Lydall, Inc.. a leading global manufacturer of value-added engineered materials and specialty filtration solutions, is investing in a new production line to create fine fiber meltblown filtration media for face masks and high-efficiency air filtration systems. This new line will be installed at Lydall’s facility in Saint-Rivalain, France in the second quarter of 2021, substantially increasing the company’s capacity to supply this critically needed material to the European market.

The investment solidifies Lydall’s position as one of the largest global suppliers of fine fiber meltblown filtration media, the crucial component of N95 respirators and the European equivalent, FFP2/FFP3, as well as surgical masks and MERV-, HEPA- and ULPA-grade air filters. Lydall will receive up to 30 percent of funding for the investment through the support of France’s Ministry of the Economy and Finance. Lydall is also adding two fine fiber meltblown lines at its site in Rochester, NH, creating the largest meltblown operation in the U.S.

“COVID-19 has created unprecedented global demand for face masks, upgraded air filtration systems and other products that are essential to preventing the spread of the virus. In response, governments around the world are now focused on establishing secure, reliable and sustainable domestic supply chains so they can guarantee they have access to high-quality products that are pivotal to national security and public health,” says Sara A. Greenstein, president and CEO. “Our global footprint and 100-year heritage in creating specialty filtration solutions position Lydall to serve as a local manufacturing partner to governments around the world, now more than ever. We take our role in creating products that protect people and places from viruses such as COVID-19 incredibly seriously, and we are grateful for the support of the French government, which will allow us to ramp up production even further.”

For more than 30 years, Lydall’s Saint-Rivalain facility has manufactured medium- and high-efficiency filtration media for a variety of applications that are critical to environments such as operating rooms, gas turbines and nuclear containment buildings. The facility currently has one line dedicated to meltblown filtration media production to make high-efficiency indoor air quality filters and, in response to COVID-19, has maximized its output to support the production of personal protective equipment (PPE) in Europe. Once this additional line is operational, Lydall expects to produce enough fine fiber meltblown filtration media for 600 million FFP2/FFP3 respirators or 2.2 billion surgical masks per year. The company plans to hire additional staff to support the increase in production.

“The installation of this new, state-of-the-art production line will allow Lydall to advance filtration science and develop filtration media for higher-end air and liquid filters,” says Ashish Diwanji, President of Lydall Performance Materials. “COVID-19 was an unprecedented event that exposed the wider need to examine the indoor air quality of a variety of public spaces. As a global market leader in specialty filtration solutions, Lydall is at the forefront of that innovation and is committed to protecting people and places today, and in the years and decades to come.”