Editing Rayon (section)

== History ==
French scientist and industrialist [[Hilaire de Chardonnet]] (1838–1924) invented the first artificial textile fiber, ''artificial silk''.<ref name="Woodings 2005">{{Cite web |last=Woodings |first=Calvin R. |date=2005 |title=A Brief History of Regenerated Cellulosic Fibres |url=http://www.nonwoven.co.uk/reports/History%20of%20Cellulosics.html |publisher=CWC |archive-date=22 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120422133253/http://www.nonwoven.co.uk/reports/History%20of%20Cellulosics.html }}</ref>

Swiss [[chemist]] [[Matthias Eduard Schweizer]] (1818–1860) discovered that cellulose dissolved in [[Schweizer's reagent|tetraamminecopper dihydroxide]]. [[Max Fremery]] and [[Johann Urban]] developed a method to produce [[Carbon (fiber)|carbon fibers]] for use in [[light bulb]]s in 1897.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.industriepark-oberbruch.de/publish/en/location/history/historie.html |title=Over 100 Years Old and Still Going Strong from Glanzstoff (Artificial Silk) Factory to Industry Park |website=IndustriePark-Oberbruch.de |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090322020858/http://www.industriepark-oberbruch.de/publish/en/location/history/historie.html |archive-date=2009-03-22 }}</ref> Improvement of [[cuprammonium rayon]] for [[textiles]] by [[J. P. Bemberg]] in 1904 made the artificial silk a product comparable to real silk.<ref name="UllCell" />

English chemist [[Charles Frederick Cross]] and his collaborators, [[Edward John Bevan]] and Clayton Beadle, patented their artificial silk in 1894. They named it "viscose" because its production involved the intermediacy of a highly viscous solution. Cross and Bevan took out British Patent No. 8,700, "Improvements in Dissolving Cellulose and Allied Compounds" in May, 1892.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Day |first1=Lance |last2=McNeil |first2=Ian |date=2002 |doi=10.4324/9780203028292 |title=Biographical Dictionary of the History of Technology |isbn=978-0-203-02829-2 |page=113 }}</ref> In 1893, they formed the Viscose Syndicate to grant licences and, in 1896, formed the British Viscoid Co. Ltd.<ref name="Woodings 2005" /><ref name="Wheeler 1928">{{cite book |last=Wheeler |first=Edward |date=1928 |title=The Manufacture of Artificial Silk with Special Reference to the Viscose Process |publisher=Chapman & Hall |oclc=597235567 |hdl=2027/mdp.39015064400156 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>{{Page needed|date=May 2025}}

The first commercial viscose rayon was produced by the UK company [[Courtaulds|Courtaulds Fibres]] in November 1905.<ref>{{Cite web |date=4 October 2010 |title=A Brief History of Regenerated Cellulosic Fibres |url=http://www.nonwoven.co.uk/2012/09/a-brief-history-of-regenerated.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150722145210/http://www.nonwoven.co.uk/2012/09/a-brief-history-of-regenerated.html |archive-date=2015-07-22 |url-status=live |access-date=2025-05-13 }}</ref> Courtaulds formed an American division, [[American Viscose Corporation|American Viscose]] (later known as Avtex Fibers), to produce their formulation in the US in 1910.<ref>{{cite book |last=Owen |first=Geoffrey |date=2010 |title=The Rise and Fall of Great Companies: Courtaulds and the Reshaping of the Man-Made Fibres Industry |publisher=OUP/Pasold Research Fund |isbn=978-0-19-959289-0 }}</ref>{{Page needed|date=May 2025}}

Manufacturers' search for a less environmentally-harmful process for making Rayon led to the development of the Lyocell method for producing Rayon.<ref name="Chen 2015 pp79–95">{{cite book |last=Chen |first=J. |date=2015 |title=Textiles and Fashion |doi=10.1016/B978-1-84569-931-4.00004-0 |chapter=Synthetic Textile Fibers |isbn=978-1-84569-931-4 |pages=79–95 }}</ref> The Lyocell process was developed in 1972 by a team at the now defunct [[American Enka Company|American Enka]] fibers facility at [[Enka, North Carolina]].{{citation needed|date=August 2021}} In 2003, the [[American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists]] (AATCC) awarded Neal E. Franks their Henry E. Millson Award for Invention for Lyocell.<ref>{{cite web |title=Millson Award for Invention |url=https://aatcc.org/millson/#tab-1 |website=AATCC |access-date=2025-05-13 }}</ref> In 1966–1968, D. L. Johnson of Eastman Kodak Inc. studied NMMO solutions. In the decade 1969 to 1979, [[American Enka Company|American Enka]] tried unsuccessfully to commercialize the process.<ref name="Chen 2015 pp79–95" /> The operating name for the fibre inside the Enka organization was "Newcell", and the development was carried through pilot plant scale before the work was stopped. The basic process of dissolving cellulose in [[N-Methylmorpholine N-oxide|NMMO]] was first described in a 1981 patent by Clarence McCorsley III for Akzona Incorporated (the holding company of Akzo).<ref name="Chen 2015 pp79–95" /><ref>{{cite patent |country=US |number=4246221 |title=Process for Shaped Cellulose Article Prepared from Solution Containing Cellulose Dissolved in a Tertiary Amine N-oxide Solvent |pridate=1979-03-02 |fdate=1979-03-02 |pubdate=1981-01-20 |invent1=McCorsley, Clarence C. |assign1=Akzona Inc. }}</ref> In the 1980s the patent was licensed by [[Akzo]] to Courtaulds and Lenzing.<ref name="merge">{{Cite news |date=4 May 2004 |url=http://www.fibersource.com/F-Info/More_News/lenzing-050504.htm |title=Lenzing Acquires Tencel: Lenzing AG Acquires Tencel Group of Companies |work=FiberSource.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100323063249/http://www.fibersource.com/f-info/More_News/lenzing-050504.htm |archive-date=23 March 2010 }}</ref> The fibre was developed by [[Courtaulds|Courtaulds Fibers]] under the brand name "Tencel" in the 1980s. In 1982, a 100&nbsp;kg/week pilot plant was built in Coventry, UK, and production was increased tenfold (to a ton/week) in 1984. In 1988, a 25 ton/week semi-commercial production line opened at the [[Courtaulds, Grimsby|Grimsby, UK, pilot plant]].<ref name="Chen 2015 pp79–95" /><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.tencel-lyocell.com/p/introducing-tencel.html |title=Introducing Tencel Lyocell |archive-date=2013-01-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130113165956/http://www.tencel-lyocell.com/p/introducing-tencel.html }}</ref> The process was commercialized at Courtaulds' rayon factories at [[Mobile, Alabama]].<ref name="nyt">{{cite news |last=Ipsen |first=Erik |date=25 February 1993 |title=International Manager: Freed of Textile Business, Courtaulds Is Doing Fine |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/25/business/worldbusiness/IHT-international-manager-freed-of-textile-business.html |work=The New York Times |agency=International Herald Tribune }}</ref> In January 1993, the Mobile Tencel plant reached full production levels of 20,000 tons per year, by which time Courtaulds had spent £100 million and 10 years on Tencel development. Tencel revenues for 1993 were estimated as likely to be £50 million. A second plant in Mobile was planned.<ref name="nyt" /> By 2004, production had quadrupled to 80,000 tons.<ref name="merge" />

Lenzing began a pilot plant in 1990,<ref name="Chen 2015 pp79–95" /> and commercial production in 1997, with 12 metric tonnes per year made in a plant in [[Heiligenkreuz im Lafnitztal]], Austria.<ref name="Chen 2015 pp79–95" /><ref name="merge" /><!--the Burgenland Heiligenkreuz:https://www.lenzing.com/lenzing-group/history/--> When an explosion hit the plant in 2003 it was producing 20,000 tonnes/year, and planning to double capacity by the end of the year.<ref>{{cite news |last=Beacham |first=Will |date=2003-09-23 |title=Explosion and Fire Halts 'Lyocell' Output at Lenzing's Heiligenkreuz, Austria Plant |url=https://www.icis.com/explore/resources/news/2003/09/23/521175/explosion-and-fire-halts-lyocell-output-at-lenzing-s-heiligenkreuz-austria-plant/ |agency=CNI |work=ICIS Explore |location=London |publisher=[[LexisNexis Risk Solutions]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211102202301/https://www.icis.com/explore/resources/news/2003/09/23/521175/explosion-and-fire-halts-lyocell-output-at-lenzing-s-heiligenkreuz-austria-plant/ |archive-date=2021-11-02 }}</ref> In 2004 Lenzing was producing 40,000 [[ton]]s [sic, probably metric tonnes].<ref name="merge" /> In 1998, Lenzing and Courtaulds reached a patent dispute settlement.<ref name="merge" />

In 1998 Courtaulds was acquired by competitor [[Akzo Nobel]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://europa.eu/bulletin/en/9806/p103050.htm |title=Bulletin EU 6-1998 (en): 1.3.50 {{!}} Akzo Nobel/Courtaulds |website=Europa.eu |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080922035918/http://europa.eu/bulletin/en/9806/p103050.htm |archive-date=22 September 2008 }}</ref> which combined the Tencel division with other fibre divisions under the Accordis banner, then sold them to private equity firm [[CVC Partners]]. In 2000, CVC sold the Tencel division to [[Lenzing AG]], which combined it with their "Lenzing Lyocell" business, but maintained the brand name Tencel.<ref name="merge" /> It took over the plants in Mobile and Grimsby, and by 2015 were the largest lyocell producer at 130,000 tonnes/year.<ref name="Chen 2015 pp79–95" />