Home>News
How are flushable wet wipes made? Full process explanation
- 2024-10-12
Wet wipes are common daily necessities in people's daily lives. While bringing convenience to people's lives, they also cause various environmental problems. As people's living standards continue to improve, the consumption of wet wipes will continue to rise.
Therefore, it is urgent to study a new type of wet wipes product that can be directly flushed and decomposed by throwing it into the toilet after use. Flushable wet wipes refer to wet wipes products that can be easily dispersed, dissolved and degraded in water. The advent of flushable wet wipes has largely solved the waste disposal and environmental pollution problems caused by wet wipes, and can be better applied to usage scenarios and meet the current municipal sewage standards and requirements.
So, what is the production process of flushable wet wipes?
1. Material selection
Flushable wet wipes generally choose flushable materials, such as natural cellulose, regenerated cellulose fiber, etc. Natural cellulose includes wood pulp fiber, hemp, cotton fiber, etc. Among them, the most commonly used material is wood pulp fiber, which has good flushing performance and degradability, can be quickly dissolved in water, and reduces the impact on the environment. Regenerated cellulose fiber is a fiber obtained by treating and spinning natural fibers through a certain chemical process. It is also called artificial fiber, including viscose fiber, bamboo fiber, lyocell fiber, etc. In order to make wet wipes have good dispersibility, the pulp fiber content should be high during the production process of wet wipes.
2. Fiber preparation
The selected materials are treated and processed, such as crushing, cleaning, etc., to obtain a suitable fiber form. The commonly used process is to prepare the raw materials into fibers through cellulose swelling and screening. Flushable wet wipes have certain requirements on the length of the fiber. Long fibers can keep the wet wipes in a certain wet state strength, but when the wet wipes enter the water, the fibers are entangled and hugged with each other, and it is difficult to disperse well in the water. When short fibers with a length of less than 80 mm are formed, there are fewer entanglement points between the fibers, and it is easier to disperse in water.
Therefore, when making flushable non-woven materials, it is necessary to balance the wet state strength and flushability, and choose a suitable ratio for production.
3. Fiber reinforcement
Fiber reinforcement technology is an important step after web formation. It is used to reinforce the fiber web to improve its strength and durability. Common reinforcement methods include thermal bonding, chemical bonding and spunlace reinforcement. Thermal bonding is to reinforce and bond the fibers by heating; chemical bonding is to use specific adhesives, and its safety should be considered when using it; spunlace reinforcement is to reinforce the fiber web by high-pressure water flow. Compared with the other two methods, the products produced are softer and safer.
4. Functional treatment
In the production process of flushable wet wipes, functional treatment is often used to increase the practicality and comfort of flushable wet wipes. The following are some common functional treatment methods.
(1) Gentle treatment: Wet wipes will come into contact with the skin, so they need to be gently treated so that they will not irritate the skin. This can be achieved by selecting mild materials and adding mild ingredients.
(2) Antibacterial treatment: Wet toilet paper needs to have antibacterial function to avoid bacterial growth. This can be achieved by adding antimicrobial agents or using materials with natural antimicrobial properties.
(3) Moisturizing treatment: Wet toilet wipes can provide additional moisturizing and hydrating effects by adding moisturizers to prevent skin dryness.
(4) Enhanced cleaning effect: Toilet wipes can enhance the cleaning effect by adding detergents or detergents to enable them to better remove dirt and grease.
The choice of functional treatment should be determined based on the purpose of use and user needs. In addition, when performing functional treatment, it is also necessary to ensure safety of use and compliance with relevant regulations and standards.
