World fiber consumption

Table 4.1 World fiber consumption (in 106 t) in 1998 and average growth rate for 1991-1998 (in%)...

World Apparel Fiber Consumption Survey Eood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, New York, 1989. 

Textile Applications. A 1971 estimate of world textile fiber consumption (2) showed that approximately 60% of textile goods are dyed and about 30% are whites. The proportion of white goods (>40%) is highest for cotton. These percentages also hold tme in the 1990s. 

The average aimual per capita fiber consumption in the decade of the 1990s is about 8 kg. As might be expected from variations in climate and socioeconomic conditions, there are large variations in the per capita fiber consumption for the different regions of the world, ranging from about 1.5 kg in Africa and Asia to about 25 kg in North America. 

Today, carbon fibers are still mainly of interest as reinforcement in composite materials [7] where high strength and stiffness, combined with low weight, are required. For example, the world-wide consumption of carbon fibers in 1993 was 7,300 t (compared with a production capacity of 13,000 t) of which 36 % was used in aerospace applications, 43 % in sports materials, with the remaining 21 % being used in other industries. This consumption appears to have increased rapidly (at 15 % per year since the early 1980s), at about the same rate as production, accompanied by a marked decrease in fiber cost (especially for high modulus fibers). 

Cellulosics and polyester together account for 78 % of world textile consumption. Following this trend, disperse dyes and dyes for cellulosic fibers reclaimed the principal market share (Table 4.2). 

The production of manufactured fibers throughout the world has developed in a manner that rather parallels the situation in the United States, as may be seen in Fig. 12.4. There are some expected differences, and obviously the data for world usage are strongly influenced by the large components attributable to the United States, which currently accounts for about 23 percent of the manufactured fiber and about 15 percent of the total fiber consumption. The output of the world cellulosics has leveled off, but expansion of the noncellulosics has continued unabated. The use, or at least the recorded use, of the natural fibers, cotton and wool,... 

Textile production is increasing and it is estimated that world fiber demand will sustain its rising trend for the next several decades. Reasons for this trend include the increasing world population, increasing market of technical textile products, and rising personal consumption of fast fashion trends. 

Shui, S., Plastina, A., 2013. World Apparel Fiber Consumption Survey 2013. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and International Cotton Advisory Committee, Washington, DC. https //http //www.icac.org/cotton info/pubhcations/ statistics/world-apparel-survey/F AO-ICAC-Survey-2013-Update-and-2011-Text.pdf (accessed 11.05.14.). 

From 1960 to 1970, acrylic fiber consumption continued its rapid growth with a 19% increase in consumption worldwide, peaking at almost 2.1 billion pounds in 1970. Acrylics found wide use as a wool replacement fiber in carpets, home furnishings, and knitted apparel products. The world market share claimed by both acrylics and polyester increased sharply over this period primarily at the expense of wool and nylon. For acrylic, this increase was from about 14% of the world market in 1960 to approximately 23% in 1969. In the next decade, however, the growth rate decreased to around 8%. This was due primarily to the maturing of the wool replacement market in the United States. In addition, nylon became the dominant carpet fiber, reducing the acrylic market share from 25% at its peak to just 6% by 1976. Fibers and blends, such as polyester-cotton, also cut into the acrylic share of the synthetic fibers market. By 1980, the world market share held by nylon had fallen to approximately 30% from over 60% in 1960. Polyester now accounts for roughly 50% of the world market, while acrylics continue to hold approximately 20%. 

Before the invention of the mechanical and chemical pulping processes in the 19th century, rags (used textiles) tvere the only raw fiber source. The development of the worldwide use of fibrous raw material since 1980 is shown in Table 2.1. In the next ten years, the world-wide consumption of pulp fibers is expected to be 46% for chemical pulp, 10% for mechanical pulp and 44% for recycled paper pulp. 

Nonwood fibers are annual fibers obtained from various monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants. Nonwood fibers include straw, grass, bast, leaf, and fruit fibers. During 1996-1997, world paper consumption was about 300 million tons... 

Cotton is the most common cultivated fiber. The world s textile fiber consumption in 1998 was approximately 45 million tons. Of this total, cotton represented approximately 20 milhon tons. The earliest evidenee of cotton use is from India in 3,000 B.C. Cotton cultivation spread from India to Egypt, China and the South Pacific. Cotton is made from cellulose (a polysaccharide) Figure 5.11 shows a cotton flower and the chemical stmcture of cotton, including H-bonding. 

Figure 2.2 Trend for fiber consumption and growth of the world population (Engelhardt, 2013)...

Disposable polypropylene nonwoven fabrics are widely used as the coverstock for disposable baby diapers. The expansion of the disposable diaper market throughout the world has been the primary source of growth in the consumption of polypropylene in the fiber market. In addition, nonwoven polypropylene fabrics are used in a variety of other disposable sanitary products, such as baby wipes, adult incontinence, and feminine hygiene products. Use of polypropylene nonwovens in disposable medical apparel, such as surgical gowns, has increased as a means of reducing the spread of infection. 

Fig. 1. (a) World production of nylon fiber (11) (b) world consumption of nylon resins (12). 

Capacity, Production, and Consumption. Ammonia production has worldwide significance about 85% of the ammonia produced is used for nitrogen fertilizers. As the primary source of fertilizer nitrogen, it is key to solving world food production requkements. The remaining 15% goes into various industrial products such as fibers, animal feeds, explosives, etc. 

Increasing consumption of recovered paper is expected to remain a significant factor ia patterns of fiber production and demand, and is likely to iacrease as governments legislate iacreased recovery of fiber from municipal soHd waste. Abundant sources of secondary fiber offer world papermakers a less expensive alternative to virgin fiber. 

Wool belongs to a family of proteins, the keratins, that also includes hair and other types of animal protective tissues such as horn, nails, feathers, and the outer skin layers. The relative importance of wool as a textile fiber has declined over the decades as synthetic fibers have increa singly been used in textile consumption. Wool is still an important fiber in the middle and upper price ranges of the textile market. It is also an extremely important export for several nations, notably AustraUa, New Zealand, South Africa, and Argentina and commands a price premium over most other fibers because of its outstanding natural properties of soft handle (the feel of the fabric), moisture absorption abiUties (and hence comfort), and superior drape (the way the fabric hangs) (see Fibers Textiles). Table 2 shows wool production and sheep numbers in the world s principal wool-producing countries. 

From 1980 to 1988, aimual cellulose acetate flake production in the United States showed a slight decrease in production from 392,000 t to 323,000 t with an aimual decline of —0.4 to —0.1% (Table 6). World demand for cellulose acetate flake has also fallen. A modest recovery has occurred in recent years as a result of the increased demand for cigarette-filter tow world consumption of cigarette-filter tow has risen about 2.5% per year since 1980 (Tables 7 and 8). In contrast, world demand for textile fibers and cellulose ester plastics decline 4.6% and 4.2% per year, respectively (Fig. 9). 

There has been a rapid growth of the demand for plastics from less than 20 billion pounds in 1970 to nearly 50 billion pounds consumed in the United States in 1986, mostly due to the substitution of traditional raw materials. All over the world, plastics have replaced metals, glass, ceramics, wood papers, and natural fibers in a wide variety of industries including packaging, consumer products, automobiles, building and construction, electronics and electrical equipment, appliances, furniture, piping, and heavy industrial equipment [57-121]. Consumption patterns of PBAs in some countries are shown in Tabies 1 and 2. 

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