Dow Launches RHOPLEX™ ECONEXT™ Acrylic Binders In North America

The Dow Chemical Co., Midland, Mich., has launched in North America a series of acrylic binders
designed to enable manufacturers of hygiene and medical products to produce end-use nonwovens
products containing minimal levels of formaldehyde.

According to Dow, RHOPLEX™ ECONEXT™ binders offer the best performance characteristics of
conventional self-crosslinking nonwovens binder technology — including excellent wet strength,
hydrophobicity, and the option to adjust softness and stiffness — but contain low and ultra-low
levels of formaldehyde so that manufacturers can meet increasingly stringent industry standards
such as the Oeko-Tex® Standard 100 certification for textile raw materials, intermediates and end
products.

Rhoplex Econext 110, 210 and 230 are the first binders in the product line to be
commercialized in North America. The acrylic binders may be used in disposable and reusable
nonwoven applications and are especially suitable for use in formaldehyde-sensitive environments
such as hospitals, schools, and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®)-certified
buildings and manufacturing facilities, Dow reports.

“Our breakthrough Rhoplex Econext technology allows companies an opportunity to use this
family of binders with the knowledge that they were made with minimal formaldehyde and frequently
maintain the same performance characteristics as those traditionally served by
formaldehyde-releasing solutions,” said Courtney Fretz, global marketing director for Textile,
Non-Wovens & Films, Dow. “With this new technology platform, we continue to expand the range of
performance of Dow’s binder solutions for North America that demand nonwoven products with low or
ultra-low formaldehyde levels.”

Dow introduced the technology last year under its European trade name PRIMAL™ ECONEXT™ at
INDEX 11 — the nonwovens exhibition sponsored by Brussels-based EDANA, the International
Association Serving the Nonwovens and Related Industries — and received an innovation award for it
at the show.

June 12, 2012

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