Research project creating textile fibres from NZ plant sources
Lincoln - Lincoln Agritech has been awarded $8.3 million from the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) endeavour fund for a five year research programme to develop cellulose textile fibres regenerated from New Zealand plant resources.
The research collaborators in the programme, led by Lincoln Agritech Ltd, include The Ferrier Institute, SCION and AgResearch, will work in partnership with Ngāti Whare and Ngai Tūhoe to combine expertise in cellulose sourcing, cellulose chemistry, fibre spinning, textile performance and mātauranga Māori.
The aim is to deliver the programme to develop a new industry, exporting a substantial volume of regenerated cellulose fibres derived from dedicated plants.
It is further intended to divert current streams of lower value or waste cellulose material and foster the development of high end textiles made by New Zealand designers with embedded mātauranga Māori.
The unique fibre wet spinning expertise at Lincoln Agritech has been developed through a partnership programme funded by Wool Industry Research and MBIE.
The plan is to create new uses for crossbred wool. A partnership with the wool industry to commercialise the developed technology will continue through the Wool Research Organisation of New Zealand.
The outcome is intended to meet the growing market need for sustainable and environmentally superior fibres as alternatives to the current synthetic or pollutant textile fibre processes used currently.
The new MBIE programme is being led by Dr Rob Kelly of Lincoln Agritech and will be guided by textile industry expert advisors including Dr Garth Carnaby as well as domestic and international industry representatives.
Lincoln Agritech is an independent R&D provider to the private sector and government. It has more than 50 research scientists and engineers directly employed with offices in Lincoln and Hamilton. It is wholly owned by Lincoln University.
Lisa was born in Auckland at the start of the 1970s, living in a small campsite community on the North Shore called Browns Bay. She spent a significant part of her life with her grandparents, often hanging out at the beaches. Lisa has many happy memories from those days at Browns Bay beach, where fish were plentiful on the point and the ocean was rich in seaweed. She played in the water for hours, going home totally “sun-kissed.” “An adorable time to grow up,” Lisa tells me.
Lisa enjoyed many sports; she was a keen tennis player and netballer, playing in the top teams for her age right up until the family moved to Wellington. Lisa was fifteen years old, which unfortunately marked the end of her sporting career. Local teams were well established in Wellington, and her attention was drawn elsewhere.