Issue 01/2021

daily updated news at
www.bioplasticsmagazine.com
News
An alternative to
‘The Golden Fleece of Fabrics’
A new bicomponent spunbond material that can serve
as an effective N95 face mask filter – without the need
for a meltblown filtration layer – has been developed
by Nonwovens Institute (NWI) at North Carolina State
University (Raleigh, NC, USA), with assistance from a
number of INDEX20 exhibitors, including ExxonMobil
(headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA) and NatureWorks
(Minnetonka, Minnesota, USA).
The development was in response to the immediate and
pressing need for meltblown nonwovens in early 2020 when
shortages earned them the epithet “the Golden Fleece of
Fabrics” and they became the source of sometimes fierce
international trade disputes.
NWI executive director Benham Pourdeyhimi explained
that the new media development arose from reactivated
work on microfibrillation which was initially undertaken for
the filter industry.
N95 efficiency can be achieved with just two layers of
the new spunbond fabric and there are a number of other
benefits. In short, it cuts out the need for a meltblown layer
which has been such a huge block in the supply chain for
face masks during the pandemic.
The spunbond-only media also requires no electrostatic
charging, which has been another bottleneck in the
production of face masks last year, and because the
materials are strong – unlike classical meltblown materials
– they can also be cut and sewn by traditional techniques.
Further, they have the potential to be re-used a number of
times after cleaning.
In terms of productivity, spunbonding is also much
faster than meltblowing. On the latest state-of-the-art
Reifenhäuser Reicofil 5 lines, for example, throughput for
spunbond fabrics is now up to 270 kg per metre of beam
width, compared to 70 kg per metre width for meltblown.
The material can also be based on bicomponents of
Ingeo PLA and polypropylene and NatureWorks has been
an active partner in the development, donating significant
amounts of its Ingeo PLA, which improves the productivity
of the spunbond process by at least 30%.
“This is a faster and better way to make N95 filter media
and not just a new product, but a more efficient process too,”
said Robert Green, Vice-President of Performance Polymers
at NatureWorks. “Being involved in the development has
been exciting.”
Another partner has been ExxonMobil, which has donated
polypropylene and Vistamaxx resins (TPE-O - polypropylenebased
elastomers).
“We have worked with the Nonwovens Institute for over
ten years and this development is a good example of the
collaborative projects and teamwork involving companies
from across the nonwovens supply chain during the
pandemic,” said John Roberts, Strategic Marketing
Executive at ExxonMobil. “Collectively the industry has a
great deal to be proud of this year.” AT
Source: www.indexnonwovens.com
N95 mask (generic picture, not made of PLA)
Novamont acquires BioBag
Novamont (Novara, Italy), a world leader in the development and production of biochemicals and compostable bioplastics,
recently announced it has acquired BioBag Group (Askim, Norway), a leading supplier of low-impact solutions for waste
collection and packaging.
The acquisition will allow Novamont to benefit from BioBag’s highly specialised independent distribution in areas where
the buyer is less present. The two companies will be able to offer a more complete solution set to the market and to create
long-lasting alliances with key stakeholders such as large retailers and communities. Together they plan to build even more
demonstrators (innovative projects that enhance separate organic waste collection and composting systems) especially in
North America, the Scandinavian countries, Eastern Europe and Australia.
The transaction is an important step forward in a collaborative journey that began twenty-five years ago. Novamont’s original
vision in the 1990s was to build an integrated value chain for bioplastics and biochemicals linked to initiating and improving the
separate collection of organic waste. This became the starting point for what is now called the circular bioeconomy to which
both Novamont and BioBag have made important contributions. (Read the full news at tinyurl.com/bM202101). MT
www.novamont.com | https://biobagworld.com
8 bioplastics MAGAZINE [01/21] Vol. 16