Artificial Wool Production in Italy

Abstract

THE manufacture of artificial wool from milk has been successfully started in Italy, and the product known as Lanital has been shown to possess properties suitable for the textile industry. Ninety-four tons of Lanital were produced in 1936 and 760 tons in the first seven months of 1937. The process is based on a patent taken out in 1935 by Comm. Antonio Ferretti, and the plant as installed at the factory of Snia Viscosa at Milan is described in an illustrated article in Engineering of December 17. In the process, milk is first deprived of most of its cream, and then chemically treated to coagulate the casein. From vats the casein is transferred to tanks in which are placed water and certain solvents, the result being a viscous substance which can be made into fibres by squirting through fine holes in a spinning nozzle. After passing through an alkaline bath, the fibres in bundles are cut into”flocks’ which after further treatment are dried in steam-heated drying machines, the material then being ready for spinning and weaving into fabrics. It is stated that”Lanital’ has higher heat retaining properties than natural wool and that it can be boiled without loss of weight. Though established to render Italy free from the necessity of relying on outside supplies of raw material, purchases of casein are already being made from Holland and Denmark. It is, however, estimated that the country can supply 20-25 per cent of its wool requirements. At a recently opened exhibition in Rome, a whole pavilion is devoted to the Lanital industry.