Dr. Josh Manasco

Elmarco stands as the global leader in industrial electrospinning equipment and solutions, driving innovation and delivering unmatched value to meet our customers’ unique needs. With our advanced nanofiber production technology, we empower industries in fields such as liquid filtration, high-performance apparel, and battery separators. It is well understood that these applications can benefit from the use of electrospun membranes vs. conventional membranes due to the ability to achieve higher flux (or flow rates) at the same rejection efficiencies. These higher flux and higher performance membranes will reduce energy consumption and process costs.

Elmarco has taken our significant knowledge and experience with the existing free-surface electrospinning technology (LINEA Line) and created a new generation of equipment (INFINITY Line) technology which maintains the industrial, high-throughput, and scalable aspects of our existing equipment along with the industry leading ability to virtually eliminate critical defects from these membranes.  In addition, Elmarco has discovered a revolutionary method to increase the throughput of certain polymer systems allowing us to double the productivity of membrane production.

We will conclude the main conference program with a panel discussion aimed at placing the day’s topics in a broader context. Dr. Josh Manasco from Elmarco will moderate the panel, bringing together experts from both academic research and the industrial sector, focused on nanofiber materials and their applications.

The theme will be the successful integration of nanofibers into products – from the initial concept through research to industrial production. Nanofiber materials hold substantial potential for increasing the added value of final products, and we will focus on how to fully harness this potential in practical applications.

We’ll discuss both the facts and myths surrounding this process, offering best practices that lead to success. In addition, we will share common mistakes we have learned to effectively overcome over the years.

During the workshop, we will demonstrate the electrospinning process using a LAB-scale machine to spin water-soluble polymers. Our focus will be on the key machine-controlled parameters that contribute to effective and highly productive electrospinning.

We will cover the most commonly used analytical methods for evaluating the quality of nanofibrous layers. Participants will receive a microscopic evaluation of fiber diameter in relation to individual product specifications, alongside demonstrations of area weight and thickness measurements. We will also showcase contact angle measurement techniques, all applied to various nanofibrous layer materials.

Additionally, we will provide samples of electrospun coated non-wovens and nanofiber membranes designed for critical applications. Our discussions will highlight important product parameters and explore market trends that will drive future growth in the nanofiber market.