bright coatings

creating green coatings from biomass residues

The Lenzing Group is an international company that produces high-quality fibers from wood with environmentally friendly and innovative technologies. These fibres form the basis for a wide range of textile and nonwoven applications. Lenzing’s quality and innovative strength set global standards for wood-based cellulose fibers. With 80 years of experience, the Lenzing Group is the only company in the world which produces significant volumes of all three wood-based cellulose fiber generations (viscose, lyocell and modal). Innovations like REFIBRATM recycling technology, the identifiable LENZINGTM ECOVEROTM branded fibers and TENCELTM Luxe branded lyocell filament yarn make Lenzing a global innovation leader. 



The Lenzing Group’s success is based on consistent customer orientation combined with innovation, technology and quality leadership. Lenzing is committed to the principles of sustainable management with very high environmental standards and can underscore this commitment with numerous international sustainability certifications for its business processes as the most sustainable company in the sector. 

Besides its fiber activities, Lenzing also operates a xylan-based hemicellulose biorefinery at the Lenzing site in Austria. In Bright Coatings, Lenzing aims to intensify this biorefinery process by finding a technology partner for the conversion of xylose containing byproducts of the existing biorefinery process at Lenzing. This aim is in line with Lenzing’s commitment to cascading use of biomass, whereby as many lasting products as possible shall be manufactured from biomass before it is used for energy generation at the end of its life cycle. Furthermore, Lenzing is the only remaining European producer of furfural. As furfural is an important chemical in the production process of bio-MPA, Lenzing might find that with the production of bio-aromatics based on furfural the demand for furfural on the market increases. These two reasons, as well as Lenzing’s inherent motivation of improving sustainability through the eco-friendly use of wood as a natural raw material, make the Bright Coatings project an interesting option that provides Lenzing with the opportunity to intensify its biorefinery activities. 

In Lenzing’s Global R&D department approximately 190 people conduct research on various aspects related to the production and use of wood-based cellulose-fibers. The topics covered include wood and pulp production, fiber production as well as application development. Notably, developing new biorefinery concepts is part of the portfolio of Lenzing R&D’s pulp division. The R&D department is well connected with other departments such as production, engineering or business management and projects are usually carried out in cooperation. Lenzing’s R&D is situated at the headquarters in Lenzing, Austria, which is also the world largest fully integrated wood-based cellulose-fibre plant. The whole Lenzing site is a complex biorefienry where 50% of the wood material is used, and the remaining wood biomass is used for energy provision. Besides the main products pulp & fiber, LENZINGTM Acetic Acid Biobased and LENZINGTM Furfural Biobased are produced at kiloton scale from beech wood xylan. Lenzing is very active in further increasing the material usage of the raw material wood and evaluating various possibilities, which is also done in cooperation with external partners like the competence center WOOD.