The Market for Filters Used to Treat Indoor Air Will Rise to Over $6.7 Billion This Year

The market for filters used to treat indoor air will rise to over $6.7 billion this year.

Market growth is in part due to the upgrading of filtration quality. This is the conclusion reached by the McIlvaine Company in Air Filtration and Purification World Markets.

There has been a steady penetration of the medium efficiency M5-6 F7-9 filters into the residential and commercial markets. This efficiency segment is now three times larger than the low efficiency G1-4.

Now there is a trend for the high efficiency H10-17 to expand at the expense of the medium efficiency filters. One of the biggest applications for this conversion is gas turbine intakes. These filters cost as much as 400% of the medium efficiency filters, but the return on investment (ROI) has been a matter of weeks in some cases.

The economic advantage is site specific. If the turbine is going to operate only on peaking service or is operating in a pristine environment, the high ROI may not be achieved.

Another upgrade trend has been to replace the conventional particulate filter with a filter which removes both particulate and gas phase contaminants. The addition of an activated carbon coating on the filter will result in odour and acid gas capture.

Electronic air filters which are included in the report are those which have air intake and discharge. The report does not include the portable ionising filters which are popular but greatly handicapped by the air flow patterns in the area. The duct based electronic filters are popular with owners of large residences and commercial buildings. The periodic filter replacement is eliminated.

Media developments such as membranes and nanofibres continue to offer better efficiency at equivalent pressure loss. In semiconductor facilities, the energy consumed by the filters is a significant percentage of the total plant requirement.