Viraj Shah

Platform Leader – PE 3DL Cushioning / ASPUN™ MB, The Dow Chemical Company

Viraj Shah joined The Dow Chemical Company in April 2011 in the Packaging and Specialty Plastics business. As part of the Health & Hygiene Technical Service & Development group, he developed and commercialized new resins in the fibers & nonwovens segment as well as backsheet film segment contributing to substantial year-over-year growth through 2015. In the agricultural films space he commercialized a new resin resulting in significant business growth. In June 2015 Viraj was assigned responsibility of New Business Development for the P&SP business in North America. He conceptualized, developed and launched ASPUN™ MB which is first of its kind polyethylene for meltblown nonwovens. Viraj has also established a new application segment within Dow for polyolefin resins in the field of cushioning where he has also developed new resins for making high performance 3D Loop structures. In his current NBD / TS&D role, Viraj is the Global Technical Leader for Cushioning and ASPUN™ MB platforms. In the past three years, Viraj is also an inventor on 15 priority patent applications.

Prior to joining Dow, Viraj worked as a Polymer Materials Engineer at Panduit Corporation, Tinley Park, IL for eight years and also worked in TS&D for three years at Indian Petrochemicals Limited (IPCL) in India (now known as Reliance Industries Limited) and held a dual role as account manager. He has earned a Bachelor of Engineering in Polymer Engineering from Maharashtra Institute of Technology, University of Pune, India and a Master of Science in Plastics Engineering from University of Massachusetts, Lowell, MA.

Solutions for Soft, Efficient Nonwovens Produced with Breakthrough PE Meltblown Fiber Resins

The Dow Chemical Company is releasing novel meltblown fiber resins which are the first of its kind polyethylene resins for producing meltblown nonwovens. The “secret” behind this breakthrough is Dow’s proprietary technology, which allows production of exceptionally soft nonwovens with finer fibers than existing PE and polypropylene (PP) materials and with great efficiency of processing. These resins get comparable throughput rates with lower extruder and die pressure compared to standard meltblown PP with further potential for lowering production cost based on potentially reduced air temperature, air flow rate, and melt temperature. This new meltblown fiber resin technology enables a new generation of nonwoven materials with opportunities for increased comfort, improved barrier properties, greater structural durability in spunbond-meltblown-spunbond (SMS) type nonwovens due to better bonding between the layers, better odor control and enhanced gamma radiation resistance. This new, patent-pending family of polyethylene (PE) resins from Dow is an ideal fit for monolithic and composite meltblown nonwovens like SMS for use in diapers, wipes, medical drapes & garments, sterilization packs, filtration and other hygiene and industrial applications.