Nonwovens makers will have to switch to renewable or recycled materials

A significant share of the world's nonwovens production will be made from 100% renewable or recycled materials by 2020, according to a report in Issue No 82 of Technical Textile Markets. This prediction is based on a commitment by Procter & Gamble (P&G) to make its products more sustainable by using 100% renewable or recycled materials for all its products - which include diapers and other disposable hygiene items. Admittedly, the commitment is a long-term one. But as a first step, P&G aims to achieve 25% of this ambitious target within just ten years. P&G also intends to eliminate all waste going to landfills -- and to pass this goal along its supply chains.

Approximately 80% of the nonwovens used in disposable products for the hygiene market are based on polypropylene, and are produced on spunmelt machines incorporating configurations of spunbond and meltblown extrusion beams. But according to the secretary general of European Bioplastics, Harold Kaeb, polypropylene will be widely replaced by bioplastics in nonwovens and films for hygienic disposables. In fact Mr Kaeb has predicted that bio-based products have the potential to replace 90% of all polymers derived from petrochemical sources -- which implies a huge potential market, amounting to around 205 million tons a year. The main problem in using bioplastics is that existing capacity is a drop in the ocean compared with potential demand.

At present, worldwide biodegradable bioplastics capacity is a mere 300,000 tons a year. This represents a fraction of the 230 million tons a year of regular petrochemical-based polymer currently being produced. The use of bioplastics alone, therefore, will not be nearly enough to satisfy the demand for polymers and fibres for the hygiene product market - despite plans for capacity expansion by many producers. Consequently, as well as biopolymers, cellulosic fibres are poised to benefit significantly from initiatives such as P&G's 2020 vision.

A key to the potential success of cellulosics in nonwovens for disposable hygiene products will be a new spunmelt nonwoven technology called TencelWeb, as long as the technology can be perfected.  TencelWeb allows nonwoven webs to be made directly from lyocell spinning solution, rather than from polymers derived from petrochemicals such as polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate.

If perfected, the technology could be used extensively for making lyocell nonwovens on existing spunmelt systems which use synthetic polymers.If P&G's ambitions are to be fulfilled, other technological breakthroughs will be needed. However, P&G's decision will provide developers with the confidence that the fruits of their efforts will be rewarded.