【Frontiers in HaiChuan Technology】Nanjing University has designed and developed a new type of bio-based spandex material

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Spandex is regarded as the \"umami\" of textiles; in the textile and apparel industry, it is said that \"no fabric can be made without spandex.\" The value of textiles containing spandex fibers worldwide exceeds 330 billion yuan per year. Compared to conventional spandex, bio-based spandex uses renewable biomass as raw material instead of non-renewable petroleum-based materials. It offers advantages such as being environmentally friendly, using renewable raw materials, having a low carbon footprint during production, and being biodegradable. It aligns with the concept of green and sustainable development in fiber manufacturing, and is a product that is under active research in the international textile materials sector. However, existing similar products in the United States and South Korea are extremely expensive, with a biochar content of less than 40%. “The conventional approach to producing bio-based spandex involves using bio-based poly**furane to create such spandex; however, this process is lengthy and results in high production costs. We adopt a route that is completely different from the poly**furane-based bio-based spandex approach; by using entirely new bio-based raw materials and a novel approach to spandex production, along with molecular structure design and modifications to the polymerization process, 70% of the components of these spandex fibers come from bio-based materials. Compared to products made from fossil-based materials, this approach can reduce the carbon footprint by up to 44%, while still maintaining the same performance parameters as traditional Lycra fibers. ”As explained by Professor Sun Jie from Nanjing University of Technology, a member of the project team. Spandex fibers place extremely high demands on the spinning raw materials and the properties of the resulting products. The viscosity of the spinning solution must be appropriate, and the properties of the fibers produced must meet specified standards in terms of elongation rate, recovery rate, tensile strength, and tension decay rate. For example, 20D bio-based spandex fibers are extremely thin – a fiber 9,000 meters long weighs only 20 grams. Additionally, considerations such as wearing comfort, material elasticity, and the yield of the spinning process must also be taken into account, making development a highly challenging task. After nearly 5 years of joint efforts, including hundreds of adjustments to experimental plans, technical formulations, and production processes, we were able to develop this new bio-based spandex product. ” China’s first new bio-based spandex product has been developed; it is the only spandex fiber product in the world whose bio-carbon content meets the EU’s three-star standard (the EU OK Biobased standard)! In October 2023, the team led by Professor Guo Kai from Nanjing Tech University, in collaboration with Lianyungang Du Zhong Xino Amino Spandex Co., Ltd. and Sumida Light Textiles International Group, designed and developed new structures and products based on bio-based spandex materials. The bio-based spandex fibers produced met top-quality standards in terms of performance; their cost was much lower than that of similar products available internationally, while their biochar content was significantly higher than that of comparable international products. The project has also developed three new grades of bio-based spandex, and the new structures of these products have been protected by domestic and international invention patents. China’s first new bio-based spandex product has been developed; it is the only spandex fiber product in the world whose bio-carbon content meets the EU’s three-star standard (the EU OK Biobased standard)!