A process for making a water filter having the steps of hydropulping particulate and fibrous ingredients including a quantity of fibrillated cellulose with water to create a suspension, circulating the suspension in a molding tank, submerging a mold having cavities in the circulating suspension, applying a vacuum to the cavities to draw the suspension into the cavities such that the water passes through the mold and the ingredients accumulate within the cavities to form a dewatered material, ejecting the dewatered material from the mold to create a molded object, drying and curing the molded object and capping an open end of the molded object to make a filter that flows under gravity and is naturally hydrophilic with a mean flow path (MFP) as determined by porometry of less than 5 micron and preferably less than 2 micron.

A process for making a water filter having the steps of hydropulping particulate and fibrous ingredients including a quantity of fibrillated cellulose with water to create a suspension, circulating the suspension in a molding tank, submerging a mold having cavities in the circulating suspension, applying a vacuum to the cavities to draw the suspension into the cavities such that the water passes through the mold and the ingredients accumulate within the cavities to form a dewatered material, ejecting the dewatered material from the mold to create a molded object, drying and curing the molded object and capping an open end of the molded object to make a filter that flows under gravity and is naturally hydrophilic with a mean flow path (MFP) as determined by porometry of less than 5 micron and preferably less than 2 micron.

The invention provides an antimicrobial fiber which exhibits excellent antimicrobial properties even without the addition of antimicrobial agents and can remain antimicrobial even after repeated washing. The antimicrobial fiber comprises a fiber having on a surface thereof a polyacetal copolymer (X) containing oxyalkylene groups, the molar amount of oxyalkylene groups in the polyacetal copolymer (X) being 0.2 to 5 mol % relative to the total of the molar amount of oxymethylene groups and the molar amount of oxyalkylene groups.

A filtration material comprising a blend of polypropylene and acrylic fibers of round, flat, dog bone, oval or kidney bean shape in any size from 0.08 to 3.3 Dtex. A preferred blend contains about 50 weight percent polypropylene fibers and about 50 weight percent acrylic fibers. The fibers can be blended ranging from 90:10 to 10:90 polypropylene to acrylic. The shape contains 25 weight percent round, flat, oval, dog bone and kidney bean shapes. The fiber blend contains 25 weight percent of at least one size between 0.08 and 3.3 Dtex. Electret fibers incorporated within these blends have 0.02 to 33 weight percent of a charge control agent. These fibers can be used in producing electret material by corona or triboelectric charging methods.

Carbon fiber composite additives, media incorporating the carbon fiber composites, and related methods are provided herein. In some aspects, a composition includes at least one medium; and a carbon fiber composite incorporated with the at least one medium, the carbon fiber composite including one or more carbon fibers with an epoxy resin matrix applied thereto to produce a composition having improved characteristics and filtration performance.

A system and method of forming fiberglass air filtration media is disclosed which does not require the use of oil additives. A mixture of resin binder, polymer, and dry adhering agent is formed and applied to the fiberglass as it spins onto the drum. Additionally, the fiberglass filtration media density can vary such that the fiber on the air inflow is less dense than the fiber on the air outflow. After oven curing, the finished air filtration media has an improved ability to attract and hold dust and other contaminants.

A method of bonding a nanofiber web of nanofibers having diameters of between about 50 nanometers and about 2,000 nanometers onto a surface of a woven or nonwoven polymeric media having media fiber diameters of between about 700 nanometers and about 50,000 nanometers utilizes exposing the topmost layer of nanofibers and media fibers to a jet of heated air for a time and at a distance such that substantially only the topmost layer of fibers are bonded. The jet of heated air exits through a nozzle slot having a length of less than about 2 inches in the nanofiber web travel direction. The temperature of the heated air ranges from about 2 to about 10 times the nanofiber melting temperature, and heat air has a nozzle slot velocity of greater than about 500 feet/minute. An adhesive may bond the nanofibers, to a media, which may be bi-component fiber fibers.

A polymer comprising a pathogen inactivating component such that the pathogen inactivating component is released continuously over time by the ablation or sacrifice of the polymer. The polymer may be incorporated onto or into an air filter.

Disclosed are improved polymer materials. Also disclosed are fine fiber materials that can be made from the improved polymeric materials in the form of microfiber and nanofiber structures. The microfiber and nanofiber structures can be used in a variety of useful applications including the formation of filter materials.

A filtration material comprising a blend of polypropylene and acrylic fibers of round, flat, dog bone, oval or kidney bean shape in any size from 0.08 to 3.3 Dtex. A preferred blend contains about 50 weight percent polypropylene fibers and about 50 weight percent acrylic fibers. The fibers can be blended ranging from 90:10 to 10:90 polypropylene to acrylic. The shape contains 25 weight percent round, flat, oval, dog bone and kidney bean shapes. The fiber blend contains 25 weight percent of at least one size between 0.08 and 3.3 Dtex. Electret fibers incorporated within these blends have 0.02 to 33 weight percent of a charge control agent. These fibers can be used in producing electret material by corona or triboelectric charging methods.