#Techtextil 2026

2026-03-18

DIENES at Techtextil 2026: Flexible pilot lines for bio-based fiber development

LLC Lab Line Compact for Wet Spinning © 2026 DIENES Apparatebau

The growing relevance of bio-based materials in technical textiles is accompanied by increasing demands for reproducibility, high-quality data, and scalable process routes. Especially when working with cellulose and its derivatives, chitosan, lignin-based approaches, or bio-based PAN as a carbon-fiber precursor, R&D teams face variable feedstock quality, tighter process windows, and the need for reliable comparability across trials. This calls for flexible, data-driven experimental setups that can be reconfigured efficiently when recipes, solvents, and raw-material batches change.

DIENES Apparatebau, based in Mühlheim am Main, Germany, develops laboratory and pilot-scale equipment for fiber spinning and downstream thermal conversion up to carbonization. Its technology sweet spot is solvent-based spinning, including wet spinning, dry spinning, gel spinning, and reaction spinning, complemented by melt spinning as well as modules for stabilization and carbonization. The modular plant architecture enables end-to-end process chains from dope preparation to spinning, conversion, and high-temperature treatment, supporting systematic parameter studies and reproducible transfer to larger scales.

A key element is MultiMode®, DIENES’ proprietary modular control architecture in pilot lines. Each process module features decentralized control, can be tailored to customer-specific requirements, and can be exchanged or rearranged with reduced programming effort while all production parameters are continuously visualized and recorded. This provides traceability and process transparency for publications, funding projects, and investment decisions, while protecting investments through expandability and supporting deeper process understanding through a high level of integration.

At Techtextil 2026 in Frankfurt, DIENES will demonstrate how the path from proof of concept to pilot production can be structured with two product lines: compact LLC-systems for material exploration and digitalized MultiMode® plants for scale-up and small-scale production. The focus is on natural polymers and bio-based feedstocks, where flexible parameterization and data-driven optimization are essential. This gives research groups and industrial R&D teams a precise platform to define their process and translate it into individually engineered equipment.

DIENES showcases MultiMode®: Pioneering solutions for the development of sustainable carbon fibres at JEC World 2025

DIENES Apparatebau GmbH, a global leader in innovative fibre processing technologies, is delighted to announce its participation at JEC World 2025 in Paris. The company will present its state-of-the-art MultiMode® modular platform, a revolutionary approach to developing sustainable carbon fibres. Visitors can explore DIENES’s advanced solutions at the Baden-Württemberg International stand in hall 6 stand N82.4.

DIENES at Techtextil 2024

The current accelerated growing demand for technical textile demands a more proactive approach which includes implementing frameworks and technologies for recycling and a broad use of biobased materials as an alternative to conventional polymers. Research work in this field is characterised by a high degree of adaptation needs, hence demanding an efficient, systematic and, in part, self-optimising experimental working system, which must be intelligent in gathering data from the process and flexible in enabling its rearrangement.

FET’s revolutionary gel spinning system wins Techtextil Innovation Award

FET has received the prestigious Techtextil Innovation Award 2026 in the New Production Technology category. The Techtextil Innovation Award honours outstanding ideas in textile technology, sustainability, AI and the creation of technical textiles, selected by an international jury of experts. Ranging from new materials to new production technologies, this award recognises progressive ideas that are driving forces for numerous industries, such as automotive, medical and construction.

Young talents honoured – 60 years Walter Reiners Foundation

At the Techtextil trade fair in Frankfurt at the end of April, Peter D. Dornier, chairman of the VDMA’s Walter Reiners Foundation, presented awards to five successful young engineers. Promotion and sustainability awards were presented in the categories of bachelor’s/project theses and diploma/master’s theses. Academic theses are eligible for the sustainability awards if, for example, they develop solutions for resource-efficient products and technologies.

Techtextil 2026: KARL MAYER impresses as an innovative sector partner

KARL MAYER looks back with satisfaction on its participation in Techtextil 2026. From April 21 to 24, the international industry leader used the trade show in Frankfurt to meet with numerous key customers at its booth and, at the same time, establish many new contacts. Most visitors came from Germany, followed by major markets such as Poland, the United Kingdom, Turkey, France, and Portugal.

2026 general meeting of the Friends and Supporters of RWTH Aachen at ITA

The Friends and Supporters of RWTH Aachen e. V. (proRWTH) looked back on a successful year of support at their 2026 general meeting. The meeting took place at Institut für Textiltechnik (ITA) of RWTH Aachen and was combined with a joint session of the Executive Board and the Administrative Board. Before the general meeting began, participants were given a guided tour of ITA, providing them with fascinating insights into current research and development topics in textile engineering.

Cotton ConneXions Insight to Impact brings supply chain leaders together around cotton innovation

Cotton Incorporated’s Cotton ConneXions Insight to Impact brought together more than 300 industry leaders from 140 companies across 10 countries, including more than 45 top global brands and sourcing organizations, underscoring strong global interest in cotton-rich product development, sourcing and supply chain collaboration.

Footwear innovation enabled by warp knitting technology– insights from New Balance

The future of the athletic shoe is increasingly being shaped on warp knitting machines. For KARL MAYER, the footwear industry is one of the most important growth markets – and one of the sectors where innovative textiles can realize their full potential. In his keynote address at the opening of KARL MAYER’s TEXTILE INNOVATION CENTER in Obertshausen in April, Vishnu Prakash Muthusamy, Senior Textile and Materials Engineer at New Balance, explained the opportunities that warp knitting technology opens up for performance, sustainability, and faster development processes, and why textile manufacturers are transitioning from suppliers to development partners.