Abstract: A porous food casing consisting essentially of a film of food grade thermoplastic having a plurality of interconnected interstices therein. The interstices are defined by a porosity modifier selected from the group consisting of soybean oil, peanut oil, corn oil, glycerin, polyethylene glycol, monolaurate, mineral oil, polyoxyethylene, sorbitan monostearate, sorbitan monooleate and glycerol monooleate. The interstices are in a range of approximately 0.002 to 1 micron and the casing has a water vapor permeability in a range of about 1 to 1500 gms/m2/min.

Abstract: A nonwoven battery separator which comprises a nonwoven, the nonwoven formed from a plurality of fibers and at least one high solubility parameter polymer, which polymer forms an encapsulation sheath around the fibers. The encapsulation sheath optionally has pores of about one micron or less and the separator is characterized in that it has a surface pore size of at least five microns.

Abstract: A thin separator for batteries is provided. The separator includes a layer that reduces dendrite shorting and a nonwoven layer. Typically, the separator also includes a laminate layer disposed between the nonwoven layer and the layer which reduces dendrite shorting. Additional nonwoven layers can also be included in the separator.