preparation of the product as the constituents and process are essentially dry thereby limiting the possibility of contamination in the process of the invention it is generally preferred that the preparations are brought into admixture in a gaseous medium preferably air before compression it is desirable to allow the mixture to settle into a layer after first bringing the preparations into admixture in a drum with agitation it is generally preferred that the fibers be suspended in air in a suitable container such as a polyethylene or polypropylene drum and charged it is sufficient for example to merely provide a quantity of fibers in a polyethylene bag to inflate the bag and then to shake or agitate the bag so as to charge the fibers once this has occurred the powdered cross linker can be introduced to the bag and shaken again after which the bag can be emptied onto a suitable surface and the resulting layer heated and compressed on a larger scale the fibers could be provided in a drum which in turn could be rotated until such time as the fibers therein were sufficiently charged the cross linker could then be introduced with the drum rotated further and then the mixture allowed to settle into the composite layer in a further aspect the present invention provides apparatus for the production of absorbent materials from an essentially dry preparation of fibers and an essentially dry preparation of a.