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Nanollose extends partnership with Birla Cellulose

2023-03-22 08:24:53 CCFGroup

Aussie biotech company Nanollose has extended its collaboration agreement with Birla Cellulose for an additional two years, following ongoing research and development.

Birla Cellulose is a business unit of Grasim Industries that is responsible for fibres. Grasim is a division of multinational Indian conglomerate Aditya Birla Group.

Nanollose said the renewal is based on strong results in their research to date.

“We are pleased to confirm the extension of our product development partnership with Birla Cellulose, continuing an already successful collaboration which has resulted in several exciting results, particularly the higher tenacity of our Nullarbor fibres,”executive chairman Dr Wayne Best said.“The positive feedback from the industry on the quality and feel of the fabrics has also been very encouraging.

“More broadly, the extension marks continued interest of Birla Cellulose to pursue ongoing commercial opportunities for the technology based on work carried out and industry feedback received to-date.

“For Nanollose, it also provides a clear product development runway, to accelerate the development efforts towards commercialisation of this novel technology."

Since the collaboration began in January 2020, Nanollose and Birla Cellulose developed a high-tenacity lyocell fibre called Nullarbor from microbial cellulose - a Tree-Free form of cellulose made by a natural fermentation process on a range of wastes and by-products from the food and agricultural industries. The two companies said it was significantly stronger than conventional lyocell made from wood pulp, and could also be spun into a fibre finer than silk.

In January 2021, the partners filed a joint patent application for the invention in India which was followed by an international patent application via the Patent Cooperation Treaty in January 2022.

Nanollose and Birla Cellulose then undertook the first pilot production of fibre containing microbial cellulose, which produced a batch of 260kg of Nullarbor-20 - a blend of 20% microbial cellulose with 80% wood pulp.

The initial 260kg of fibre was converted into a variety of yarns and fabrics, which enabled samples to be sent to several fashion brands for appraisal. Nanollose said the feedback from textile and fashion professionals has been very positive.

Birla Cellulose and Nanollose also made a small batch of Nullarbor fibre from 100% microbial cellulose and converted it to yarn, which was then used to create a 3D-knitted garment designed by Lee Mathews that was launched at the Global Fashion Summit in Copenhagen in June 2022.

The next round of pilot fibre spin is scheduled in coming weeks.

Meanwhile, Nanollose and Birla Cellulose’s Nullarbor fibre won the Cellulose Fibre Innovation of the Year Award 2023, awarded by independent research group nova-institut GmbH.

Its Nullarbor fibre was voted the winner by a poll of conference delegates following a presentation from Dr Best.

“The Company’s recent presentation at the 2023 Cellulose Fibres Conference in Germany further highlights the ongoing recognition of our important work with Birla Cellulose,”Dr Best said.“We are confident this will lead to additional industry recognition and other opportunities in the near term.

“Our technology was very well received, and I'm delighted to report that it was awarded first prize.”

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