Process for making fibrous structures

1. A process for making a fibrous structure, the process comprising the steps of:

a. providing a die comprising three or more rows of three or more filament-forming holes;

b. supplying at least a first polymer to the die;

c. producing a plurality of filaments comprising the first polymer from the die;

d. combining the filaments with solid additives to form a mixture; and

e. collecting the mixture on a belt to produce a fibrous structure.

2. The process according to claim 1 wherein at least one row of the three or more rows comprises ten or more filament-forming holes.

3. The process according to claim 1 wherein one or more fluid-releasing holes are associated with a filament-forming hole.

4. The process according to claim 3 wherein more than one fluid-releasing holes is associated with a filament-forming hole.

5. The process according to claim 3 wherein at least one of the one or more fluid-releasing holes is concentrically positioned around one filament-forming hole.

6. The process according to claim 1 wherein the first polymer comprises a synthetic polymer.

7. The process according to claim 6 wherein the synthetic polymer is selected from the group consisting of: polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinyl alcohol derivatives, polyesters, nylons, polyolefins, polylactic acids, polyhydroxyalkanoates, polycaprolactones and mixtures thereof.

8. The process according to claim 7 wherein the synthetic polymer comprises a polyolefin.

9. The process according to claim 8 wherein the polyolefin comprises polypropylene.

10. The process according to claim 7 wherein the synthetic polymer is selected from the group consisting of: polylactic acids, polyhydroxyalkanoates, polycaprolactones and mixtures thereof.

11. The process according to claim 1 wherein the first polymer comprises a natural polymer.

12. The process according to claim 11 wherein the natural polymer is selected from the group consisting of: starch, starch derivatives, cellulose, cellulose derivatives, hemicellulose, hemicellulose derivatives and mixtures thereof.

13. The process according to claim 1 wherein the solid additives comprise fibers.

14. The process according to claim 13 wherein the fibers comprise wood pulp fibers.

15. The process according to claim 1 wherein the solid additives are combined with the plurality of filaments by a solid additive spreader.

16. The process according to claim 1 wherein the process further comprises the step of:

f. contacting a surface of the fibrous structure with a plurality of filaments comprising a second polymer.

17. The process according to claim 16 wherein the plurality of filaments comprising the second polymer are in the form of a second fibrous structure.

18. The process according to claim 16 wherein the second polymer is the same as the first polymer.

19. The process according to claim 3 wherein a fluid released by the fluid-releasing holes comprises air.

20. The process according to claim 1 wherein the fibrous structure exhibits a pore volume distribution such that greater than about 40% of the total pore volume present in the fibrous structure exists in pores of radii of from about 121 μm to about 200 μm.

21. The process according to claim 1 wherein the process further comprises the step of subjecting the fibrous structure to a thermal bonding operation.

22. The process according to claim 1 wherein the process is directly coupled to a post-processing operation.

23. The process according to claim 1 wherein the process is closely coupled to a post-processing operation.

24. A process for making a fibrous structure, the process comprising the steps of:

a. providing a die comprising three or more rows of three or more filament-forming holes;

b. supplying a polyolefin polymer to the die;

c. producing a plurality of filaments comprising the polyolefin polymer from the die;

d. combining the filaments with wood pulp fibers to form a mixture; and

e. collecting the mixture on a belt to produce a fibrous structure.