Drop a GreenStrength pad half on an oil slick, half in water, and it makes a choice: the oil side saturates dark while the water side stays dry. That selectivity is not a coating — it is the polymer itself.
Oleophilic, hydrophobic
Polypropylene is nonpolar. Oil and fuel are nonpolar. Water is strongly polar. Like dissolves like: hydrocarbon liquids wet the fibre surface and wick along it, while water beads up and rolls off. A polypropylene nonwoven is therefore a natural oil-selective sponge — no treatment required.
Where 22× comes from
The capacity number is geometry. A sorbent nonwoven is mostly void — a fine fibre network holding open pore space. Capillary action pulls oil into those pores and surface tension holds it there, so a light pad retains many times its own weight in liquid. Fibre fineness and web density set the balance between how fast it drinks and how much it holds.
One media, five formats
The same sorbent web becomes a 16″ × 18″ pad for drip points, an 18″ × 30″ bench mat, master rolls for lines and walkways, and socks and booms for containment around machines or on water. Because we extrude and convert in Newmarket, custom sizes and private-label packaging are a production decision, not a sourcing project.