New technology to spin out super cotton

A Los Alamos National Laboratory spinout has signed a joint development agreement to create a new manufacturing process that treats regular cotton fibers with ionized gas (plasma) to produce a type of super fabric.

Santa Fe-based APJeT Inc. announced the agreement with fabrics industry leader Avondale Inc. of Monroe, Ga., to commercialize the treatment process that is predicted to make cotton stain and water resistant like synthetic fibers while retaining its traditional look and feel.

"This marks the start of a new era for the U.S. textile industry for the manufacturing of products that are clearly differentiated from foreign producers by building attributes into the fabric that result from the use of our proprietary, ionized gas technology," said APJeT CEO, Gary Selwyn, in a news release announcing the agreement with Avondale.

The new material will be marketed to an industry that has taken a hit from foreign competitors who can produce massive amounts of textile goods at a low cost thanks to cheap international labor.

The technology behind APJeT's ionization process was developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory, a Department of Energy facility, by Selwyn and by Hans Herrmann, APJeT's chief engineer. It was originally developed at the lab as a way of decontaminating areas exposed to hazardous materials.

After the commercialization prospects in textiles, electronics and other materials was realized, Selwyn and Herrmann decided to form APJeT in 2000.

In the news release, Herrmann says the plasma-based treatment process, which can last through several laundering cycles, can be applied to woven, cotton apparel to make it stain and water resistant.

According to the release, future applications of the process that will be explored by APJeT and Avondale include making the cotton fire resistant.

APJeT is a privately held company and at the start of 2003, it received $3 million in venture funding from Air Products and Chemicals Inc. (NYSE: APD) of Pennsylvania and Advanced Energy Industries Inc. (NASDAQ NM: AEIS) of Colorado.

Avondale Mills was founded in 1845 and is a leading producer of denim, sportswear and coated specialty products, with annual sales of more than $500 million, according to the company.