GERMANY (News release) -- Mondi, global leader in packaging and paper, is set to build new production lines in its plant in Gronau, Germany, to produce melt blown nonwoven fabric and surgical face masks. This is part of Mondi's efforts to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and respond to increased demand by health authorities, businesses and consumers for face masks.

Mondi Gronau has a proven track record of producing and handling films, laminates, nonwovens and elastic ear laminates for hygiene products. This knowledge will be applied to the entire value chain of face mask production.

"We are well positioned for the increased production of face masks and melt blown nonwoven fabric in Gronau. Our people have the needed know-how and expertise on working with these materials and the technology required. The in-house production capability of all substantial components positions us to build up a long-term competitive local supply. Once up and running, we will be able to produce more than one million face masks per day." Jürgen Schneider, Managing Director, Mondi Personal Care Components (PCC)

The production lines will produce melt blown nonwoven fabric and surgical masks. Given the shortage of melt blown fabric in the market place, Mondi´s plant in Gronau will offer approximately 50% of its production to other face mask manufacturers in Europe.

Technical details:
Melt blown nonwoven fabric provides a better filtering function than cotton
The single threads of nonwoven fabric are twenty times thinner than a human hair
Surgical face masks type IIR have to meet the following requirements:

Bacterial Filtration Efficiency: 98%
Breathing Resistance: < 60.0 Pa/cm2
Splash Resistance: ≥ 16 kPA