Momo Naeimirad, a researcher with Netherlands-based Senbis Polymer Innovations, has received the 2026 Paul Schlack Prize at the 65th Dornbirn Global Fiber Congress for work linking mechanical performance to biodegradation in melt-spun bioplastic fibres.

The award was presented in Dornbirn, Austria between September 16 and 18. It recognises the PolyBioDeg research project Naeimirad has run jointly with Senbis and the University of Amsterdam.

What is the award recognising?

The Paul Schlack Prize, named after the inventor of polyamide 6, is one of the fibre industry's longest-established awards for young researchers. First issued in 1971, it carries a €3,000 purse, is juried independently and is presented each year at the Dornbirn congress to encourage European R&D in the manufacture, processing and application of man-made fibres.

For 2026, the jury selected work that targets a core engineering tension in biodegradable polymers: delivering the mechanical strength and processing behaviour required for textile and technical production, while ensuring the material can subsequently biodegrade under controlled environmental conditions.

Naeimirad's project examines how the structure and properties of melt-spun bioplastic fibres shape both their in-use mechanical performance and their post-use biodegradation behaviour.

Where does Senbis sit commercially?

Senbis Polymer Innovations operates from Emmen in the Netherlands and used Dornbirn's Innovation Day and Forum to position its GreenPearls range of biodegradable compounds for fibre and filament production. The materials are engineered to individual fibre-forming processes, with the stated goal of overcoming processing and performance limits that have held back biodegradable polymer adoption in volume spinning.

The portfolio spans grades for:

• Fully drawn technical multifilaments
• Textile yarns
• Spunbond nonwovens
• Agricultural tapes
• Monofilaments

Much of the GreenPearls range remains at the development stage, with material currently available for pilot trials rather than for established high-volume commercial supply.

Which applications do the lead grades address?

• GP 401 is a fully biobased, home-compostable development grade intended for POY, DTY, FDY and staple fibre applications. Senbis says the formulation combines a high melt-flow index and high melting point with the spinning stability required at high line speeds.
• GP 501 targets artificial-grass monofilaments, with the design intent that fragments generated through pitch wear biodegrade in soil rather than persist as microplastics.

Both grades point to end uses where fragment loss into the environment is a regulatory or reputational pressure point, particularly artificial-turf systems and agricultural applications.

What does the pilot status mean for sourcing?

For sourcing teams, the qualification stage carries clear caveats. Pilot volumes allow fibre producers and brand owners to validate spinning behaviour, dye uptake, certification claims and tensile performance on production lines, but they do not yet translate to the unit economics, minimum order quantities or lead times that would attach to large-scale commercial supply.

Procurement teams tracking biodegradable inputs for sportswear, technical textiles, agricultural end-uses or single-use nonwovens now have an updated map of which processing routes Senbis is engineering — even though mainstream availability of the GreenPearls portfolio remains some distance out.

The research question the Paul Schlack jury singled out — fibres that hold up during service and break down afterwards — will continue to set the engineering agenda for Senbis and the wider European biopolymer fibre R&D community through the next development cycle.