A new €32 million spunbond production line will support the growing demand for high-end polyester filtration media Johns Manville is currently experiencing.

The plant will be installed at the company’s Berlin site in Germany and employing newly-developed proprietary spinning technology and will increase the spunbond lightweight capacity at the plant by more than 40%.

“With a capacity in excess of 4,000 tons per year. the plant will be built with Johns Manville’s advanced bicomponent (BiCo) spinning technology, which will enable step-change improvements in product properties and cost performance,” said Dr Enno Henze, senior vice president and general manager, Engineered Products Europe/Asia.

“With the start of the new production line in 2015, a new generation of polyester spunbond filter media for cabin air, air pollution control and liquid filtration applications will expand the Evalith product range,” added Christian Hassmann, senior product and market manager and the project leader for this investment.

Reduced area weight in combination with higher product performance, such as high efficiency at lower pressure drop, is one of the key value propositions of JM’s innovative BiCo technology.

“Lower material cost with the same or even better performance will enable customers to compete long term in the market place,” said Hassmann. “The new production line will utilise the latest technologies to preserve resources and significantly lower energy consumption.”

The Berlin site was founded in 1919 as Spinnstofffabrik Zehlendorf AG. In 1960 Hoechst acquired the factory and in 1967 changed the production from Perlon (an artificial silk) to polyester spunbond and filaments.
In 1999 Johns Manville acquired the Berlin plant from Hoechst Trevira. Today, 66 employees and shop floor workers produce and market Evalith polyester spunbond nonwovens mainly for the filtration, roofing and geotextile industry. Following the start-up of the new production line, 20 more jobs will be created.