Nonwoven fabrics comprise 48% of the $4.6 billion global air and liquid fibrous filter media industry. In 2005, global nonwoven filter media sales were estimated to be $2.2 billion.

Of the $2.2 billion attributed to nonwoven media, nonwoven air filter media is the largest of the five market segments where nonwoven fabric is currently used (Figure 1). Valued at $800 million, nonwoven air filter media accounts for 92% of all air filtration fabric sales worldwide.

As in global sales, nonwoven air filter media is the dominant component of the $713 million North American market. Nonwoven air filter media accounts for 65% of the North American filter media sales with an 880 million square meters sold in 2005.

Given the central role nonwoven fabric media plays in air filtration, it should not come as a surprise that nonwoven filter media is increasing its share in many end-use applications. Nonwoven media is becoming ever more important in industrial applications. In 2000, the EPA ruled that all coal-fired electric generating plants must comply with the Clean Air Act of 1970. It is estimated that these tighter standards will cost these facilities nearly $35 billion to upgrade their current exhaust systems.

Industrial applications are not the only area media manufacturers should be watching. In the residential market, homeowners are beginning to place more value on cleaner indoor air and have begun to upgrade their furnace filters by purchasing more expensive, but far more efficient, pleated filters made of melt blown media. Retailing at $10-$15 unit, homeowners are turning away from the lofted fiberglass “fly catchers” that typically sell in the $1-$2 range. Another area that bears watching is the disposable vacuum cleaner bag market. As homeowners become more concerned with airborne contamination, the melt blown lined bags now make up more than half of all vacuum bags sold in North America. It is expected that in the future nearly all vacuum bags will have a melt blown liner.

Nonwoven media consumed by liquid applications—including cartridge and mobile filters—are estimated to be equally distributed across the market and combined they total slightly over $1.2 billion in worldwide sales.

In North America media sales for liquid applications was approximately $247 million with a volume estimated to be near 40,000 tonnes. If growth estimates of 4% hold true, estimated sales of nonwoven media for liquid end-uses will approach $302 million by 2010.

Like air filtration, the liquid filtration market encompasses a number of markets including pool and spa filters, lubricant filtration, water filtration, oil and blood filters. Wet laid media is the chief component in many liquid applications (tea bags, coffee filters, pool filters) but melt blown media is becoming increasingly used in this area. Found primarily in applications where large quantities of fluids are being filtered (e.g., drinking water) more and more melt blown media is being used to create depth cartridges. The high performance of melt blown depth cartridges has led to a significant displacement of string wound cartridges being used.

We estimate that nonwoven air filter media volume will continue to grow at 4.7% for the 2005-2010 period; nonwoven liquid filter media will grow at a slightly slower, but respectable, 3.1% for the same timeframe. Simply put: the nonwoven filter media industry is thriving.

“Analysis: Nonwovens Industry in North America 2005-2010," Ian Butler, INDA, April 2006

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