Andritz celebrated its ongoing partnership with Turkey’s Teknomelt at last week’s Techtextil 2024 in Frankfurt (April 23-26).

Teknomelt, which was founded in 2009 initially as a manufacturer of spunmelt nonwovens, has just successfully started up an Andritz neXline wetlace CCP (carded-carded-pulp) line at its plant in Kahramanmaras, for the production of nonwoven roll goods for biodegradable, plastic-free wet wipes.

“This is a very flexible line with the ability to produce both standard 100% viscose wetlaid and spunlaced products or combinations of carded fibres and pulp,” said Andritz vice-president of sales Tobias Schäfer. “With an annual capacity of 18,000 tons, it is the only line with this specific configuration. The terrible earthquakes in the Kahramanmaras region last year were an additional challenge during the installation period, but it was a deep honour to work with Teknomelt during this time and see the human and social side of the company in action.”

“Andritz is a true partner not only in good times, but in challenging times too,” added Teknoweb export manager Orhan Nalbantoğlu. “With this start-up we have achieved a new milestone in our production and will produce our new Biona-branded fabrics made of viscose and pulp, that are not only 100% biodegradable, but also extra soft and highly absorbent.”

Teknomelt is already one of the leading manufacturers of nonwoven meltblown, spunbond, SMS and SMMS fabrics in Turkey, serving a wide range of markets and exporting 45% of its production, primarily to Europe.

www.andritz.com