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The launch of various infrastructure projects and the increasing acceptance of nonwoven geotextiles have promoted the growth of the global nonwoven geotextiles market.

The National Nonwovens Industry Association (INDA) tracked the geotextile market in its report "North American Nonwovens Industry Outlook 2016-2021. INDA divides geosynthetics into two markets: civil engineering and agriculture. The association said that civil engineering products are mainly made of geotextiles, while agricultural products tend to have similar properties and nonwoven manufacturing processes to geotextiles. According to the data in the report, from 2011 to 2016, the annual growth rate of the tonnage of the geosynthetics market was 2%, and the average annual growth rate was 1.8 per cent by area.

Both categories have grown during the forecast period, with the civil engineering market having significant upside. Overall, the geosynthetics market is expected to increase by an average of 2.2 percent per year (by area) and 2.4 percent per year by tonnage during the 2016-2021 period.

INDA found that from 2011 to 2016, government spending on geosynthetics in North America was largely reduced, with annual spending increasing by only 0.05 percent during that period. The report shows that the use of geosynthetics is becoming more intensive, while spending on highways and highways has increased by 2.8 per cent, and transportation-related spending has increased by 3 per cent. Spending on private non-residential construction reached 8% between 2011 and 2016, mainly due to the continued addition of new fracking rigs and related infrastructure in the gas and oil industry, coupled with increased spending in the private power sector.

Due to limited public spending, nonwovens geotextiles in road applications increased by only 0.7 per cent per year (by area and tonnage) between 2011 and 2016. The annual growth rate of geotextiles for highway and highway applications is expected to rebound to 2.1 percent during 2016-2021.

Berry Global brings Terram to North America

Typar Geosynthetics became part of Berry Global in 2015. Typar uses spunbond/thermal bonding process, and the raw material is polypropylene fiber. Berry supplies Terram, a polyethylene/polypropylene continuous process product, in other parts of the world, including Europe and the Middle East. Products from both brands can be used for separation, filtration/drainage, foundation reinforcement, protection, erosion control and detection in facilities such as highways, railways, grasslands, landfills, coastlines and canals, pipelines and other applications.

Keith Misukanis, the company's North American sales and marketing director, said: "These products allow water to pass through, have a long service life, and are very convenient to transport from a supply chain perspective." Nonwovens are constantly replacing aggregates and filling materials, which help to improve the durability of materials, so landfills, walls, roads and other structures can last longer.

Geosynthetics are more and more favored by the market, and there are more related experiments, research and development work in progress, and more advanced products will be introduced in the future. "A lot of products are now available for roads that are designed to last 10 to 20 years," Misukanis explained, "and when better geosynthetics are available, we may see roads that can last 40 years. They can maintain fewer potholes and movement throughout their life, and they are more robust, thereby saving a lot of money."

The Typar Geocells is Berry's innovation in the field of geotextiles. It uses the strength and permeability of geotextiles to create a three-dimensional geocell system. The honeycomb design allows it to adapt to various configurations and terrains. Such geocells can be used, for example, for flood control and even military protection installations, where barrier systems provide protection for people and infrastructure from small arms and even artillery.

Another recent innovation from Berry is the Salt Barrier Geocomposite. The product was developed to maintain the vitality of the upper layer of the soil and can be used for landscaping and planting projects. Traditionally, in areas with underground salt water, plants are difficult to grow because the salt water cannot be restricted from entering the roots of plants. Through the salt barrier, salty water can be expelled, and only fresh water can enter the roots of plants.

Low & Bonar remain optimistic

Low & Bonar offers a range of needle-punched non-woven geotextiles. All geotextiles are made of pure polypropylene resin and can be used in a variety of applications, including separation, filtration, drainage, protection and erosion control.

Sebastien Verbrugghe, the company's regional sales manager for civil engineering solutions, said these functions are key for infrastructure construction (roads, railways, airports, ports, tunnels), water and coastal works (marine protection, land reclamation, canals, ponds) and environmental projects (landfills, windmills, mining, drainage).

Verbrugghe say there are many benefits to using geosynthetics compared to traditional construction and civil engineering solutions. "Traditional solutions often involve natural materials. By using geosynthetics, users can benefit from these products with consistent performance and quality control. In addition, solutions can be tailored to achieve a lower carbon footprint by reducing land requirements, reducing transportation requirements and reducing energy consumption."

In this market, the driving force behind the demand is public investment in infrastructure, as well as the development of industries such as mining and waste treatment. Kenny De Wolf, civil engineering product manager at Low & Bonar, said that the advantages of geosynthetics over traditional materials are increasingly favored by designers, driving the use of geotextiles to continue to increase.

The company also expects strong market growth in Asia-Pacific, Latin America and NAFTA, while Europe is expected to remain stable, although growth in Eastern Europe is higher. On the other hand, the situation in the African market remains difficult to predict, Verbrugghe said.

Low & Bonar has responded to the growth of the global market by investing in new production lines. At the end of 2016, the company completed its investment in a new production line at its plant in Hungary. "This state-of-the-art production line uses state-of-the-art needling technology," Verbrugghe said. "It provides us with more opportunities, both from a capacity perspective and from an application perspective, because the new line can produce nonwovens with a gram weight of up to 1500g/m2 and a width of up to 6.50 m."

Propex to increase product development

Propex continues to drive the development of its GeoSolutions nonwoven geotextile line. The Geotex nonwovens product range is mainly used to support road and infrastructure projects, can be used for separation and stabilization, underground drainage, filtration and shock absorption. "The use of non-woven geotextiles in transportation projects can save costs and installation time, while extending the overall service life of the project and reducing future maintenance costs." Noah Nichols, executive director of marketing and product development at Propex.

Nichols said that one of the most common uses of Geotex is to provide separation and stability for roads before they are laid, mainly by placing geotextiles between the subgrade soil and the base aggregate. "Using nonwoven geotextiles to stabilize roads can reduce the amount of aggregate needed during construction, saving up to $50000 per mile," he adds. "It can also double the life of the road and reduce maintenance caused by problems such as cracks, ruts and potholes."

Another innovation of Propex is Petromat, a geotextile paving material that prevents moisture and reflective cracks while improving stress absorption under flexible pavement. Reflectex is a solar heat reflective concrete pavement interlayer geotextile, can reduce the surface temperature during the installation process, and improve the stress absorption, so that early cracking is reduced by 8-10%.

In terms of new products, the company recently launched Geotex DND Orange, a demarcation fabric that can signal excavators to stop further digging in areas where contaminants, pipes, cables or other hazards may be present. "Although the demarcation fabric is not the first, this form of printing directly on the fabric is still very novel," Nichols pointed out. "In the past, printing tape was required to be glued to the geotextile during installation, which added additional cost and time."

TechFab India offers new drainage composites

Established in 2003, TechFab India manufactures a wide range of geosynthetic products at its factories in Silvassa and Daman. Its nonwoven geotextile products include the TechGeo series of staple fiber needle-punched nonwovens, including the N series with a tensile strength of 6.5-20.5 kN/m, and the H series with a tensile strength of 24-75 kN/m. These geotextiles can be used for separation, filtration, drainage and other applications. They also offer a Geobags range of nonwovens for erosion protection and riparian/coastal protection work.

The company launched its latest product last year-a drainage composite called TechDrain for drainage of road surfaces and retaining structures. It is a combination of geotextile and non-woven geotextile. The geotextile used herein is a needle punched or thermally bonded non-woven geotextile, and the web/core or single-sided geotextile used between two layers of geotextile is made of high density polyethylene (HDPE).

Manish Barot, the company's head of technical sales and business development, said: "When geotextiles are used on one or both sides of the geotextile network, the separation and filtration functions can be realized. At the same time, compared with individual geotextiles, the drainage function is also greatly improved."

He added: "Through nonwoven technology, fabrics can be designed into materials with a series of characteristics that other materials cannot match." These advantages include higher strength per unit weight, high levels of uniformity, resistance to deformation in the Z direction, high tear and tensile strength, dimensional stability, consistency for high temperature applications, application specific engineering, and the ability to form composites.

In India, infrastructure development has peaked since the new government took office. As a result, major projects such as highways, coastal highways, railways, port development, coastal and river training works, and solid waste management are under way.

"In the past few years, the application of various geosynthetics has grown slowly, but will continue to grow. Manufacturers, including us, are investing a lot of energy in educating customers, consultants and contractors to show them cases from developed countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe. We believe that this will definitely have a positive effect on the future development of the Indian geosynthetics industry."

Although the company expects stronger growth in the future, existing capacity in India is already surplus compared to demand. "Until regulators mandate the use of geosynthetics in infrastructure, we expect significant overcapacity."

He added that sales of vinyl polymer non-woven geotextiles are almost zero in India, despite attempts by Indian government authorities to advertise the advantages of these products. "Recycled polyester nonwovens dominate the market, and these products are based on weight rather than performance. The reason for this is the poor implementation of the regulatory standards set out in the tender and the large-scale corruption caused by unscrupulous manufacturers in order to obtain orders."

TenCate Geosynthetics期待增长

TenCate Geosynthetics Americas produces needle-punched nonwoven geotextiles in Georgia, USA. Most of the nonwovens produced by the company are used in civil and environmental engineering applications that require the following functions: separation between different soils/aggregates, filtration and drainage.

The company's geotextiles are used between the soil and stone foundations of roadbeds for road paving, rail seats and other working platforms. "There is a saying in the engineering industry: if you put 10 pounds of mud on 10 pounds of stone, you will end up with 20 pounds of mud," said Rene Laprade, the company's technical marketing manager. "Nonwoven geotextiles can prevent different materials from mixing."

At the same time, in filtration applications, the liquid is passed through the geotextile while retaining the soil on its upstream side. "This can prevent soil loss and pipeline movement, which can undermine the stability of the structure." The company's non-woven geotextiles used for drainage can complete the above work, that is, transport liquid in its structural plane to achieve drainage function.

Laprade said: "Nonwoven geotextiles make construction of civil and environmental projects more economical by reducing the use of valuable natural resources (sand, granular materials). By using these synthetic materials correctly, the economy in terms of material use and construction time can be significantly improved."

TenCate continue to invest in the latest technology to produce high-quality products, and recently completed a major upgrade to expand production capacity. From a TenCate perspective, the global non-woven geosynthetics market will continue to grow significantly, mainly because people have a better understanding of the benefits of these products, coupled with the recovery of the global economy, these economies have gained more tax revenue, thus increasing the expenditure related to transportation infrastructure.