Lyocell - Producers

Producers

Lyocell is manufactured by Lenzing AG in Mobile, Alabama, USA, in Grimsby, England, and in Heiligenkreuz, Burgenland, Austria.

Production of Lyocell involves chemically dissolving cellulose then filtering and wet-spinning the resulting dope into fibers. However, dissolving the cellulose at a fast enough rate to make it commercially profitable requires the cellulose dope to be in a highly viscous and concentrated state. Once the viscous mass reaches the spinnerets, it is difficult to force through the spinneret nozzles. A multi-stage solution known as the MasterConti process was developed. This process separates the highly viscous dissolution phase from the downstream phases that require a less viscous state in order to be most productive. The MasterConti process provides a continuous masterbatch process, to overcome these limitations by separating the dissolution process from the downstream processes. The MasterConti process features a robust kneader reactor, able to easily handle the highly viscous cellulose dope. The dope then enters a mixer-diluter that reduces the viscosity to a consistency that is optimal for spinning. By keeping the two processes separate, the MasterConti process enables manufacturers to maintain the best environment for each phase. As a result, producers are able to:

• improve product quality
• achieve higher shear for better homogenization
• realize greater process intensification with multi-step processing