Europe’s PFNonwovens (PFN) Group, a global leader in nonwoven fabrics, has partnered with Borealis to enhance their production of nonwoven materials for the personal hygiene market. By using Bornewables polypropylene (PP) resins for spunbond and meltblown solutions, they aim to offer value-added and more sustainable solutions to their customers while setting a new industry standard.

Bornewables can be used as direct drop-in replacements for fossil-based polyolefins, with no changes to the existing manufacturing process while delivering the same high quality and performance as previous materials. The Bornewables PP used by PFN is made with second-generation raw material feedstock derived entirely from waste and residue vegetable oil streams, in line with Borealis’s EverMind’s ambitions to accelerate action on circularity.

The renewable content in all Bornewables products is mass balance accredited under the ISCC (International Sustainability and Carbon Certification) Plus certification standard, ensuring their authenticity and fully transparent traceability from raw materials to finished products. Borealis adopted the mass balance approach for its renewable and chemically recycled polymers to provide products addressing climate change and circularity, the company said in a press release.

For PFN, this means that for every tonne of certified Bornewables PP used in production, a maximum equivalent amount of nonwoven material can be claimed as certified renewable.

“Anticipating the growing demand for more sustainable nonwoven solutions, we have focused our development resources over the past several years on the circular sphere to accelerate our journey towards climate neutrality,” said Tonny De Beer, chief product, technology and sustainability officer at PFNonwovens Group. “For PFN’s nonwoven products, fossil-based resins are today the main contributor to the carbon footprint. Therefore, using the Borealis Bornewables instead of standard fossil-based resins will significantly reduce the carbon footprint, even enabling products with a carbon footprint under zero.”

“The combination of our expertise in polymer science and development with PFN’s processing know-how has resulted in nonwovens that make full use of the Bornewables advantages to minimise CO2 emissions. Together we are reducing both waste and fossil depletion, while delivering cost-efficient products for the hygiene market with a premium look and feel,” said Peter Voortmans, global commercial director consumer product at Borealis. “At the same time, it serves as a role model of Borealis’ commitment to re-invent essentials for sustainable living in collaboration with value chain partners who share common goals.”