antimicrobia nonsense

THE ANTIMICROBIAL NONSENSE CONTINUES

Sustainable solutions in antimicrobials

July 24th, 2017 /

With environmental concerns about traditional treatments, the industry works to offer more eco-friendly options.

Antimicrobial properties are fast becoming an expected treatment in textiles for applications that range from hospital drapes and linen, to contract and domestic textiles, as well as clothing. While offering protection from germs is a positive, there has been some disquiet concerning the environmental impact of antimicrobial treatments.

In response, fiber and fabric manufacturers are quietly working at finding more sustainable solutions, and the resulting innovations are now starting to become available on the market.

Water pollution is one of the primary concerns with antimicrobial treatments that rely on silver as their active ingredient. Researchers and manufacturers are looking at ways to avoid this through the production process and find alternatives that do not compromise performance.

For years we have heard about silver as an ingredient for killing odors. Now we learn that silver is losing favor in the textile industry.

The Canadian manufacturer Filspec™ has developed two alternatives approaches to antimicrobial treatments: Pearlite™ Rayon and RecoveryFil™. Pearlite Rayon takes its active ingredient from the inside of oyster shells that would normally go straight to the landfill. A pearl viscose offers antimicrobial properties alongside moisture absorption and a soft handle, suitable particularly for sports clothing such as socks.

Oyster shells do not go straight to the land fill. Oyster shells are deposited back into the ocean so the calcium is there to grow more oysters. There is a book “THE BIG OYSTER” that explains this. The use of oyster shells being ground up I guess and introduced into fabric is nonsense.

RecoveryFil uses zinc oxide (ZnO) as an alternative to silver as the active ingredient. It is combined with a Tencel/Lyocell viscose and additional viscose that has been embedded with fine-powdered shell from mother-of-pearl that offers protection from UV rays. The result is a fabric that provides anti-bacterial and SPF 50 sun protection with a soft handle, which makes it well suited for clothing and intimate apparel.

Now we replace silver with zinc oxide and the calcium from ground up mother of pearl. I did not realize that mother of pearl was protection from UV rays, what a benefit.

In the Slovak Republic, Chemosvit Fibrochem a.s. has been producing fibers for 75 years and since 1974 specializing in polypropylene under the trade name PROLEN® YARN. Yarn qualities include flame retardancy, moisture management and antibacterial properties.

This company not only makes a yarn that is antimicrobial but also has flame retardant and moisture management properties. Imagine a synthetic material that manages moisture. Nonsense!

Everest Textile Co. Ltd.is one of the companies that has received accreditation in the production of antibacterial textiles. Their Nano Silver yarn has undergone testing for cell and oral toxicity, skin irritation and performance after dyeing and finishing. In AATCC100 tests involving 100 washes, the material was found to retain 99 percent of its antibacterial effectiveness. The association has a large number of standards compiled including the TN-024 V+V specifically for nanosilver and antibacterial textiles.

I guess Everest doesn’t know that silver is losing favor. Note all of the things that it is tested for. Also, note that it can be washed 100 times and still retain the chemicals so they can leach into your skin for a while.

New opportunity

Environmental concerns around traditional antimicrobial processes have forced researchers and manufacturers to seek creative solutions to the problem. What is emerging are new developments in manufacturing process that use less material and in more economical ways, coupled with the introduction of novel alternatives. All of these indicate that problems can also be opportunities.

Just like government; create non-existent problem and then a life time trying to correct what wasn’t a problem to begin with!

ARTICLE NUMBER TWO

Antimicrobial use in today’s textile industry

July 24th, 2017

Early in the manufacturing process, nonwoven materials can be imbued with additives and masterbatches that deliver antimicrobial performance alongside colorants, flame retardants, strength enhancers, softening agents and more in one pellet.

Considering that the article identifies that the fiber is made from a pellet, that means it is synthetic. If the antimicrobial chemical is added to the pellet when it is made the antimicrobial chemical is encapsulated so how will it work? It will not!

Where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going.

While antimicrobial usage in textiles is not a new development, shifting market conditions and price pressures are now changing paradigms around how antimicrobial materials are chosen and integrated into textiles—and are requiring research and development focused on finding alternative chemistries to meet the changing needs of the market, as a result.

If it is the health of the customer buying a garment that has antimicrobial properties is so important why is price a consideration?

How antimicrobials are chosen

The choice of an ideal antimicrobial product for a given application depends on the spectrum of efficacy desired against various microbes, finer details of the environment that the product will encounter, chemistry of the textile material and the regulatory landscape.

You would think after all of the years that these chemical companies have been working on this so called problem they would already know the various microbes they are trying to kill.

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Incorporation of antimicrobials at the fiber-forming stage through the use of a masterbatch offers durability of antimicrobial performance, since the antimicrobial additive becomes an integral part of the fiber. On the contrary, antimicrobial properties using topical treatments, while lower in cost, are not permanent and degrade over time. As a result, adding antimicrobials during yarn manufacturing is widely regarded as preferable from a performance standpoint. As such, there is often a cost/performance tradeoff to pursuing post-production antimicrobial agent application.

Once again the cost factor rears its head. If this is so important to the safety of the individual cost should be no object.

Material choice. Silver has long been regarded as the most effective chemistry for combatting bacterial growth. In recent years, however, the cost of silver has increased dramatically, pushing cost-conscious textile manufacturers to seek alternatives. Organic chemistries, on the other hand, exhibit limited thermal stability and are not effective for incorporating into textile fibers during the spinning process.

The previous article said that silver was a no, no., maybe that was because of the cost, versus not being the healthiest of chemicals.

How the industry is adapting

Antimicrobial performance is useful not only for healthcare applications, but in sports and other apparel where odor control is beneficial..

Clearly, the need for antimicrobial-treated textiles is strong, but many of the antimicrobial solutions the industry has relied upon to date are either not meeting the performance needs or not meeting the cost needs of manufacturers currently. As a result, industry research and development scientists are approaching the market challenges from multiple angles:

Clearly there is no need for any antimicrobial chemicals. The only reason they say it has a strong desire is because they want to sell their non-sense. The fact that this stuff is not meeting the performance needs is not a surprise. Then there they go again about cost.

As for approaching the market from different angles; how about just giving up! There is no need except to try and hood wink people into thinking they need the chemicals covering their bodies for no reason.

MY CONCLUSION

As you can see the textile industry has once again gotten on to something and refuses to accept what they are doing makes no sense. There is many thousands of dollars being spent, I believe being wasted, on a project that will never have any results that do as these people would like.

There are analogies that can be shown where the textile industry and its related chemical industry is attempting to accomplish something that can’t be done. The first that comes to mind is the waterproof – breathable nonsense. No matter how often it fails which has been going on for 40 plus years now. Those involved refuse to give up. Another is making down waterproof or all of the chopped staple fiberfill products that do not function.

Einstein said trying to do the same thing over and over always getting the same result while you are looking for a different result is insanity!!!!

Just remember it all boils down to the best way to extract monies from the customer regardless if the product works or not. none of the above works!!