In 2002 North American filter converters were reported to,have consumed close to 1.1 billion m2 of nonwoven media, representing a market value of US$ 370 million. Therefore, few would disagree that-filtration remains a significant end use market for the nonwoven, industry in this region. The fact that filtration remains a growing market in North America is supported by evidence from show's such as INDA's (Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics industry) yearly dedicated filtration show, which continues to attract a growing number of media manufacturers and media converters. Furthermore, according m Kimberly-Clark, together air-and liquid filtration are within the top three end use markets for nonwoven fabrics in North America.