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Awareness of the relationship between health and clean air is driving demand for more sophisticated filtration systems.

As the world moves away from the new crown epidemic, schools, offices and other public spaces become more crowded, and the demand for indoor air filtration systems has increased. Consumers recognize that indoor air quality is critical to health and are not only using more filter media, but are willing to spend more on better-performing systems.

According to NPD, which tracks small appliance sales, the US air purifiers and filters market size will be around $1.1 billion in 2021. The size of this category has more than doubled in 2020 compared to 2019. Affected by the stronger and longer allergy season, including the impact of weather events, consumer demand for improved indoor air quality is expected to drive the continued growth of air purifiers.

Hamilton Beach Brands, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hamilton Beach Brands Holding, entered the market in 2000 with the introduction of the TrueAir series of air purifiers and odor eliminators. Earlier this year, the company partnered with Clorox to produce air purifiers for the home health and wellness market.

Scott Tidey, senior vice president of consumer sales and marketing at Hamilton Beach Brands, said: "We look forward to introducing more models in the coming months. We are confident that our extensive experience as a market leader in air purifiers, coupled with the trusted and well-known Clorox brand, will be a successful combination to provide consumers with quality products."

The addition of Clorox brand premium air purifier products to Hamilton's product range supports the company's strategic initiative to achieve profitable growth through innovative solutions that improve daily life. This includes expanding its presence in the home health and wellness markets.

The Hamilton Beach brand continues to build its portfolio and plans to launch more products in the coming months. The new HEPA Clorox air purifier will help improve overall indoor air quality, help allergy and asthma sufferers breathe more easily and improve sleep quality. All new models offer 360-degree filtration because the air is passed through a sturdy cylindrical filter from all directions. True HEPA filters capture allergens such as pollen, dust, dust mites, mold spores, smoke, pet hair, pet dander, and are also 99.97 percent effective at capturing 0.1 micron particles. It also traps up to 99.9 percent of viruses and bacteria in the air, reducing overall concentrations.

In 2021, Hollingsworth & Vose reached two distribution agreements for the use of H & V Trupor, a new microporous filtration media solution. An agreement with the I .W. Tremont is to use H & V Trupor in I .W. Tremont LabExact products and other analytical products, including high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) applications, covering PES-PBT composite materials. H & V Trupor has the reliability of traditional microfiltration membranes with first-class flow rates.

Fred Lybrand, global marketing director, H & V Process Liquids, said: "Microfiltration is critical across industries to make water cleaner, bioprocess products safer, semiconductor products cheaper and industrial processes run longer. We are excited to partner with I .W. Tremont to bring H & V Trupor to a wider range of users."

 
Compared with traditional membranes, H & V Trupor can enhance the flow rate and improve the ability to filter new fluids. Its composite structure and superior pore size uniformity provide consistent and reliable results in the critical performance characteristics required in the analytical and diagnostic markets. In most cases, the thin structure of such media provides interchangeability with cast film counterparts and enhances the performance of existing and new process streams.

In addition, H & V has partnered with Superior Felt & filtering to bring Trupor film media to the global market. Superior Felt & filtering provides ample Trupor inventory as well as value-added services including finishing, slitting, pleating and die-cutting." Superior Felt & filter has worked with H & V for more than a decade to distribute and manufacture Technostat-an electrostatic submicron filter media for high efficiency air applications. Trupor is a submicron liquid filtration membrane that will complement the submicron filtration market. Coupled with H & V's unparalleled quality and benchmarking, Superior will be able to provide valuable R & D support in sales and manufacturing." Said Dr. Ping Hao, product manager for nonwovens technology.

Hollingsworth & Vose reported strong growth in its filter media products driven by increased public awareness of the importance of sustainability and emission reduction, as well as government regulations and corporate air quality policies. Josh Ayer, CEO of the company, said: "We see huge opportunities in the field of indoor air quality (IAQ), especially in schools. This demand is greater than ever before, so as to create a better learning environment for students, teachers and staff."

The company's Technostat filtration media are used in MERV 11-13 filters, which play a key role in improving indoor air quality in schools. In fact, Technostat is the first choice of many famous filter manufacturers, not only because Technostat meet strict industry ratings, but also because it is the leading resident media product on the market. It traps small particles and provides efficient filtration with low pressure drop, which means cleaner air and lower energy consumption in HVAC systems.

Last year, H & V completed the capacity expansion of its Technostat Hatzfeld plant in Germany. The investment allows the company to support growth in its key customers and growth markets due to concerns about indoor air quality.

Ahlstrom are also investing. The company recently began adding capacity for filtration and energy storage materials at its plant in Turin, Italy. By successfully expanding its production facilities, Ahlstrom has made a strong commitment to customers in the high-performance filtration and energy storage markets.

The new machines at the Turin plant are state-of-the-art production lines designed for the production of glass microfiber media. The line will serve applications that require glass microfiber media, supporting Ahlstrom development plans in industrial filtration and the absorption of glass fibers (AGM), a key component in lead-acid batteries. In addition, the new production line will be able to provide in-line saturated filter media to support the growing global demand for filter media.

The capacity increase in Turin is an important step for Ahlstrom. Giuseppe Costa, Vice President, Filtration and Performance Solutions Asia and EMEA, said: "This investment supports the company's strategic ambition to maintain a leading position in the growth areas of the global filtration market, such as clean rooms, HVAC and hydraulic applications." In addition, the company is taking a solid step into the energy storage market by launching a platform that is fully qualified to manufacture AGM.

Ahlstrom has responded to growing customer demand by continuously expanding its global filtration manufacturing capabilities through several new and expansionary investments over the past few years, and thanks to this strategy, the company is recognized in the filtration market as a unique supplier of innovative media, able to offer a wide range of high-quality products in all regions. With this new investment, it has once again demonstrated its dedication to the filtration market, and in addition, it is ready to become a major supplier of energy storage media.

This supports Ahlstrom strategic ambition to maintain leading positions in specific segments of the global fiber-based solutions market that have positive growth prospects and are supported by sustainable market drivers. Over the past few years, the company has expanded its filtration material manufacturing capabilities globally through several new and expansionary investments to address growing customer demand.

Another area of interest to Ahlstrom is the electric vehicle market. In December, the company announced that it would develop a filter media solution product specifically for electric vehicles. The new solution is a filtration solution for cabin air, transmission and cooling systems. "I'm excited to introduce our new fuel cell air intake filtration solution," said Cedric Vallet, Head of Industrial Filtration and New Vehicle Business Development at Ahlstrom. "By protecting the fuel cell from harmful gases and particulates, we can ensure that the fuel cell will operate effectively throughout the life of the vehicle."

 
He added: "By extending fuel cell life and minimizing the use of catalysts, we are providing new filtration solutions to optimize costs and benefits for our customers."

In August, Alkegen announced that it would add 30 microglass strands to support growing global demand for batteries and filtration. These investments will increase its total production capacity of fine glass fibers (MFGF) by 30%.

John Dandolph, Alkegen President and CEO, said: "From medical devices to electric vehicle battery packs, our advanced microglass fibers are a key component in many of the world's most innovative products. These latest investments reflect Alkegen ongoing commitment to partners in the fiber technology space, and we will raise our expectations for future demand as we continue to develop compelling new specialty applications for these advanced fiberglass chemicals."

Alkegen plans to add 8 production lines at its Bahrain plant and 22 at its Somerville plant in the United States to accelerate MFGF's capacity enhancement. The company also plans to expand and improve MFGF capacity and operations in China, including doubling its current capacity in the region.

Alkegen, formerly known as Unifrax, received a new name in January 2022 following the acquisition of Lydall, a manufacturer of high-performance materials for filtration and other applications. Prior to its acquisition by Unifrax, Lydall was ambitiously investing in new meltblown nonwoven assets to address the growing demand for mask materials and the long-term needs of filtration applications. The company added two meltblown lines in Rochester, New Hampshire, and one in Saint-Rivaine, France.

The installation of the new line makes the Alkegen New Hampshire facility the largest meltblown filter media production site in the United States and a center of excellence for advanced filter media innovation. To support the broader need to improve air quality in the wake of the COVID-19 epidemic, the company's innovation team is focused on developing new carbon-based high-efficiency media for use in MERV, HEPA and ulpa filters in hospitals, aircraft, restaurants, office buildings and other public spaces.

This article is from Nonwovens Industry Journal
作者：Karen McIntyre

Source: Jung-International Nonwoven Industry Business