TROISDORF – Reifenhäuser Reicofil presented its portfolio of high-performance and sustainable nonwovens at IDEA 22 at the Miami Beach Convention Centre in Florida this week.
In terms of sustainability, Reicofil offers various approaches to save fossil raw materials, such as the processing of bio-based raw materials for diapers. Here, the topsheet material, made of bulky, soft, and industrially compostable high loft nonwovens, meets maximum hygiene requirements. For industrial applications, high-strength nonwovens can be processed with up to 90% PET flakes from post-consumer waste.
With BiCo technology, meanwhile, two different raw materials are combined in a single fibre in the spunbond process, creating a bi-matetrial effect and causing the fibre to crimp. This opens the door for manufacturers to exploit completely new product properties that are unattainable with monofibres.
For the medical sector, Reicofil showcased its leading solutions for high-barrier medical protective clothing and together with its sister business unit. Reifenhäuser Cast Sheet Coating, the new Ultrathin Coating production process. This enables customers to produce film-nonwoven composites more cost-effectively and competitively.
The Covid-19 pandemic and current supply bottlenecks have exposed the dependence of companies on global supply chains which is both a warning signal and an opportunity to fundamentally strengthen local semi-finished product production. The jointly developed Ultrathin Coating process achieves significant cost savings and easier line maintenance by eliminating the need for hot melt adhesives.
With the patent-pending technology, producers reduce film grammage by 66%. Thanks to a perfectly compatible combination of Reifenhäuser nonwovens and extrusion coating lines, customers can supply seamless semi-finished products.
Data platform
With c.Hub, the new data platform of the Reifenhäuser Group, Reicofil provides a digitization solution that is tailored to the requirements of nonwovens production. Customers can securely connect, centrally store and easily analyze data from their Reicofil machines, peripherals, ERP and MES systems via the c.Hub middleware. Together with various software bundles, c.Hub is offered as an on-premise solution. It can be deployed locally and remains under the full data sovereignty of the user.
Via the web-based ExtrusionOS user interface, customers can keep an eye on their production and the status of their machines wherever they are. The ExtrusionOS software packages offer transparency from the first to the last metre, faster defect troubleshooting, and complete traceability of key quality parameters.
“We offer the appropriate line technology for almost any application – from soft and bulky high loft nonwovens and sustainable and bio-based fabrics to high barrier nonwovens with optimised properties and reliable filter characteristics, and also nonwovens made from post-consumer waste,” said Markus Müller, vice president of sales and marketing for Reifenhäuser Group. “With our current RF5 machine generation, we are also setting the benchmark in terms of quality, performance, availability, efficiency and machine intelligence.”
