Method for making an acetate tow band with shape and size used for coding

A method of making an acetate tow band comprising cellulose acetate fibers,

• wherein the cellulose acetate fibers comprise identification fibers and standard fibers,
• wherein the method comprises:
• (a) co-producing the identification fibers and the standard fibers;
• and
• (b) combining the identification fibers and the standard fibers into the acetate tow band,
• wherein each of the identification fibers exhibits at least one distinct feature,
• wherein the distinct features comprise taggant cross-section shapes and/or taggant cross-section sizes,
• wherein the identification fibers consist of 1 to 20 groups of distinguishable identification fibers, each group of the distinguishable identification fibers being formed by the identification fibers having the same taggant cross-section shape, the same taggant cross-section size, or a same combination of the taggant cross-section shape and the taggant cross-section size,
• wherein a number of the identification fibers in each group of the distinguishable identification fibers is defined as a fiber count,
• wherein at least one of the fiber counts corresponds to a taggant fiber count,
• and wherein (i) the distinct features in each group of distinguishable identification fibers and (ii) the one or more taggant fiber counts are representative of at least one supply chain component of the acetate tow band.

A method of making an acetate tow band,

• wherein the acetate tow band comprises cellulose acetate fibers,
• wherein the cellulose acetate fibers comprise standard fibers and identification fibers, the method comprising
• (a) coproducing standard fibers and identification fibers and
• (b) combining the standard fibers and the identification fibers into the acetate tow band,
• wherein each of the identification fibers exhibits at least one distinct feature,
• wherein the distinct features comprise 1 to 10 taggant cross-section shapes and/or 1 to 4 taggant cross-section sizes,
• wherein the identification fibers consist of one or more groups of the distinguishable identification fibers, each group of the distinguishable identification fibers being formed by the identification fibers having the same taggant cross-section shape, the same taggant cross-section size, or a same combination of the taggant cross-section shape and the taggant cross-section size,
• wherein a number of the identification fibers in each group of the distinguishable identification fibers is defined as a fiber count,
• wherein each of the fiber counts corresponds to a taggant fiber count, and wherein a number of taggant fiber counts for each group of the distinguishable identification fibers ranges from 1 to 4, and
• wherein (i) the distinct features in each group of the distinguishable identification fibers and (ii) the taggant fiber counts are representative of a manufacturer of the acetate tow band and a customer of the acetate tow band or the manufacturer of the acetate tow band and a ship-to location of the acetate tow band.