At the end of October, Voith Paper and Trützschler Nonwovens reached an important milestone: a nonwovens fabric from the jointly developed production process successfully passed the official INDA and EDANA test, and became certified as "flushable".

Flushable wipes are moist wipes that can be disposed of down the toilet, for instance baby cleaning wipes, or cleansing tissues. For the producers, this has been a small but economically interesting market segment up to now, with high demands on the product: On the one hand, the cloths must be strong enough for cleaning; on the other hand they must not pollute the sewage system or the environment after disposal.

Voith and Trützschler Nonwovens have been successful in producing wet laid and hydroentangled nonwovens with a high level of wet strength, consisting only of fibers of natural origin that quickly disperse in water, and that are 100% biodegradable.

The raw material is exclusively cellulose, the main component is bleached long fiber pulp as used in paper manufacturing. A small percentage of viscose fibers spun from cellulose ensures the strength of the nonwovens. The newly developed production process uses neither binding agents nor melt fibers. For this reason, the cloths quickly disperse in water, and the fiber material is completely biodegradable. Another advantage of the large quantities of long fiber pulp is that they lower production costs significantly.

The certificate is an impressive example of the efficiency of the newly developed production process, whose core components are the Voith’s HydroFormer for web formation, and the Trützschler Nonwovens’ AquaJet for web bonding.

In August, the American and European Nonwovens Associations INDA und EDANA published the third edition of the flushability guidelines. The "Guidelines for Assessing the Flushability of Disposable Nonwoven Products" have been developed in cooperation with waste water authorities and the nonwovens industry. They specify seven material tests, thus establishing standardised measurement methods.

To be awarded the "flushable" certificate, a product must pass all the tests. The tests include such properties as flushability and dispersement of the nonwoven product into single fibers, as well as degradation by means of aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. Just one negative test result makes the "Do not Flush" marking mandatory.  

About Trützschler:

Trützschler, founded in 1888, is one of the world’s leading textile machinery manufacturers with approx. 3,000 employees. The traditional family-owned company specializes in machines, installations and accessories for spinning preparation, nonwovens and man-made fiber industry.

About Voith Paper:

Voith Paper is a division of the Voith Group and the leading partner to and pioneer in the paper industry.Through constant innovations, Voith Paper is optimizing the paper manufacturing process, focusing on developing resource-saving products to reduce the use of energy, water, and fibers.