Nonwoven Technical Textiles: Opportunities

Utkarsh Sata, M. Mallyah* and Seshadri Ramkumar

Nonwovens and Advanced Materials Laboratory The Institute of Environmental and Human Health Texas Tech University Lubbock, TX 79409-1163, USA E-mail: s.ramkumar@ttu.edu

Tecnitex Nonwovens, Ltd., Bangalore, India

Presentation given at the FICCI Agrotextiles conference held on 1st Oct 2008

Global Economic Situation: Public Humiliation

World Economy is at Crossroads

Source: Public Humiliation by James Surowiecki, The New Yorker, September 24, 2008

American Economy Meltdown

US is the largest consumer of commodity goods. Latest mortgage crisis and credit crunch is hitting the pocket books of American consumer society. Monies to spend on consumer good such as clothing will decrease.

Implications of Global Economy and Indian Textile Industry

Import of commodity textiles in developed economies hit by credit crisis will slow down. Increase in the price of raw materials due to global economic situation. Indian textile industry should diversify.

Diversification into Non-commodity Textiles

Indian textile industry should go on a higher gear in diversifying into unconventional textiles. Even after 30 years of organized sector status, the nonwoven and technical textile industry is growing at a rate of 8 % in USA and Europe. This sector is at infancy in India and offers tremendous growth and opportunities until 2050.

Technical Textiles & Nonwovens

What are Technical Textiles ?

 Technical Textiles are value-added textile products that provide added functionality and applications other than regular fiber-to-fashion supply chain products.  These technical textiles encompass high performance fibers, yarns, woven, knitted, nonwoven, braided and composite structures.

Are Nonwovens Technical Textiles?

Most of the nonwovens are technical textiles as they have not yet penetrated into the apparel sector. Nonwovens are predominantly disposable and semi durable goods. All nonwovens are technical textiles but all technical textiles are not nonwovens

What are Nonwovens?

As the name indicates nonwovens are not woven fabrics. Cost effective process as it skips intermediary processes such as spinning, weave preparation and weaving.

Fiber Fabric without weaving

High speed and productivity compared to conventional/woven processes.

General Definition of Nonwoven Fabrics

Nonwoven fabrics are flat structures mainly defined as sheets or webs made by bonding and entangling fibers or filaments by mechanical, thermal or chemical means.

- Mahmud and Ramkumar, Man-Made Textiles in India, September 2001 Man-

Major Nonwoven Technologies

Needlepunching Thermalbonding Airlaid Spunbonding Meltblowing Spunlacing/hydroentanglement

Nonwoven Technologies

Spunbond Synthetic Meltblown Synthetic Needlepunching Versatile (natural and synthetic) Hydroentangling Versatile (natural and synthetic)

Typical Applications of Nonwovens

Technical applications Hospital fabrics Surgical gowns Face masks Geo textiles Consumer and industrial wipes Upholstery paddings Military decontamination wipes Inner liners of protective fabrics Automotive headliners Automotive trunkliners Acoustic and thermal insulation materials

Technology and End-use Applications

Spunbonding surgical gowns, diaper cover stocks Meltbowning barriers, filters and face masks Needlepunching Geotextiles, automotive fabrics Thermalbonding upholstering, cussion pads Hydroentangling wipes

Needlepunching Technology

Nonwoven Laboratory at Texas Tech University

Contoured Needleboard Technology

Width: 1.2 mts.

Contoured Needle Zone

Nonwoven Line
Opening fine beating and tuft reduction

Hopper Feeder

Double Cylinder Card

Web forming removal of tufts; parallel orientation

Cross Lapper

Web formation - high loft, layered webs

H1 Needle Loom

Web consolidation Interlocking of fibers

Meltblown Process

Spunbonding Process

Major Machinery Makers

Spunbond/Meltblow Reifenhauser, Germany Hydroentangling Fleissner, Germany. Reiter Perfoject, Switzerland Needlepunching Dilo, Germany Saurer, Switzerland.
Fehrer nonwoven operations have been acquired recently by Saurer group

NSC (Asselin + Thibeu), France

Global Nonwovens Outlook

Worldwide Production By Region

(millions of tonnes)

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1997 2002 2007

0.1 0.3

8.41

R. Of World Mid. East South America

5.75

0.4

Asia Pacific

3.2

2.69
0.2

2.0 2.3 1.7

Europe - 27

1.2 0.8 0.8 0.9 1.2 1.5 1.3

1.8 2012

NAFTA

Source: INDA Estimates, Ian Butler, INTC-2008

Nonwoven Growth By Region

(%, based upon tonnes)

o d Ch na N F u ope (27) Japan d a he a a

2007 2012 1997 2007 0 5 10 15 20

Source: INDA Estimates, Ian Butler, INTC-2008

2007 Nonwoven Production

(000, tonnes) Regions Europe (27) 1,659 Asia-Pacific * NAFTA South America** Mid. East R. of World 126

Selected Countries
2,047 1,491 254 174 Mexico Brazil Mexico Taiwan Korea Turkey Japan S. Africa Saudi Arabia 52 Australia 126 135 130 160 213 93 338 26 62

* Australia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea,Taiwan,Thailand ** Top 6: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela
Source: INDA Estimates, Ian Butler, INTC-2008

Nonwoven Consumption Per Capita

(kilograms)
India Russia S. Africa Brazil South America China Mexico Turkey Saudi Arabia Malaysia Japan Australia Europe -27 NAFTA Korea Taiwan

Emerging Markets Early Development Markets

Developed Markets
High export volumes

Source: INDA Estimates, Ian Butler, INTC-2008

Nonwoven Consumption Rises as GDP Per Capita Increases *

Kg/Capita
4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 China now 1.5 1 0.5 India now 0 $0 Brazil India, 2012 $10,000 $20,000 $30,000 $40,000 $50,000 Turkey Czech Rep. Korea Taiwan Europe NAFTA apan

Trend line

Source: INDA Estimates, Ian Butler, INTC-2008

* PPP in US$ equivalents

Worldwide Consumption of Technical Textiles (000 tonnes)

Region Years CAGR%

1995

2000

2005

2010

95-00

00-05

05-10

Americas

4,288

5,031

5,777

6,821

3.2%

2.8%

3.4%

Europe

3,494

4,162

4,773

5,577

3.6%

2.8%

3.2%

Asia

5,716

6,963

8,504

10,645

4.0%

4.1%

4.6%

ROW

473

558

628

730

3.3%

2.4%

3.1%

Totals

13,971

16,714

19,683

23,774

3.7%

3.3%

3.8%

Source: David Rigby Associates

Worldwide Consumption of Technical Textiles (000 tonnes)

Application Area Years CAGR%

1995

2000

2005

2010

95-00

00-05

05-10

Agrotech

1,173

1,381

1,615

1,958

3.3%

3.2%

3.9%

Geotech

196

255

319

413

5.4%

4.6%

5.3%

Medtech

1,228

1,543

1,928

2,380

4.7%

4.6%

4.3%

Protech

184

238

279

340

5.3%

3.3%

4.0%

Totals

2,781

3,417

4,141

5,091

4.68%

3.93%

4.38%

Source: David Rigby Associates

Growth Prediction of Technical Textiles in India

Consumption Of Nonwovens/TT in India Vs. GDP Per Capita

(Assuming An Increase Of 13.27% In Per Capita Every Year)

YEAR 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040 2045 2050

GDP PER CAPITA (US$) 733 1374 2563 4780 8912 16618 30985 57773 107720 200850

CONSUMPTION OF NONWOVENS/TT (kg) 0.08 0.15 0.27 0.51 0.95 1.77 3.31 6.16 11.49 21.43
GDP per capita source: World Bank

Consumption Of Nonwovens/TT in USA vs. GDP Per Capita

(Assuming An Increase Of 4.6% In Per Capita Every Year)

YEAR

GDP PER CAPITA (US$) 42499 52435 65656 82213 102943 128901 161404 202103 264705 331452

CONSUMPTION OF NONWOVENS/TT (kg) 3.5 4.32 5.41 6.77 8.48 10.62 13.29 16.64 20.84 26.10
GDP per capita source: World Bank

2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040 2045 2050

India vs. USA Per Capita Nonwoven/TT Consumption (2005-2050)

GDP per capita source: World Bank

Indias Per Capita Consumption vs. Income Levels (2005-2050)

GDP per capita source: World Bank

Agrotextiles (Few Examples)

What are Agrotextiles ?

 Agricultural Textiles are used for Increasing yield, quality and safeguarding agricultural products.  Agrotextiles are basically technical textiles that have specialty applications in agriculture, horticulture, aquaculture, animal husbandry & forestry.  Agricultural Textiles find applications right from sowing to harvesting.  They offer new insight on solving the problems faced by agricultural industry.  Various technical textiles such as woven, nonwoven, knitted, nets and coated textiles are used as agrotextiles.

Applications of Agrotextiles
Sunscreening (shade cloth) Frost Covering Harvesting Wind protection Landscape covering Bird protection Insect protection Turf protection Irrigation Drainage Aquaculture Insulation Horticulture Animal Husbandary

Agro Shade Cloths

Shade cloth/Shade Netting These are sunscreens and provide necessary protection to the plants against: Excessive heat, Burning of the crops due to direct sunshine and UV damage. Range of shade percentages are: 25%, 35%, 50%, 75% and 90%
Examples: Knitted or woven polyethylene fabrics. Should not rot or become brittle & should avoid mildew formation

Source: www.karatzis.gr/products/agricultural/04s.jpg

Frost Covering
Adverse Effects of Frost
Frost can kill the seeds and adversely affect the ariel portion of the plant. Frost makes the plant loose its moisture and dry out.

Frost Covering
Minimizes moisture and heat loss. Keeps the plant warm and healthy. Nonwoven fabrics are preferred for Frost Covers: Lightweight, breathable and those which dry quickly are used. These fabrics should provide open spaces for crop treatments. Examples: Nonwoven spunbonded mesh fabric and nonwoven UV resistant polypropylene fleece.

Source: http://www.anti-frost.com/

Source: http://www.anti-frost.com/

Harvesting Aides
Harvesting nets are used to collect the fruits falling from a tree. This helps to keep the cost of cultivation low by eliminating additional labor associated with harvesting. Harvesting nets are predominantly grip structures which can be developed using warp knitting technology.
Source: http://lh3.ggpht.com

Source: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3169/2638810726_a4ceefdcc6.jpg?v=0

Windshields
Windshields are used to protect the crops from high velocity wind damage. These can also be used to control the temperature by hindering cooling due to the wind. These are installed perpendicular to the direction of the wind to reduce the wind speed. These Prevent: Breaking of branches, Early falling of the fruits and Damage to the leaves and flowers.
Examples: Woven and knitted UV stabilized windshields using high density polyethylene monofilaments.

Source: http://www.arrigoni.it

Source: http://www.karatzis.gr

Landscape Covers
These are used for weed control and prevent penetration of thin roots of weeds. In addition they also maintain optimal soil temperatures for rapid plant growth.

Source: http://www.terramdirect.com

Examples: Biodegradable needlepunched nonwovens and coated fabrics

Spunbonds with Phase Change Materials

Spunbond PP Row Cover Fabric

Agrotextiles in Experimental Strawberry Rows

Source: Wadsworth L. C. et al. Nonwoven & Technical Textiles, Oct-Dec 2007

Pesticide Protective Clothing

Pesticide Protective Materials

Three layered Chemical Protective Fabric: Patent Pending

Conclusions
It is extremely important for the Indian textile industry to diversify into durable technical textiles and disposable nonwovens. Technical textiles should at least contribute 15 -20 % of the total textile sector by 2015-2020. Our growth prediction is that the industry should grow in double digits around 13 %.