Bio-fiber is defined as a type of environmental friendly fiber deriving from renewable natural fibers including animal fiber, vegetable fiber and bio-based synthetic fiber. By reinforcing the development of bio-fiber, the textile resources could be enlarged effectively and thus offset the raw material insufficiency that China textile industry is confronted with. Also, the development of bio-fiber is also an important approach to relieve the crude oil deficiency and realize a sustainable way for textile industry.

Major categories of bio-fiber include PTT fiber, PLA fiber, PHA fiber series and PBS fiber series.

Several large-scale textile companies in China, Haitian Corporation, Ximen Xianglu Chemical Fiber and Fineyarn Corporation are all conducting research to develop PTT fiber using Sorona^® as a raw material. Shenghong Chemical Fiber has already successfully developed PTT shape-retention fiber and ultrafine fiber. The construction of second-stage 100,000-ton PTT spinning program has been kicked off.

PLA fiber is undoubtedly a new eco-friendly fiber with widespread applications. Currently only 5% of the markets share of PET and PS fiber was replaced by PLA fiber. The marketplace demand, however, has surpassed 1.2 million tons per annum. Many of China´s domestic colleges and chemical fiber companies were also carrying out the research of PLA fiber.

PBS fiber has already been industrialized by Showa Highpolymer of Japan and American Eastman Chemical with annual output of 5,000 tons and 15,000 tons respectively. Many renowned universities including Nankai University, Tsinghua University and Chinese Academy of Sciences all carried out the research of PBS fiber.

Contemporarily, China´s bio-fiber industry is developing surprisingly quickly. The overall capacity in 2009 totaled 1.91 million tons accounting for 77% of global output. Many listed companies, such as Shandong Helon and Jilin Chemical Fiber Group all made some progress toward the development of bio-fiber.

Source: China Textile Leader