Posted April 12, 2017

 

REMSCHEID/NEUMUENSTER, Germany – Oerlikon Neumag, the Manmade Fibers segment of the Swiss Oerlikon Group, announced two bits of news related to its nonwovens activities.

 

Oerlikon to partner with Teknoweb Materials

 

The Manmade Fibers segment of the Swiss Oerlikon Group is entering into a strategic partnership with the Italian company Teknoweb Materials s.r.l. aimed at extending the nonwovens production systems portfolio to include the high-growth market for disposable nonwovens.

 

Within the context of the most important international trade fair for the nonwovens industry – Index in Geneva, Switzerland – Oerlikon announced that the two companies have come to an agreement in principle on establishing a new, jointly owned company. This is expected to be completed within the next few weeks. With this development, Oerlikon strengthens the Oerlikon Neumag nonwovens systems business within the Manmade Fibers segment and expands into the attractive disposable nonwovens market.

 

Teknoweb Materials is an established technology provider focusing on nonwovens used in disposable products. The company has – in the form of the Arvell® technology – its own patented and particularly energy-efficient manufacturing process, with which wipes can be produced using an efficient spunbond-airlaid nonwovens process instead of the complex carded-spunlace process.

 

The Arvell® technology dispenses with hydroentanglement and subsequent drying, which results in considerable energy and hence cost savings for customers. Together with Oerlikon Neumag’s know-how and equipment for manufacturing technical nonwovens (durable nonwovens), both partner companies will in future occupy a significant position within the nonwovens production solutions market. The newly created, combined technology platform offers considerable synergy potentials and the ideal prerequisites for launching innovative products.

 

Advance into a CHF 300 million market

 

As a result of the partnership, the Manmade Fibers segment further advances its interests in the attractive disposable nonwovens market. With a market volume of around CHF 300 million and average growth of between 4 and 5 percent expected over the next few years, the disposable nonwovens market is particularly interesting for Oerlikon Neumag.

 

In addition to the markets for technical nonwovens production solutions in which it already operates, this will also allow Oerlikon Neumag – with its machine and systems solutions – to participate more actively in one of the, in terms of volumes, fastest-growing areas within the overall nonwovens market in the future. Drawing on Oerlikon Neumag’s innovative airlaid, meltblown and spunbond technologies and the Teknoweb’s innovative nonwovens solutions, the newly formed company will have excellent market access with a global sales and service network. Together, it will be possible to tap into market potentials more swiftly.

 

“We are pleased to be announcing this strategic partnership with Teknoweb,” said Georg Stausberg, CEO of the Oerlikon Manmade Fibers segment. “With this, Oerlikon Neumag gains access to innovative technologies, hence expanding its product portfolio as a total solutions provider for nonwovens production systems. This allows us to expand into an attractive new market. Not least, the collaboration underlines our strategy of broadening the Manmade Fibers segment product offerings, with the aim of making its overall portfolio – currently with its primary focus on the filament business – more balanced in the long term.”

 

Fabio Zampollo, CEO Teknoweb Materials, added: “Our objective was to join forces with a strategic investor with outstanding know-how, excellent technologies and machine and systems solutions. Oerlikon offers all these from a single source. Furthermore, we will in future also profit from professional engineering and the global service network of the entire Oerlikon Manmade Fibers segment.”

 

Innovations at the Index 2017

 

Oerlikon Neumag premiered its newly developed concept for electrostatically charging meltblown nonwovens at the recent Index 2017 in Geneva. The new in-line charging unit differs from other concepts currently available on the market as a result of its high level of flexibility when charging the most diverse nonwoven products, particularly in the case of nonwovens with lower basis weights and tenacities.

 

Users can set the optimum charging condition depending on the filter application. High wrapping angles at the guide rollers ensure optimum charging, which can be carried out on both sides, positive and negative. Laboratory trials have shown that – in conjunction with the Oerlikon Neumag meltblown technology – the Oerlikon Neumag charging unit can also be used to manufacture EPA- and HEPA-class filters. To this end, an H14-class filter with an efficiency of 99.995% was produced with an overall pressure loss of less than 100 Pa.

 

Electro-charging for superior filter separation performance

 

Oerlikon Neumag meltblown technology is one of the most efficient methods for producing very fine and highly separating filter media made from plastic fibers. Depending on the application, the pore size of a meltblown nonwoven material ranges from 5 to 40 µm. Here, smaller pores increase the mechanical filtration performance, albeit at the expense of higher pressure losses.

 

The fineness of the meltblown fibers used for filter media lies in the 200 to 2,500 nm range. However, even fibers with nanoscale fineness are often not sufficient to separate the finest particles from air or liquid flows. Electrostatically charging filter media can significantly and inexpensively improve the filter performance without increasing the throughput resistance.

 

Source: Oerlikon