Raw materials for sorbent manufacturers

What goes into a sorbent

Most sorbent products are built from a small number of materials:

• The absorbent: polypropylene meltblown, as a web for pads and rolls or as fill for socks, pillows and booms.
• The cover: SMS or spunbond laminated to the meltblown, so that bonded pads and rolls are stronger and stand up to handling and traffic.
• The skin: an outer fabric for socks and pillows, and knitted netting for booms.
• Felts: needle-punched felts for dense pads and rolls, including recycled-fibre felts.

Oil-only or universal meltblown

Polypropylene meltblown is naturally oleophilic and hydrophobic: it takes up oils, fuels and other hydrocarbons and repels water. That is what an oil-only sorbent needs, and it is why oil-only sorbents keep floating when saturated.

For universal sorbents, the web is treated to be hydrophilic, so that it takes up water-based fluids such as coolants as well as oils. We make both oil-only and universal webs. Tell us the grade, the weight, the roll width, and whether the meltblown is for pads and rolls or for fill. Our own oil-only sorbents are white or blue and our universal sorbents grey, the industry standards; tell us the colour you need.

Coverstock: SMS or spunbond

A cover fabric laminated to the meltblown makes bonded pads and rolls stronger. The right cover depends on the grade:

• SMS: three layers of polypropylene, spunbond, meltblown and spunbond. It is naturally hydrophobic, soft and strong, which suits oil-only pads that must repel water.
• PP spunbond: SS 10–80 gsm or SSS 8–80 gsm, thermal point bonded, in white or any colour. It can be made hydrophilic on order, so that water-based fluids pass through to a universal core, and UV-stabilised, anti-static or flame-retardant where the end use needs it.
• Both come from fully automated lines with Reicofil technology.
• If you laminate on your own line, we supply meltblown and spunbond rolls for in-house lamination.

Boom netting

An absorbent boom only survives moving water if its skin holds it together. Our knitted polyester netting takes the tow, lift and abrasion load, while the open mesh lets oil reach the absorbent core at full rate. Polyester filament keeps its strength when saturated and will not rot in long immersion, and the knit opens over the fill and pulls back onto it, so one netting covers a range of fill densities without gathering or splitting.

Standard sizes fit 3, 5 and 8 inch booms, and other diameters are produced to your requirement. The netting comes as a continuous tube cut to your length, white as standard or other colours to order. It is boxed, with cartons palletised, wrapped and strapped, and labelled with your codes, batches and barcodes.

One container, several materials

Meltblown, SMS, spunbond, felt and netting can travel together: 5–6 different products can be combined in one 40'HQ container, which is the minimum order. Rolls are slit to your width and labelled and packed to your specification.