As one of the most popular biodegradable plastics, PLA (polylactic acid) has been attracting much attention in its application, such as disposable tableware, packaging bags, plastic film, straw, 3D printing, etc. Among them, replacing disposable traditional plastics (PP, PE, etc.) will become one of the development directions of biodegradable plastic application in the future. For example, PLA material can be used for the surface layer and bottom film of diapers. And there are already real examples.

I. The scale of China's diaper market exceeds 50 billion yuan, and environmental protection is one of the key development directions

According to Zhiyan's report, the market scale of Chinese diapers was 54.459 billion yuan in 2017, and increased to 59.598 billion yuan in 2018. Among them, the adult diaper market accounted for 10.70%; The market size of baby diapers accounted for 89.30%.

On the one hand, the market penetration rate of Chinese diapers is still larger than that of foreign developed countries. On the other hand, environmental protection, skin-friendly, thinner, elastic and other requirements are the main development direction of diapers, among which environmental protection is mainly reflected in the non-degradable surface materials of diapers need to be replaced by biodegradable plastics, such as PLA non-woven fabric instead of PE non-woven fabric, health care products companies have layout.

1. Hangzhou Reliable Care Products Co., LTD

Hangzhou Reliable Care Products Co., Ltd. disclosed in its IPO prospectus released in 2020 that it had completed the project of "Research and development and industrialization of biodegradable polylactic acid medical and health care products". The company's products -- COCO Reliable adult diapers adopted polylactic acid surface layer and polylactic acid modified bottom film.

Source: Listing prospectus of Hangzhou Reliable Care Products Co., LTD

2. Yunnan Baiyao Qingyitang Industrial Co., LTD

According to an investment announcement from Suzhou Jinquan New Materials Co., Yunnan Baiyao Qingyitang Industry Co., LTD., a health products company affiliated to Yunnan Baiyao Group Co., LTD., is working with Suzhou Guyuan Biotechnology Co., LTD., a polylactic acid non-woven fabric manufacturer, to fully promote the application and promotion of polylactic acid non-woven materials in the health products industry.

Let's take a look at some examples of PLA applied to diapers.

Second, PLA in the application of diapers, mainly used as surface layer non-woven fabric

Generally speaking, the structure of diapers mainly includes surface coating layer, flow diversion layer, absorption core layer and leak-proof bottom film. The surface layer is generally PE spunbonded non-woven fabric or hot air non-woven fabric, the flow guide layer is PP/PE/PET perforated non-woven fabric, the absorption core is mainly composed of polymer absorbent resin SAP, wood pulp composite core material, the bottom film is generally PE breathable film, some high-end products will add non-woven fabric composite bottom.

1. Yunnan Baiyao Qingyi Hall

In 2013, Yunnan Baiyao formally established the Weipin new Material Project team, focusing on the research and development of the application of polylactic acid, a new material of cyclobiotics. It took 4 years from data sampling, research and development to repeated experiments. In 2016, polylactic acid was finally applied to the surface layer of Xin Anshi sanitary napkins, and in 2017 polylactic acid was successfully applied to baby diapers.

Yunnan Baiyao Qingyitang Xin Anshi baby diaper

2. Anzhi Ai baby diapers

Anzhiai is a high-end maternal and child brand of Ogilvy & Mather Lifestyle. Its milk silk skin-friendly diapers use natural milk silk material as the face layer of diapers, and milk silk is polylactic acid fiber.

3. COCO Reliable adult diapers

The surface layer of COCO reliable adult diapers is composed of polylactic acid two-component fiber and polylactic acid fiber, and the bottom film is prepared by modification of polylactic acid. The degradation ratio of the product is increased from 50% to about 80%, and the degradation rate of the product is also increased by about 30%.

In addition to the above cases, BEABA, Little Takas, Miaopei and other brands have also applied PLA materials in diaper products.

Iii. Preparation process of PLA non-woven fabric and some manufacturers

We can see that PLA is mainly used as a non-woven layer of diapers. Most of the traditional non-woven diapers are made of PE/PP material, which has the characteristics of short technological process, fast production speed, high yield, low cost, wide use and multiple sources of raw materials. However, they cannot be degraded and can only be decomposed, which does not meet the environmental protection requirements of sustainable development. PLA non-woven fabric has the characteristics of moisture-proof, breathable, flexible, light weight, non-combustion-supporting, easy decomposition, non-toxic and non-irritating, rich color, low price, biodegradable and so on.

It is understood that at present, most manufacturers of PLA non-woven fabric use spunbond hot rolling process for preparation, and some enterprises use spunthorn process.

1. The difference between polylactic acid hot rolled non-woven fabric and spunlaced non-woven fabric

Hot rolling process is to add fiber or powder hot melt bonding reinforcement material into the fiber mesh, and then the fiber mesh is heated, melted and cooled to strengthen the cloth. Spunky process is to spray high-pressure micro-water into one or more layers of fiber webs, so that the fibers intertwine with each other, so that the fiber webs can be strengthened and have a certain strength.

Industry insiders tell Xiaobian, polylactic acid spunlaced non-woven fabric is softer than hot rolled, but it is difficult to make thin. Hot rolled non-woven fabric will be thinner, the cost will be lower.

Figure polylactic acid hot rolled non-woven fabric, Hengtian Changjiang biological

2, domestic polylactic acid non-woven fabric manufacturers

In order to provide information reference for the industry, according to our preliminary understanding, the current domestic manufacturers of polylactic acid non-woven fabric are:

Suzhou Guyuan Biotechnology Co., LTD. (In cooperation with Yunnan Baiyao Qingyitang)

Hengtian Changjiang Biomaterial Co., LTD. (The first polylactic acid hot-rolled non-woven fabric production line in China)

Meiya Non-woven Fabric Technology (Dongguan) Co., LTD

Jiangxi Dongju Industrial Co., LTD

Shandong Taipeng Environmental Protection Material Co., LTD

Jiangxi National Bridge Co., LTD

Anhui Tongli New Material Co., LTD

Wever Faith Chemical Fiber Co. LTD in Jiangyin

Jiangsu Yunzhishang Energy Saving Technology Co. LTD

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