Fiberweb announced that it will be making a significant investment at the company's operation in Biesheim, France, to substantially increase production of meltblown nonwoven media. The investment will significantly increase its capacity for production of air filtration media used in medical facemasks, respirators and HVAC applications.
Meltblowing is a versatile and cost effective process for producing microfiber nonwovens in one step from thermoplastic resins. The Biesheim operation has been manufacturing specialized meltblown products for over 18 years and will utilize this expertise to facilitate increased production of superior quality materials.
Fiberweb expects the new capacity will be operational in January, 2010 and has already received commitments from several key customers that require increased amounts of the filter media. Industry statistics indicate the specialty air filtration business continues to grow despite the global economic slow down and with this investment Fiberweb will be well positioned to support that growth.