Medical, Geotextile and Filtration Nonwovens from SPIC

Kalicharan Sharma , Quality Manager, SPIC Nonwovens (Jordan) said hospital acquired infections were skyrocketing and were now killing more people every year than AIDS, breast cancer and car accidents combined.  HAI’s were costing $45 bn and 100,000 lives per year, and the problem was exacerbated by increasing levels of antibiotic resistance and more rapid spread of infections due to international travel.  Infection control needed improvement and nonwovens had a key role to play due to their well known barrier property and cost advantages over textile alternatives. 

Barrier properties could be further improved by using finer fibres, new coatings and fibre additives. Antimicrobials or expensive wound care chemicals could be added and be concentrated in the skin polymers of bico fibres cost effectively.  

The medical nonwoven disposables market was expected to exceed $19bn by 2015 driven by expansion of health care in emerging economies, new advanced materials and the ageing populations.  MENA is expected to show higher growth rates than the EU. 

Filtration nonwovens have evolved from replacements for paper and textiles to become the media of choice.  Future use of nanofibres and polymer surfaces tuned to absorb and retain specific molecular contaminants will lead to new products for drinking water production, effluent clean-up and air purification.  The global market for nonwoven filter media will show CAGR’s of 7%, increasing its value to $3.5bn by 2015.  Asia-Pacific will show the strongest growth with the US and the EU being below average.

Rapid developments of infrastructure in the emerging economies have led to a huge new demand for geotextile nonwovens in highway, railway, water storage, sea-defences and airport construction especially in MENA.  Demand from the BRICs is growing, led by a 35% pa geotextile growth rate in China, and even the EU market is showing signs of recovery.  60% of the world’s geotextiles are now used in China.


(from EDANA Middle East Symposium  - Dubai - 14th and 15th Feb 2012)