Thailand : DuPont Research Expected To Change Local Textile Industry

Although the petrochemicals has proven vital for the developers of specialised textiles and fabrics much of the companies is now looking to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels.

US-based DuPont, for example, has developed bio-engineering methods to use corn _ instead of conventional petroleum-based processes _ to produce new polymer platforms for use in clothing, carpets and automobile interiors.

Through metabolic engineering of biochemical pathways, a micro-organism was developed to use sugars from corn and corn biomass in a fermentation process. The result is propanediol, the key building block in DuPont's trademark Sorona polymer range.

Given Thailand's strong agricultural base, the government's Innovation Development Fund is aiming to apply and extend DuPont's research to the country's benefit by using abundant cassava roots as a substitute for corn.

Supachai Lorlowhakarn, the fund's director, said DuPont's corn-based polymer innovation would change the future of the fabric and textile industries, which would become based on more environmentally friendly biotechnology.

``We (the fund) have held preliminary discussions with DuPont to extend the boundary of the research work in order to make it more effective in specific geographical areas and provide the highest benefits to the Thai economy,'' he said.

If cassava-based polymer production could be achieved, Thailand would be able to add value to the staple crop and whittle down its cassava surplus of three million tonnes a year, he said.

DuPont Thailand has agreed to support the fund in the proposed cassava-based research work, according to managing director Montri Simagrai.

``This is a challenging opportunity. If the country is successful in changing the raw material base of the fabric industry from petrochemical to agricultural, it will have a competitive advantage, as Thailand has considerable strength in both the agriculture and textile industries,'' he said.

``What the country still has a shortage of is technology, which DuPont is ready to support. However, the project needs much more discussion of the details.''

Mr Montri said the key success factors that would indicate whether cassava-based polymer production could be viable were production yield and quality.

At the core of DuPont's research is the belief that any resulting products must be aimed at the mass market. As a result, acceptable reseach results included competitive production costs for commercial practices, he said.

DuPont Thailand projects revenue growth this year of at least 6% from US$130 million (about 5.52 billion baht) last year, which was an 8% improvement on the previous year.

Higher costs for transport and raw materials, particularly for petrochemical products, were expected to contribute to slightly lower growth this year.

``To boost revenue growth, we will adopt market-focused strategy this year to replace the asset-focused strategy,'' Mr Montri said.

In the past, the company considered what products and knowledge bases it had in hand and then applied a marketing strategy to sell them.

At present, market and customer demand would be considered the priority and the company would produce or conduct research to serve that demand, he said.

One sector that holds promise for the company is the safety and security business.

``Many firms have been paying attention to our safety and security programme which, after comprehensive analysis, has prevented accidents in working processes at levels five to six times lower than that of the industry,'' said Mr Montri.

``We have come up with an initiative to offer safety services and products to various manufacturing sectors.''

He said the company's successful safety programme was attributed to efficient products such as Kevlar gloves and DuPont's expertise in working behaviour and processes.

DuPont Thailand, with 300 employees, currently offers science-based solutions on six business platforms: agriculture and nutrition, performance coating, packaging and polymer materials, electronics, fabric, and safety and securit.