Spinning Values Podcast: Episode 3 - Part 1

Listen to Dr. V.G. Kulkarni, as we discuss BCF & its applications.

Transcript of the Conversation with with Dr. VG Kulkarni

Dr. VG - BCF - Episode 3 - part 1

Dr. VG: Solution dyeing is very sustainable. It's energy efficient and does not use water. Secondly, the fiber is colored uniformly throughout  , related to the post-date fiber. In a sense you can think of it as, since the polymer itself is colored first, you can think of it as color is an integral part or locked into the fiber. 

Rajeev: This is spinning values, a podcast initiative by Beekaylon synthetics. And I'm your host Rajeev. At spinning values, we bring you every month an interview with leading experts on synthetic yarn technology from around the globe.

We break down complex concepts and explore ideas that are at the forefront of sustainable manufacturing in today's circular economy.

This is episode number three, and we are talking to Dr. VG. Kulkarni from Americhem. A globally recognized manufacturer of custom color Masterbatches , functional additives, engineering compounds and performance technologies. Dr. VG as he is popularly known, heads technology and business development at Americhem.

Hello, Dr. VG. Thanks for your time. For coming on this podcast, just to set the context. Can you please. Introduce yourself and give us a little bit of a background before, talking about BCF. 

Dr. VG: Yeah.  my name is , Vaman Kulkarni and I have a technical background in chemistry and polymer science graduated from University of Akron. And I've been with Americhem  30 plus years working in the area of  Polyesters and  Masterbatches coloring functional additives. and  I lead the technology development  as well as business development globally.

Let's start with what a BCF stands for. You know it stands for bulk continuous filament. It is the type of yarn that is used to make carpets by and large synthetic fibers are the main polymers used in this market segment.. Basically there are three major classes of polymers.

You have nylons polyesters, and polyprolene. the nylon family includes both the nylon six and as well as six six, and the polyester family is by and large a PET or Polyethylene Terephthalate but it also includes a which is also known as Sorona. So it's one of the brands. Like one good thing to note here that although PET has been used in textiles for many years as a BCF fiber, it's a relatively recent that probably started in the early two thousands.

You know, primarily because of three key drivers here one the significant improvement in the BCF technology, secondly the lower cost of PET and the large amount of PET polymer that is available, as well as the recycled polymer. if you look at it over the last 10 years or so, PET has gained considerable market share at the expense of both the polypropylene as well as nylon. So it's primarily used in residential carpeting and today in almost command. So almost about 50% market share in that segment.

Rajeev: So that's about a brief overview of what BCF is and what are the different components of BCF Coming to the differences between these and why one is preferred over the other. Can you throw some light on that?

Dr. VG: Sure, Rajeev. You know, the fiber system, which is the face fiber of the carpet on which we literally walk it makes a big difference in the performance of the carpet.  If you look at the big picture we're compensated used broadly we can put them into three classes residential commercial or hospitality.

Each application is very different and the performance criteria are different in the best properties of each polymer can be leveraged to meet the performance in those segments. If you look at nylon it's best known for its durability, it's highly wear resistance, crushing and matting as you walk.

That's the reason and that it is the dominant resin used in commercial carpets, which tend to see heavy duty use. One key thing is it is not inherently a stain resistant but the technology for imparting stain resistance is pretty well taken care of so it's a dominant polymer in the commercial carpeting area.  If you look at polyester  it's main driving points of high luster it's softness it's inherently a stain resistance. And it has a sustainable feed stock from recycled polymer, from water bottles and the soft drinks. It's good resistant to sunlight. So because of the performance advantages of polypropylene as well as cost advantages or nylon, a large chunk of a polymer is used in BCF today. And the propylene, it's main drivers are cost inherent stain resistance.. Yeah.

You know, it has poor resilience related to nylon or polyester. So it is used in specific construction of in carpet to, to leverage the advantages of cost and stain resistance

Rajeev: Dr. VG, can you talk about coloring and value addition in BCF?

Dr. VG: Sure. Solution dyeing or the spin dyeing technology. What we call is the dominant coloring process in BCF. It is unique and different from a traditional dyeing you know, think of it this way in, in traditional dyeing. The polymer is first converted into a fiber and then dyed.

Whereas in the solution dyed process, you first color the polymer and then extrude the fibers. So in a sense   you know, colorant, in the form of a masterbatch, typically, is added to the polymer melt and then extruded into the fiber. So you are combining the spinning and coloring it into one step.

And first and foremost this methodology of coloring adds value through differentiated color. So to speak, number one, solution dyeing is very sustainable. It's energy efficient and does not use water. Secondly, the fiber is colored uniformly throughout , related to the post-date fiber. In a sense you can think of it as, since the polymer itself is colored first, you can think of it as color is an integral part or locked into the fiber. And that gives a good abrasion resistant as well as laundering. And it allows for product differentiation. You can do a lot of. Customized solutions for performance and secondly you can add additional attributes in addition to color because the polymers Inherently not stable to sunlight. One can enhance the stability of the polymer by adding UV additives. And you can add additional functionalities, be it anti-microbial frame retardant or others. , and these properties can be either combined with color or can be run as a stand alone products.

Rajeev: I understand that you lead Americhem in terms of the technology part of it, as well as the marketing part of it. So in terms of Americhem how different is your product from the others and how does it contribute to Beekaylon's product as well? So how does it differentiate in the market?

Dr. VG: Okay, you can think of it as two major things the solution dyeing process the master batch which is you can think of it as the core of the heart of the solution dyeing. That is the product that we offer to the BCF manufacturers. Two major things that we bring about one. The end product performance. And secondly, the operability during the BCF manufacturer.  So for the first we'll look at the color very tight color tolerance is needed  in BCF. When you're looking at large areas, large surfaces of the carpet colored uniform, it is is very critical.

Secondly the colors and the physical properties of the carpet they have to stand up to extreme sunlight and provide UV resistance to the carpet fiber and thirdly they can need, needs to stand up to tough cleaning and bleach.  Yeah, for frequent cleaning of the carpet so that the original appearance of the carpet is not deteriorated.

And lastly the colorfastness to the oxides of nitrogen and ozone are very critical for longevity of the carpet.. So these are the, what we call the end use, end product performance attributes but for the BCF manufacturer itself, the masterbatch is categorized by  extended pack lives so that they don't have to change the packs frequently. Which in terms translate into higher yields and obviously you have to look for the best yarn properties of the BCF.

Rajeev: So it's kind of a critical component as far as go-to market is concerned, in terms of your end product differentiation.

Dr. VG: Yep. Certainly. Then let me add a couple of things here. As I said, it's all about the masterbatch design. And that's the value component of solution dyed BCF we've talked about various polymers being used in carpets. We talked about nylon, polypropylene and polyester.

Look at it. If each one of the polymer has a different chemistry in that process, that a different temperature, for example, polyester and nylon six, six are processed around 290 degrees Celsius and nylon six is processed around 2 65 or so. And polypropylene is typically processed around 230 to 240 degrees Celsius and all these product, all these polymers are different chemicals and they interact with the colorants differently in addition, the colorant since it is going through the spinning process at the elevated temperature has to be stable at the thermally at those temperatures. One of the key thing is we utilize colorants that have in a heavily characterized for that application, both in terms of thermal stability, as well as suitability for that polymers.

Secondly accurate color matching is very critical. As we talked about  you'd be looking at large surfaces a typical cross section of a BCF fiber is trilobal some variation there off related to most textiles, which are circular in cross section.

And because it is try Lobel its, reflectance characteristics are different and which in turns it how you perceive the color, how you see the color is. And it takes a highly skilled color matchers to get accurate color matching so that you know, even minor differences are not visible when you are looking at large areas of the carpets.

And finally you know, we talked about , the properties, be it sunlight be it bleach resistant. you know, Those all have to be addressed. And in essence, really that's what we bring to the table here.

Rajeev: Covered a number of aspects of BCF and the advantage of a master batch and what you bring to the table in terms of product differentiation for the end customer. What is the future of BCF and solution dyeing Dr. VG?

Dr. VG: you know, When you talk about flooring systems you have a different flooring systems available and BCF is. Or the bulk continuous filament is the thing for soft flooring or carpets. And I believe that BCF has a whole The future is very promising.

Last year in 2020 was rather a soft year for many businesses and and it was soft year for BCF also you know, once the pandemic is is behind us. I think all three segments being a residential commercial about automotive should see, a strong growth in 2021. And the solution dyeing will continue to dominate both from a sustainability standpoint of view, and most importantly, eh from a pollution standpoint of view, there is no wastewater treatment and all that. The sustainability and environmentally friendliness is one of the key, factors that , I see a strong growth for solution dyeing now, not only in BCF across coloring synthetic fibers as well.

And as far as the polymers are, concerned I do expect that the polyester will continue to grow and should remain , one of the largest to follow them on for the application. And also should see , you know, the highest growth of all the three polymers. geography is concerned. The north America should remain as the largest region, but we see a strong growth in Asia and India.

Rajeev: Right. So you've been associated with Beekaylon for the past few years. Am I? Right. Yeah. So  you also mentioned that this, you expect strong growth in. the APAC region.   How do you see your presence in India and specifically to Beekaylon. how's it going forward? What is your view on that?

Dr. VG: We have been offering solution to the BCF markets for over three decades. Initially it started out in North America. we offered a solution to all different polymers   in Asia and India specifically we see polyester because of the resin availability et cetera.

You know, We see a strong growth in Asia and India. you know, We now have a production facility in Pune, India  for the past three years and were very excited to expertise in BCF both in terms of our service capability to the Indian market. And we very much look forward to working with the Beekaylon and making them successful.

Rajeev: Great. Thank you, Dr. VG. So this brings to a close the segment on BCF. So what are we going to talk about in the next episode Dr. VG?

Dr. VG: So what we'll focus on is the textiles as a whole use of Masterbatches and sustainability in how the masterbatch industry can offer a sustainable solution to coloring of textiles. So that, that should, that will be the focus of our next conversation.

Rajeev: Great. Thanks. Thanks Dr. VG. I think we've covered a lot of ground. This episode, I'm looking forward to talk to you on masterbatch and its applications and advantages in the next episode.

Dr. VG: Thanks.

Rajeev: Thanks Dr. VG. For your time. That's the end of part, one of episode number three. Where we talked about. BCF and its applications. In part two. We'll be talking to Dr. VG on Masterbatches and its application and advantages.