Filtration '96 hits 1200 mark.

largest attendance ever for annual filtration event

Approximately 1200 attendees showed up last month for the annual International Filtration Conference and Exhibition, which took place December 2-4 in Baltimore, MD and was sponsored by INDA, Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry, Caw, NC, and the American Filtration and Separation Society, Northport, AL. The event, which was up 27% in attendance from last year's event, included a short course on air and liquid filtration media and a full day of marketing presentations as well as concurrent sessions on liquid filtration and air filtration. The exhibition, which ran simultaneously with the conference, hosted more than 80 exhibitors of filter media, raw materials, machinery and converting services.

Keynoter Discusses Geographic Differences

The keynote address at the conference was given by Hermann Eidel, general manager, Gas Filtration Division, Freudenberg Faservliesstoffe, Weinheim, Germany. His paper, entitled "Filtration in Europe versus North America," addressed several key areas: the increasing trend toward the use of synthetic nonwovens in certain air filtration markets, the divergence of European and U.S. norms in air filtration, international quality aspects and the competitive structure of the industry.

"In Europe," Mr. Eidel began, "there is an increasing trend toward synthetic media, an area that has not been significantly penetrated. I believe by the year 2001 the market will be 60% synthetic fiber media," he said, adding that this will be at the expense of glass. "In the U.S.," he continued, "the current market is already 40% synthetic." He predicted this figure would move to 65-70% in the next five years.

Mr. Eidel offered several reasons for this belief. "Cheaper synthetic media with higher efficiencies is now available," he said. "In addition, in Europe particularly there is still a high fear of fiber glass shedding. Even media manufacturers who used to focus only on glass media diversified their range by manufacturing synthetic media as well. The relatively new market of cabin air filters is dominated by synthetic media," he added. "The evolution of this market was initially characterized by some media containing cellulose fibers, but currently almost all cabin air filters contain synthetic media."

Mr. Eidel moved on to discuss what he called "the norming paradox." Acknowledging the fact that companies throughout the industry have adopted a more global approach, leading to similar buying behavior on the two continents, he said the logical conclusion would be that the norms in the U.S. and Europe should become more similar, if not identical. The opposite is true, however, particularly in the HVAC filter business.

Digressing for a moment, he pointed to an American audience member wearing a diagonally striped tie. "An American tie will be manufactured with the stripes pointing toward the left toe," he said, then referred to his own tie, a European design with the stripes pointing in the other direction. His point was that there is no reason for ties to be made differently in different regions; it is simply a question of style. Carrying this example into filtration, Mr. Eidel said, "This is the norming paradox. There should be similar buying behavior for an HVAC filter, but the standard is actually growing apart. New proposals in the U.S., ASHRAE 52.2 P, and in Europe, EUROVENT 4/9 - which are currently being drafted or discussed - would widen the norming gap even further." Mr. Eidel urged the industry not to let this happen. "Most people in the industry think that they would benefit most from having one uniform standard for both continents. This would also serve the customers in this market, particularly if transnational companies are involved."

In terms of quality issues, he referred to ISO certifications, which have become very important and have helped standardize companies' quality programs. But, Mr. Eidel continued, "There are differences in the way nations produce quality. A study conducted by Anderson Consulting and by the University of Cambridge and University of Wales on 71 automotive plants manufacturing seats, exhaust systems and brakes in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, the U.K., the U.S. and Canada came to some interesting conclusions, which might be food for thought in the filtration industry," he said. The study, he said, revealed that products manufactured in Europe face higher defect rates resulting in customer complaints than those manufactured in the U.S. or Japan. "There are also regional differences by country in Europe," he said, "where it appears that Italy is the worst, then the U.K, France and Germany, with Spain finishing best, only slightly behind the U.S. and Japan.

"The conclusions for the filtration industry, in particular for international manufacturers, can be to benchmark one's quality system on the demanding automotive business and on demanding regional customer segments with a high sensitivity to specifications conformity; my experience shows that this can be a Japanese customer." He gave as an example automobile manufacturer Honda, which has plants in the U.K. and the U.S. "As a supplier to Honda, you will be scored on three criteria," said Mr. Eidel, "quality, cost and delivery. The quality score is measured by the number of rejected parts per million (rppm); the performance target for suppliers for 1994 was 25 rppm, a reject rate of 0.0025%!" he said, acknowledging that this was a particularly challenging goal.

Mr. Eidel's final topic was the competitive structure of Europe and the U.S. "In both the U.S. and Europe there is fierce price competition," he said. "In the cabin air filter market, a rapidly growing area, prices have actually dropped 33% in Europe between 1993 and 1996. The U.S. is experiencing a similar effect, although it began in 1994." A similar trend has been observed in HVAC filter bags, he said.

The structure of the industry is changing, said Mr. Eidel in summary. "On one hand there is an internationalization process taking place, where formerly national players with some momentum in a certain market are becoming global players... On the other hand, there is also a growing number of small regional national players; they are characterized by very lean structures, low overheads, low distribution costs and very little R&D and testing equipment. While their degree of automation is not very high, they might still be the lowest cost producers in their region, thus having the ability to sell at very competitive prices."

Gregor Addresses New Markets

Also speaking at the Filtration Conference was Edward Gregor, president of Edward C. Gregor & Associates, Charlotte, NC, who presented a talk on "New & Emerging Filtration Media." According to Mr. Gregor, the filtration industry has been evolutionary rather than revolutionary, but there are new needs evolving and no single filter media can serve all needs.

Trends in the business, said Mr. Gregor, include environmental consciousness, finer filtration requirements and specialized media. "In terms of environmental consciousness," he said, "disposal of filtration wastes are of obvious concern and receive high visibility. Considerations go beyond landfill space issues, which gain public attention...and cradle to grave thinking has been receiving increasing user and governmental scrutiny. As part of this consciousness, extended life and reusable filter media has become an industry priority."

Moving on, Mr. Gregor discussed emerging finer filtration demands at all customer levels. "Part of this trend is an increasing demand for narrower particle size distribution removal ranges," he said. "Reliability and increasing market requirements are at the heart of this trend. Will it let up? Probably not, but cost constraints will be a restraint.

"Specialized media is also a growing trend," he continued. "Users are demanding purer fluid streams and narrow pore size distribution media, engineered to meet specific needs...Nonwoven fabric producers who never dreamed of having a filter specialist on staff now employ engineers to tailor the development of media. It is a faster pace, requiring both supplier and user to keep abreast of new developments.

He continued with some figures. "Disposable nonwoven filters in 1995 totaled $475 million in sales, with the worldwide total at $1.3 billion. These filters average about $1 per square yard in price," said Mr. Gregor, clarifying that these figures do not include coffee, tea and cigarette filters.

"A new category has been evolving, however," he said, "in the area of extended life and reusable filter media. These filters sell for $20-25 per square yard and include ceramics, membranes, metals, monofilament fabrics and porous plastics in addition to a small amount of nonwovens. In the U.S. sales of these filters totaled $500 million, or $1.5 billion worldwide." These are the areas into which nonwovens must make further inroads.

He went on to discuss emerging filter media, focusing on six end uses. The first is coLD fiber technology, which stands for colocated large diameter fibers. "These fibers are strategically placed within the matrix to provide internal support and a fluid transport network in a melt process. Manufacturers claim optimization of cartridge efficiency, life and mechanical strength characteristics," said Mr. Gregor, explaining that the network of large fibers mixed with finer fibers allows the media to stay open and not collapse under backflow or heavy viscous conditions.

The second area, said Mr. Gregor, is triboelectric media, which he said has been around for some time but has not been paid much attention. "This media comingles positively and negatively charged fibers, creating an inherently charged media that provides greater air flow. This is a naturally occurring effect and is not to be confused with electret filters," cautioned Mr. Gregor, "which are prepared artificially." Triboelectric media has been used in shaker bags for dust collection and in furnace filters.

Thirdly, Mr. Gregor discussed fluoropolymer filter media, which had been dominated by PTFE, but is now seeing the use of ethylchloro-tri-fluoroethylene (ECTFE), which is commercially available in a number of forms, including melt blown and hydroentangled fabrics, staple fibers, core/sheath monofilament fibers and monofilament fabrics. "The media has exceptionally good release properties and has application in air, baghouse, chemical and medical filtration as well as mist elimination, ozonated water and coalescing end uses," said Mr. Gregor.

Biodegradable nonwoven filter media is another growth area, according to Mr. Gregor. "Filtration media is now being offered that is reported to be intrinsically biodegradable as opposed to starch filled polypropylene. The resultant filter, which is manufactured from sources such as corn, sugar, beets and milk, can naturally break down at 140 [degrees] F." The material is available in spunbonded or melt blown media.

Fifth, said Mr. Gregor, is gradient density melt blown fabric roll stock. "This is also an area that is not new, but has not been used as it could be. These are multilayer melt blown webs now available in roll form, as single density webs have been for years. The advantage," he said, "is the ability to construct cartridges with greater liquid flow and dirt holding compared to the non-pleated cartridge and increased dirt holding capacity compared to the single density pleated melt blown cartridge."

Finally, multi-round plastic housings are an innovation to be examined. Offering an alternative to machined polymer and steel housings, "this new housing is largely unknown and underutilized by users and underpromoted by suppliers. Single piece molded housings provide significant savings to companies requiting a rated vessel, especially when surfaces are smooth as polished stainless steel and/or long term chemical and non-corrosion are required." Applications, said Mr. Gregor, include pharmaceutical, chemical and semiconductor industries.

In conclusion, Mr. Gregor said manufacturers of filter media and filters are more innovative than ever. "Market trends and competition are creating an environment for greater innovation and new products." This is important, he said, because in today's market, the slogan is "innovate or deteriorate."