Centexbel wins techtexil innovation award 2022

Frankurt-am-Main, 21/06/2022

Centexbel wins Techtextil Innovation award 2022 with “biobased & biodegradable coating & ink development” 

Centexbel is proud to announce to have won the Techtextil Innovation award 2022 in the category “new approaches to sustainability & circular economy” with a breakthrough innovation in biobased coatings and inks. 

The invention works especially well with polylactic acid (PLA), a biobased polymer made from carbohydrates, but it is also suited to work with polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), a naturally occurring bacterial polymer, available on the market. The production of these biobased coating pastes does not require solvents or any specialized equipment, resulting in a lower environmental impact and reasonable pricing. The newest generation of biobased plasticizers is used in the dispersion to make the coatings flexible and applicable for a broad array of substrates, including textiles. The dispersions can be used in both coating and screen-printing applications and are very resistant to abrasion. 

It is important to note that, thanks to their inherent biodegradability, the developed inks and coatings do not release persistent microplastics. 

Centexbel is the Belgian knowledge centre for the textiles and plastics industry and has successfully adapted the formulations to two different industrial processes. While initially developed for innovative food packaging within the European project Biontop, the formulation was successfully adapted for use on wallpaper (in cooperation with Masureel International) and coated flax fabric used in the production of thermoplastic composites (in cooperation with Flaxco). In addition to these industrial processes, Centexbel demonstrated that these coating pastes can be used for carpet backing, artificial leather, and barrier coatings. 

Discover our award-winning (and other) innovations, and visit us at

 TECHTEXTIL HALL 11.1 – STAND B06