Meltblown Technologies
July 9, 2024, Tuesday
8:00am-10:00am, ET Canada & US
$USD 350
$USD 175 (Member Only )
Course Objective
This course aims to give the audience an in-depth understanding of meltblown technologies (including process design, electret charging, meltblown nanofibers, etc.), web characteristics, and their uniquely positions used in the fast-growing air/liquid filtration markets, such as HVAC, transportation, residential, commercial, personal protection, and many other air/liquid applications. The panel experts will discuss new developments, opportunities, and trends.
Course Outline
•Introduction
•Meltblown process design and web characteristics
–History and key players
–Fundamentals in meltblown process design
–Process control variables and web characteristics
•Meltblown Advantages for Filtration
–Unique web structurer
–Unique position in filtration
•Electret meltblown polypropylene
–Electrostatic charging techniques
–Charge decay and durability
•Nanofiber Meltblown Technologies
•New Developments, Opportunities and Trends
–Market Estimates and Forecasting
–Recent Advances and Challenges (Dr. Gajanan Bhat)
–Meltblown opportunities for Air & Liquid Filtration (Dr. Cédric Vallet)
–Market Requirements and Trends
–Q&A and Panel Discussion
Instructor Biography
Christine Sun, Ph.D.
Instructor
Dr. Sun, President of the Waterloo Filtration Institute, is a globally renowned technical and market expert in the filtration and nonwovens industry. With over 30 years of experience in academia and industry, she has in-depth knowledge of filtration and extensive hands-on expertise in product and business development, evidenced by her contribution of over 100 technical publications and patents in the field. She is also actively involved in the development of many air and liquid filter test standards, such as ASHRAE and ISO. Dr. Sun worked for Freudenberg Filtration Technologies from 2004 to 2011 as an R&D manager and then served as Technology Director for Donaldson Company from 2011 to 2013. She was the Chair of the American Filtration and Separation Society (AFS) from 2016 to 2017 and has received the AFS Fellow Award in 2019, the Sr. Scientist Award in 2012, and the best paper awards from INDA (Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry) in 2008. She is also an editorial board member for the Textile Research Journal and the Journal of Industrial Textiles. Dr. Sun received her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, and her Executive Certificate from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, USA.
Dr. Bryan D. Haynes
Panelist
Dr. Bryan D. Haynes is a Senior Technical Director - Global Nonwovens at Kimberly-Clark Corporation, USA. He has 35+ years experience in Meltblown technology, 29+ years experience in “the other” nonwoven technologies, 44 US Patents and 16 Kimberly-Clark Trade Secrets.
Dr. Haynes is a Recipient of the INDA Lifetime Technical Achievement Award, Society of Women Engineers Rodney D. ChippMemorial Award, and the Kimberly-Clark Technical Excellence Award. He is the co-chair for upcoming WFI 2022 Annual Conference, and the member of several boards including: INDA Board of Directors, Vice Chair of Planning, Materials Science and Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology; Chemical, Materials and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Georgia; and the Nonwovens Institute at N.C. State University. He also serves on the Board of Directors as Secretary for Georgia FIRST which is a non-profit organization that supports STEM programs in Georgia.
Dr. Haynes has a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, M.S.and B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA.
Dr. Gajanan S. Bhat
Panelist
Dr. Bhat is a Georgia Athletic Association Professor of Fibers and Textiles, Head of Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Interiors ,University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA
After earning his Ph.D. from Georgia Tech in textile and polymer engineering, Dr. Bhat joined the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) in August 1990, where his research covered nonwovens - melt blown, spunbonded and biodegradable, plastics recycling, nanotechnology, sustainable materials, and high performance fibers. As the director of UTNRL he demonstrated successful production of nanofibers from thermoplastic polymers by meltblowing. In July 2016, he joined UGA as the Head of the Textiles and Merchandising and Interiors (TMI) department. Dr. Bhat has published more than 200 research papers, has three US Patents and has made more than 250 national or international presentations. He has served as the president of the Fiber Society and is also an active member of INDA, TAPPI and the Textile Institute. Some of the awards/recognitions he has received include:
Outstanding Young Engineering Alumni by Georgia Tech (1996)
Distinguished Achievement Award from the Fiber Society (1999)
Fellow of the Textile Institute (2005)
TechniTex India Research Achievement Award (2008)
TAPPI NET division Technical Achievement Award (2014).
In addition to conducting research in the area of nonwovens since 1984, Dr. Bhat has taught nonwoven courses at UTK, and was involved in developing and teaching the introductory nonwovens training course with INDA. He has also been part of the nonwovens tutorial and INTC and TAPPI NET conferences. In addition to being part of the Textile and Nonwovens Development Center (TANDEC) conference for several years, he has served as session chair and organizing committee member of several TAPPI and INDA technical conferences. Many of his former students are working in reputed nonwoven companies as well. He has been working with many nonwoven companies in product development and solving problems.
Panelists
Dr. Cédric Vallet is the Head of Product Management & Business Development – Filtration Division, at Ahlstrom (in France). He has 20 years of experience in Filtration; in R&D, then in Sales & Marketing. Expertise in filtration media manufacturing and various air & liquid applications. He led the Ahlstrom-Munksjö FiltEV® launch, a new platform of high-performance filtration materials for Electric Vehicles. He received his Ph.D. in 2006 from the University of Rennes (FR) and Engineering Master’s Degree in Chemistry, ENSCR, 2002.
Dr. Peter Tsai. Professor of the Univerity of Tennessee, has over 40 years of expertise in development of meltblowing (MB) system and the electrostatic charging (EC) of materials for making air filter electrets. The MB and the EC technologies developed Dr. Tsai have been used in the industries worldwide making billion pieces of N95 of face masks, and many other applications in air filtration. He receives three most prestigious awards from the University of Tennessee (UT) in recognition of his contribution in technology innovation and transfer. Dr. Tsai is entitled by AFS as a Fellow Member, famous for his invention of electret meltblown technologies for N95 facemask and air filtration applications.
Mr. Stephen Cox, Chief Scientist, Hollingsworth & Vose Company, is a leading expert in synthetic processing with 34 years of experience developing filter media, fibers, and processes for the filtration and fiber industries, resulting in ten granted patents. These patents have been focused on both product and process development. In addition to product development, Steve has held leadership positions within H&V. Steve has a BS in Chemistry from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). Prior to joining H&V, Steve was an Advanced Development Chemist for Eastman Chemical Company / Eastman Kodak Company, in Kingsport, TN, in cellulose esterification research.