Turkish Nonwoven Symposium organised by EDANA, the leading international organisation of the nonwoven sector, in İstanbul on 10-11 November 2015 was organised with an intensive participation from sector professionals. In the activity where Tekstil Dünyası Magazine Group was media sponsor, latest innovations were discussed and companies operating in Europe were informed of the trade environment in Turkey.
Turkish Nonwoven Sector
On the first day of the symposium where guests specialised in their own fields took part, Bora Kocaman, General Secretary of Adana Commerce and Industry Chamber of Adana; Bekir Aslaner, General Secretary of ITKIB; Jaques Prigneaux, Edana Foreign Affairs and Market Analyses Director evaluated the economical, demographic, political and social dynamics of Turkey under the moderatorship of Ali Şişman, General Director of Hassan Group.
Raw Material
In the session where the issue of raw materials in the nonwoven sector was discussed and Doğan Mazicioğlu, Member of the Executive Board of General Nonwovens, was the chair, Darrel Collier, Business Development Director of Tecnon Orbichem, mentioned about the impacts of oil prices on the raw materials. Saying that angle between polymer and monomer is growing, Collier expressed that the prices of fibres will decrease in the future contrary to what is expected. James Docherty, Production Process Development Responsible of the British Technical Absorbents expressed that the importance of absorbent fibres has rapidly increased and the raw materials used in the nonwoven production will diversify in the near future. Elfriede Hell, Recycling Technologies General Director of the Australian Starlinger, talked about the importance of recycling.
Nonwovens in the Hygiene Sector
In the session held under the moderatorship of Mahdy S. Katbe, CEO of Unicharm Gulf Hygienic Industries, for the discussion of nonwovens in the developing hygiene sector, Miray Solmaz and Michael Verstraeten from Henkel talked about the developing nonwoven market in Turkey and Africa. Arzu Karatekin, R&D Manager of Hayat Kimya, pointed out to the fact that hygiene sector is growing fast throughout the world, brand new opportunities are waiting for the manufacturers and Turkish manufacturers have taken important steps in this regard. Edgar Herrman from Hy-tec Hygiene Technologies expressed that Turkish manufacturers play a great role in the nonwoven sector and Turkey will be the greatest production base of the world thanks to its geographical superiority and problems experienced in China.
Trends in the Hygiene Sector
At the last session of the first day which was chaired by Mehmet Kuyucu, General Director of Gülsan, Selda Akbaşlı, Sales Director of H. Fuller, talked about the rising trends of the hygiene sector and said that the sector should certainly have a command over the changing and evolving trends. Emphasizing that this situation is important particularly for the diaper industry, Akbaşlı expressed that the sector is having certain difficulties in renewing itself in this respect. Mark Cross, Hygiene and Medical Consultant of Belgian Centexbel, stated in his speech on the standards recently set by Europe and USA that products preventing bacteria formation have recently gained importance. İlhan Özen from Erciyes University explained the results of thermo-physical properties brought in nonwovens to the audience.
Wet Towel
At the first session of the second day of the Turkish Nonwoven Symposium chaired by E.Anıl Kırhallı, Sales and Business Development Director of Kansan, wet towel sector was discussed. Ataman Özbay from Faculty of Pharmaceutics of Marmara University explained how wet towels came into existence and why they grew so fast to the audience. Also talking about new generation wet towels, Özbay expressed his experience in this field. Stating that wet towels invented by Kimberley Clark in order to clean cold cream are now shaping the nonwoven market, Özbay said that wet towels which have a wide usage range for everybody thanks to their ease of use and multi-purpose nature are used in numerous national and international locations with the freshness and hygiene they offer and Turkey ranks at the top in the list of manufacturers.
Hale Bahar Öztürk, Hygiene Business Development Manager of Lenzing, gave information about the fibres used in wet towel production. Bernard Heiken from Schülke & Mayr told the production processes in the wet towels to the audience and provided information about the test stages of the anti-microbial products.
Nonwovens Used in the Durable Consumer Goods
At the second session chaired by Bernard Meyer-Roscher, BASF Sales Manager, nonwovens used in the durable consumer goods were discussed. In his presentation, Jayaraman Sridhar, CEO of Zydex Industries, stated that especially the need for nonwovens used in the automotive sector increased and nonwovens come to prominence when technical requirements of the automotive sector and target customer profile and expectation are considered. Saying that nonwoven products used in the ceilings and invisible seat areas of B and C segment cars are now used at numerous points including the engine, Sridhar expressed that the manufacturers investing in this area will turn out to be profitable. Serden Müjdeci from Hassan Group gave information about the carpet and furnishing parts produced via thermo formation in his speech.
Alican Yılankıran, Business Development Director of General Nonwoven, mentioned the usage of nonwovens in the field of filtration in his presentation. Saying that especially ecru and water needling nonwovens are frequently used in the field of filtration, Yılankıran stated that melt blown nonwovens are unique materials thanks to such features as large surface area, porosity, softness and absorbance resulting from micro structures and polypropylene melt blown nonwovens are manufactured for being used in air filtration. Talking about the fact that physical properties of these materials were measured and impacts of various production parameters on the PP melt blown nonwovens’ physical properties and these materials are used in air filtration, Yılankıran said that nonwoven filters are used in many fields of technical textiles like medical textiles, protective textiles, packaging textiles and home textiles.
Latest Innovations in the Machines Used in Nonwoven Production
At the last session chaired by Bernd Can, Regional Sales Manager of Andirtz Küsters, latest innovations and developments in the machines used in nonwoven production were discussed. Serkan Çakır, Assistant General Manager of ISRA Vision, talked about the improvements that latest generation scanners brought in production quality of nonwovens. Stating that consumers are now knowledgeable about the production processes, Çakır expressed that they focused on environment-sensitive production for this reason.
Robert Mascherpa, Middle East and Europe Sales Manager of Weko Witmann & Konrad, stated that sustainability has gained more importance and added that “Green Yarn” developed by them as Weko and would be introduced at ITMA is sustainable and sprayed to the fluid textile network without contact with the rotor discs via the spray finishing system. Stating that rotors rotate at high speeds in the production process and constitute constantly flowing micro drops, Mascherpa said that, in this way, fluid consumption determined according to the function is controlled, the need for drying is reduced and production speed is increased. Also stating that another advantage of the system they developed is that the mechanical stress occurring in the fabrics pressed among the cylinders is eliminated, Mascherpa added that, in this way, losses occurring in the nonwoven products during the production are minimised.
Attention to Unconfirmed Products
Making explanations to our Magazine Group during the event, Bernard Heiken from Schülke & Mayr said that wet towels used particularly in babies and small children throughout the world can lead to allergic dermal reactions. Stating that these reactions are caused by the chemical named methylisothiazolinone shortly known as MIT, Heiken said that this agent is found in almost half of the wet towels manufactured in the USA at the tests. Stating that confirmed products should be used in order to prevent these, Heiken added that, “About 700 chemical agents enter into our lives every year without being proven adequately whether they are safe and their damages are understood after many people get damaged by them with their increasing usages.”
There is no field where nonwovens do not exist
In his explanation to our Magazine, Serkan Göğüş, CEO of Mogul, stated that nonwoven sector is a sector constantly looking for innovations and research and added that, “Nowadays there is no field where nonwovens do not exist. As Mogul, we have always invested in different and new technologies since our establishment and creating product and sector diversity has been our main strategy. In this respect, we work with internal and external consultants, our process and product development efforts are ongoing and our new investment projects are shaped within this framework. As firm, our existing production processes are mainly oriented to standard products but our development efforts for more sophisticated products continue.”
