Conference Speakers

Robert Green

Vice President of Performance Polymers , NatureWorks

BIOGRAPHY

Robert Green is the Vice President of Performance Polymers for NatureWorks. Robert has been employed with NatureWorks since 2002, and has been involved in a broad range of applications for both Ingeo fibers as well as Ingeo packaging.

Prior to joining NatureWorks, Robert was employed with Wellman Inc for 11 years holding a number of technical positions at several US and international locations supporting a variety of PET fiber and resin activities.

Robert has a BS in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina State University and an MBA from the University of South Carolina. Robert is an active member of several fibers and nonwovens industry associations and serves on the EDANA Board of Governors as well as the INDA Technical Advisory Board (TAB).

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Driving Production Efficiency and Performance in N95 Face Masks

25 years of fiber production have demonstrated broad processing capabilities for melt spinning Ingeo PLA creating applications that have typically targeted markets looking for sustainability. However, markets are starting to identify and appreciate unique attributes of Ingeo PLA as a performance material. Taking advantage of this knowledge is allowing solutions to be developed to address real world problems beyond simply sustainable solutions.

Technically demanding applications like N95 respirators and surgical masks normally require a multi-layer structure of one or two spunbond nonwoven layers and an electrostatically charged layer of meltblown nonwoven material which serves as the filtration layer. Combining these characteristics into a high performance spunbond structure using a PLA/PP biocomponent fiber has resulted in increased processing efficiencies, high levels of filtration, and reusability.