Patent ID: 8118177

Claim:
An industrial absorbent comprising: a non-woven web including cellulose particles formed from shredded, declumped, and sized recycled paper, the recycled paper being selected from at least one of a group of sources including a source of post-industrial paper and a source of post-consumer paper, opened, individuated bicomponent fibers mixed with the cellulose particles, at least some of the bicomponent fibers being thermally bonded to at least some of the cellulose particles to form the non-woven web, and at least one of the group of 1) an air-permeable layer of thermoplastic scrim, thermally bonded to an outer surface of the non-woven web and 2) a layer of netting attached to the non-woven web by being at least partially embedded within the non-woven web; wherein the cellulose particles are treated with a liquid fire-retardant and dried before being mixed with the bicomponent fibers; wherein the non-woven web has a bulk-to-weight ratio of about 20 to about 30 mils/osy; and wherein the non-woven web has a weight and an absorbency of about 11 to about 15 times the weight of the web.