the first choice market, where companies can invest in additional produc-tion by commissioning more extrusion lines to fulfil the growing demand. Supply and demand is actually the only way to work. We at Procotex understood quite early that we had a role to play in bringing stability between the demand and the supply by creat-ing large stocks so we could absorb sharp changes in the

No88 April 2014 / jec composites magazine 5

market of these waste types. This way, Procotex can go into the market and offer long-term contracts at a stable price. We also have to evaluate each market in terms of quantities. For example, we are process-ing around 20,000 metric tons of recycled synthetic and natural fibres per year, but only 1,000 tons of recycled technical fibres such as carbon or aramid. We have to take into consideration the waste supply and the applications where it can be used. There are a lot of major applications for PP, whereas the applications for carbon and aramid are rather limited.The minimum quantities do not matter. We can buy single lots of waste ranging (.../p.8)

Technical fibre range

Processing exampleProcessing example

(.../p.5) from only 100 kg to up to 200 metric tons. Waste purity, packaging, quantity per container, etc. are more important.

JCM: Do you recycle produc-tion waste for customers who incorporate these recycled fibres into their production? B.D. : Yes, for example we recycle PP waste from carpet or PP fibre manufacturers and we process it for use in other appli-cations such as thermobonding applications in the automotive-mattress industry. Another example is carbon fibre waste from the weaving industry, which we recycle into milled fibres for use in the compound-ing or thermoset industry. Or a simple jute bag which original-ly contained coffee beans can be reprocessed into recycled jute fibres for the nonwoven industry.

JCM: How do you see the future of recycled carbon fibres in relation to the price of recycled

vs. first grade fibres and their applications? B.D. : It is true that first grade carbon fibres are still very ex-pensive to produce because of the very high energy and pro-duction costs involved. It is also true that first choice fibres will always be used in more critical applications such as carbon woven fabrics for composite parts in the aeronautic industry. It is normal that the waste from these applications cannot be used again in the same ap-plications as the fibres are cut. Therefore, we recycle this waste using other processes such as milling for later use in new applications which are totally different from the original one. Recycled carbon products also have to be cheaper than virgin fibres so that new applications can be created. It took us years to find the right processes and recycled products for these new applications. As the prices of recycled carbon fibres are remaining relatively higher than glass fibres for example,

tions for technical fibres as they have very good mechanical properties.

JCM: You are also a specialist in flax fibre processing as this was the original activity of your com-pany. Is there any evolution in new applications for this product in the composite industry?B.D. : Yes, based on 40 years’ experience of hackling flax fibres for the spinning industry, we developed a UD (unidirec-tional) flax fibre prepreg. Flax fibres are green by nature. But as a 100% renewable raw mate-rial, these sustainable fibres are also perfectly recyclable, biode-gradable and compostable. Fur-thermore, they are exception-ally strong yet very lightweight. Flax fibre is characterised by a high rigidity, good vibration dampening properties and a low density (1.4 p (g/cm³)) compared to glass fibre (2.54 p (g/cm³)) and other composite fibres. As a thermal and acous-tic insulation material, it offers many ecological benefits and its environmental impact is lim-ited. Its low abrasion is also a strong point. Therefore, the use of this European natural fibre has grown in various traditional markets as well as in innovative industrial sectors such as the composite industry. These sec-tors are currently required to develop sustainable production processes. n

More information: www.procotex.com

we had to prove that recycled carbon fibres have almost the same properties as first choice carbon. In certain applications, we proved that recycled carbon fibres serve just as well as virgin carbon fibres.

JCM: What are the limitations to the use of recycled fibres in a wider range of applications? B.D. : First of all, we have to counter the idea that recycling is always a “sexy” industry. There are many limiting factors that we have to take into ac-count. Although we get certain waste free of charge, it can be very difficult to make a profit-able business. For example, recycling cheap products such as mattress production waste means that the application will also be a cheap one. This is so because you have a mixture of fibres and PU foam which can only be used in a limited way in lower end products. On the other hand, we have to take in account the economic picture. If your recycling process is too expensive compared to the potential market value, then it makes no sense to recycle the fibres. So it is always impor-tant to find a balance between the cost of recycling versus first grade fibres or possible applications. But of course, we continuously try to find appli-cations for each recycled fibre with the highest possible added value. We are convinced that we can find more new applica-

point of view: greener solutions

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waste recycling are established in Belgium. Procotex recently took over the French company Apply Carbon, which specializes in the milling and precision cutting of technical fibres such as carbon and aramid. Pro-cotex can rely on the commitment of 200 enthusiastic employees and generates a turnover of around EUR 50 million.

Procotex Corporation S.A. is a subsidiary of the Dolintex NV holding company. Dolintex has two delo-calized flax production sites in Lithuania. The head office and the production unit specializing in textile

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