#Textile chemistry

2023-11-30

Innovation for more sustainable textile coatings

Covestro offers a new aqueous and partially bio-based PU dispersion under the name Impranil® CQ DLU, which can be used to produce, among other things, trims for car interiors. © Covestro

Climate protection requires the industry to gradually move away from petroleum and other fossil raw materials and instead use raw materials from renewable sources. That’s why Covestro is increasingly relying on alternative raw materials, including those from biomass. For example, the company offers a new aliphatic polyester carbonate polyether polyurethane (PU) dispersion for textile coating under the name Impranil® CQ DLU, in which around 34 percent of the carbon contained is of plant origin. Impranil® CQ DLU expands the existing range of partially bio-based dispersions for textile coating with a product whose purely petroleum-based variant Impranil® DLU is very popular with customers.

Since the new dispersion has the same outstanding properties as the established one, as well as a high solids content of 55 percent, customers can now replace Impranil® DLU one-to-one with Impranil® CQ DLU in their processing operations – and thereby easily achieve an additional increase in textile coating sustainability. Sustainability is increasingly becoming a key purchasing criterion not only for the industry, but also for brand owners and consumers. CQ stands for "Circular Intelligence". The core idea of the CQ concept is to label Covestro products if the alternative raw material base exceeds a content of 25 percent, as in this case.

As the raw material for INSQIN® technology, the established Impranil® DLU already enables aqueous textile coating without the use of solvents. The ecological footprint of such a coating is significantly lower than that of solvent-based systems. "With the innovation Impranil® CQ DLU as part of our Impranil® CQ portfolio, we are now enabling the textile coatings industry to take the next step towards more sustainability through the increased use of renewable resources," says Dr. Torsten Pohl, Head of Global Textile Coatings at Covestro.

Impranil® CQ DLU is suitable, among other things, for producing synthetic materials for sports articles, technical textiles, car interiors, and bags. Properties of coatings based on the new high-performance dispersion include excellent hydrolysis resistance, very good lightfastness, as well as high tensile strength and scratch resistance. In addition, the coatings have a pleasant feel and good alkali resistance. Impranil® CQ DLU can be used for both the intermediate coat and the top coat. The dispersion can be applied in various ways: The spectrum ranges from direct or transfer coating to printing processes and microfiber dipping.

Visit us at the Automotive Interiors Expo

From December 5 to 7, 2023, visitors to the Automotive Interiors Expo in Stuttgart can explore the new PU dispersion for themselves: A car interior door panel coated with Impranil® CQ DLU will be demonstrated at the Covestro exhibition stand no. 3424 in Hall 3.

Covestro showcases monomaterial concept in autonomous SUE People Mover

UE | STUDIOS has unveiled the fully autonomous electric minibus “Self-driving Urban E-Shuttle” (SUE), placing strong emphasis on sustainable material design. Developed within a project funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) and the European Union, the vehicle will begin public road testing this year. At the core of the concept is the consistent use of recyclable monomaterials to improve circularity at end of life.

Covestro and Heraeus Precious Metals collaborate to enable safer, more sustainable antimicrobial textile coatings

Laboratory tests reveal that AGXX antimicrobial surface technology from Heraeus Precious Metals is fully compatible with Impranil® PU dispersions which are part of the waterborne INSQIN® textile coating technology from Covestro, paving the way for more sustainable antimicrobial textile coatings. This discovery comes at a key moment for the textile coatings industry. As the sharing economy continues to grow, more people are coming into regular contact with high-use surfaces, creating ideal conditions for bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms to thrive.

Covestro celebrates decade of innovation and sustainable growth

Covestro celebrates its 10-year anniversary today. Since its carve-out from Bayer in 2015, the company has developed into a global leader in high-performance polymer materials and a pioneer in circular economy solutions. With a strong focus on innovation and sustainability, Covestro’s materials are now embedded in countless applications worldwide – from mobility and construction to electronics, healthcare, and consumer goods.

A flagship for chemical production: BASF inaugurates world-scale Verbund site in China

BASF today (March 26, 2026) celebrated the official inauguration of its newly built, world-scale Verbund site in Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province in southern China. Covering an area of around four square kilometers, it is more than a major BASF project in the chemical growth market of China. “Zhanjiang shows what the future of chemistry looks like: efficient, digital and sustainable by design. The site showcases a smart integrated Verbund structure on an industrial scale,” said Dr. Markus Kamieth, CEO of BASF, at the ceremony attended by representatives from government, customers, business partners and employees.

Hof University develops sustainable textile coating for the fashion of tomorrow from mushrooms

Clothing is often treated as disposable: T-shirts for events, general merchandise, or short-term campaigns frequently end up in the trash after only a few uses. This is particularly problematic given that their production still largely relies on fossil-based materials. This is precisely where a new research project at Hof University of Applied Sciences comes in.

Jeanologia urges industry to accelerate PP Spray phase-out following ZDHC Watchlist update

Potassium permanganate has officially entered the Chemical Watchlist of the ZDHC Foundation, signaling increased scrutiny and potential phase-out of one of the most hazardous chemicals still used in denim finishing. The inclusion confirms an industry shift that Jeanologia anticipated more than a decade ago.

VANDEWIELE Group at Techtextil 2026 – Textile innovations together

The VANDEWIELEGroup will showcase its latest technologies for technical textiles at Techtextil 2026 in Frankfurt from April 21–24 (Hall 12.0, Stand C21). As a global leader in textile machinery, the group brings together specialised brands to support the evolving demands of high-performance textile applications. Visitors will discover solutions in laboratory testing, yarn joining, yarn feeding and thread tension monitoring, designed to create measurable value across the textile value chain.