MIAMI - Technology specialist Oerlikon Nonwoven secured a major new contract during the first day of the IDEA exhibition, here in Miami.

The deal, with a renowned European meltblown specialist, is for a two-beam, stand-alone meltblown system from the Neumünster-based plant manufacturer in order to meet its strongly increasing demand.

The system will be deployed to manufacture meltblown nonwovens for various applications, particularly for the filtration and wipes sectors. The commercial production launch is scheduled for the first half of 2020.

According to Oerlikon, the market for meltblown nonwovens is expanding by an average of 6 per cent per year. Oerlikon Nonwoven meltblown technology is said to enable the cost-efficient manufacture of high-end meltblown and SMS (spunbond-meltblown-spunbond) products.

Stand-alone monocomponent and bicomponent meltblown plants produce nonwovens for a whole range of filtration, insulation and sorption applications. As ‘plug & produce’ installations in already existing and new third-party composite systems, the meltblown technology is deployed for a whole range of medical and hygiene products. This solution, the company says, permits the cost-efficient upgrading of new or existing spunbond systems and offers nonwoven manufacturers access to markets with especially high-quality requirements.

In addition to standard polymers, such as polyester and polypropylene, for example, promising polymers such as fluoropolymers can also be processed.