How a Leading University Researcher Became an Emerging Start-Up CEO
DIRECT AIR CAPTURE
Technology and Climate
Ambition in Alignment
JAPAN IN ACTION
Hollow Fiber Membranes
WATER INNOVATION
Advancements and the World Filtration Congress
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Beverlin Specialty Tube and Perforated Tubes have joined forces, bringing together over 100 years of expertise—from perforated cores and filter elements to fully welded assemblies. By uniting our capabilities, we deliver complete solutions that are truly well assembled—in both the products we build and the way we work. Every project reflects the same high standards our customers have always trusted.
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Showfloor Showcase
A2Z Filtration – The A2Z of HVAC
CEO Q&A – Wasting Water, No More NPHarvest CEO Juho Uzkurt Kaljunen By Caryn Smith, Chief Content Officer & Publisher, IFN
Securing The Future of Carbon Capture By Adrian Wilson, International Correspondent, IFN
Hollow Fiber Membranes
By Adrian Wilson, International Correspondent, IFN
The Good, The Bad & The Tech
Q&A with Dr. Oliver F. Bischof, TSI Incorporated
40 / Excerpts from the Experts By Dr. Iyad Al-Attar, Global Correspondent, Technology and Innovation, IFN
Advancing Big Water By Caryn Smith, Chief Content Officer & Publisher, IFN
WFC14 — Complex with a Long Finish By Caryn Smith, Publisher & Chief Content Officer, IFN
& DEPARTMENTS
Viewpoint
Cleaner Air, Safer Water, Healthier Futures By Caryn Smith, Chief Content Officer & Publisher, IFN
Tech Spotlight
Biodiesel Filtration: Protecting Centrifugal Separators with Eaton’s Advanced Technology
Tech Notes
New Technology Briefs
Green Economy
Six Pillars of Sustainable Value Creation
– Insights From A Global Think Tank By Philippe Wijns, Principal, CleverSustainability
Emergence
Trending University & Institutional Research
Compiled By Ken Norberg, Editorial & Production Manager, IFN Movers & Shakers
Industry News & Notes
Caryn Smith
Chief Content Officer & Publisher, INDA Media csmith@inda.org
Dr. Iyad Al-Attar
Global Correspondent, Technology & Innovation, Visiting Academic Fellow Cranfield University i@driyadalattar.com
Philippe Wijns Principal, CleverSustainability, Filtration Expert and Sustainable Business Development Advisor philippe.wijns@ cleversustainability.com
Adrian Wilson International Correspondent adawilson@gmail.com +44 7897.913134
“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” — Henry Ford
Ford’s words remind us that progress requires change; doing things the same way leads to stagnation. In filtration, innovation is not optional – it’s a mandate. Our industry sits at the crossroads of science, society, and sustainability. We are tasked not only with creating solutions that make today’s world healthier but also ensuring that future generations do not pay the price with their health and well-being.
One area where this spirit of innovation is thriving is in Hollow Fiber Membranes, explored in Adrian Wilson’s feature on page 30. Japan continues to lead in ultrafiltration (UF) and reverse osmosis (RO) membrane technology, pushing the boundaries with nanostructured polymer blends and hybrid membranes. Their success is fueled by collaboration among academia, government, and industry – a model worth emulating globally.
Wilson also examines Securing the Future of Carbon Capture on page 27, highlighting renewed U.S. commitment through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). Direct air capture represents an industry still in its infancy, yet its potential to help balance our planet’s carbon ledger is immense. The challenge ahead is to scale these technologies in a way that is both economically viable and environmentally responsible.
Innovation also comes alive in our interview with Dr. Oliver F. Bischof of TSI Incorporated, led by Iyad Al-Attar. Their discussion on
R. Vijayakumar, Ph.D., Chair AERFIL
Tel: +1 315-506-6883
Email: vijay@aerfil.com
Jay Armstrong, MBA, PhD Mott Corp.
MS Teams #: +1 (860) 999-9035
Email: JArmstrong@mottcorp.com
James J. Joseph Joseph Marketing
Tel/Fax: +1 757-565-1549
Email: josephmarketing120@gmail.com
page 34 underscores the pivotal role of particle technology in advancing air quality and filtration. Precision measurement is not just a scientific exercise – it is a cornerstone of public health, industrial safety, and environmental stewardship. Dr. Bischof’s global perspective reinforces the necessity of cross-border collaboration and data-driven solutions.
Finally, thought leader Philippe Wijns takes us deeper into the philosophy of sustainability with his analysis of the Six Pillars of Sustainable Value Creation on page 12, drawn from research by Germany’s Bertelsmann Stiftung. These six themes – ranging from circularity and climate protection to risk management and sustainable finance – offer a comprehensive framework for how filtration companies can build lasting value while protecting resources. His piece challenges us to reimagine how business models can align profitability with responsibility.
Collectively, these articles spotlight a truth: Filtration is more than an industry – it is an obligation. The choices we make today will ripple into the next generation’s tomorrows. But by embracing innovation, collaboration, and sustainable design, we can secure cleaner air, safer water, and a healthier planet now and for generations to come.
Caryn Smith
Chief Content Officer
Tom Justice, CAFS, NCT ZENE, LLC Filtration
Tel: +1 757-378-3857
Email: justfilter@yahoo.com
Wenping Li, Ph.D.
Agriltech Research Company
Tel: +1 337-421-6345
Email: wenpingl@agrilectric.com
Rishit R. Merchant Parker Hannifin
Tel: +1 805-604-3519
Email:rishit.merchant@parker.com
& Publisher, INDA Media, IFN CSMITH@INDA.ORG +1 239.225.6137
Thad Ptak, Ph.D. TJ Ptak & Associates
Tel: +1 414-514-8937
Email: thadptak@hotmail.com
Philippe Wijns CleverSustainability
Email: philippe.wijns@cleversustainability.com
MCS-500 Self-Cleaning Filter Solution Boosts Plant Efficiency and Reliability
Utilizing waste cooking oil as a key raw material, a top biodiesel producer faced the challenge of maintaining efficiency while preventing clogging in their centrifugal separators. To accomplish this, they adopted Eaton’s MCS-500 advanced automatic self-cleaning filtration system. This not only helped streamline their production process, but also significantly enhanced overall plant efficiency and reliability.
With multiple facilities and an impressive annual production capacity of 250,000 tons, the company has rapidly ascended as one of the country’s leading biodiesel producers.
Biodiesel can be produced from various feedstocks, including vegetable oils, animal fats, or recycled oils such as used cooking oils (UCO). The whole biodiesel manufacturing process encompasses five key stages: feedstock purification, transesterification reaction, separation, distillation, and quality testing.
The feedstock purification stage is particularly challenging when using UCO, which often contains a complex and unpredictable contaminant mixture including food particles and burnt residues. These impurities are removed using a centrifugal separator that is notably challenging to maintain.
The separator must operate at high efficiency to remove impurities without becoming clogged or damaged by large particles. Any compromise in its operation can lead to frequent maintenance, severely affecting overall process efficiency.
The pretreatment step, therefore, becomes indispensable in safeguarding the centrifugal separator. It typically involves using strainers or filters to remove larger particles before the oil enters the separator. However, the challenge lies in selecting and maintaining the appropriate filtration system that can handle the highly variable contaminant load.
Inadequate filtration can lead to the bypass of larger particles, which can damage the separator’s delicate internal components. On the other hand, overly frequent filter changes and maintenance can increase operational costs.
The company searched for both domestic and international manufacturers of automatic filters, prioritizing those with a proven track record of addressing similar process challenges and the capability to fulfill demonstration trial requests. The biodiesel producer selected Eaton’s Filtration Division to engineer a solution.
Eaton proposed a state-of-the-art automatic filtration system chosen for its strong performance in managing high levels of suspended solids (SS) as well as its capacity to function in harsh conditions.
This solution involved the deployment of two key products:
• MCS-500: This automatic self-cleaning filter unit is designed to handle up to 500 PPM of inlet SS, making it ideal for the high-contaminant load found in UCO.
• DCF-800: Used for field testing, this mechanically cleaned filter allowed for realtime adjustment and optimization during the initial trial phase.
“The implementation started with an extensive three-month field test, during which DCF-800 filters were strategically installed at key points along the biodiesel production line, especially before the centrifugal separators,” said Ulrich Latz, Global Industrial Filtration Product Manager at Eaton. “This setup enabled the company to directly observe filtration efficiency throughout the trial. Following this, our engineers refined the operating conditions using the insights gained, supplying our customer with optimized calculations for the disc stroke and purge cycles.”
MCS-500 mechanically-cleaned strainers are designed with durable stainless-steel screens from 15 microns to ¼-inch perforations to handle a wide range of particle sizes and types. Eaton. All rights reserved.
Latz also explained how the availability of various filter elements for testing facilitated solution finding. The company’s previous filter element had a 25-μm efficiency; however, testing of various Eaton filter elements determined that a 75-μm slotted wedge wire filter would meet the process requirements most effectively.
This was critical in demonstrating filtration capabilities, thus ensuring the solution was tailored to meet the company’s precise needs.
Ultimately, the company installed MCS-500 units at the front end of the centrifugal separator. By fine-tuning the purge cycle and disc stroke cycle, this solution can adapt flexibly to varying particle levels, ensuring optimal filtration. Additionally, as oil passes through the filter, it forms an oil film, which can cause fluctuations in flow similar to a coating effect. The MCS-500 effectively addresses this by removing the oil film during the disc work process.
Another significant enhancement is the ability for operators to set up and initiate the filter purging cycle without interrupting manufacturing, contributing to a smoother, continuous workflow.
“While exact savings are confidential, our customer has confirmed that the ROI period is under one year,” said Latz. “Additionally, although maintenance guidelines suggest changing the filter elements annually, the company has not needed to replace them since their initial installation. This highlights the effectiveness of the MCS-500 solution in this application.”
Encouraged by the project’s success, the company is now investigating filtration challenges in other intensive applications like marine and aviation fuel production, anticipating continued purchases of Eaton products to support their expansion and progress. www.eaton.com
For details on how to submit your company’s technology for consideration as a “Technology Spotlight” in IFN , contact Ken Norberg at ken@filtnews.com or +1 202.681.2022.
Arq, Inc., a producer of activated carbon and other environmentally efficient carbon products for use in purification and sustainable materials, announced that it has successfully completed commissioning of its first Granular Activated Carbon (“GAC”) production line at the Company’s Red River Plant in Colorado, marking a major milestone in Arq’s ongoing business transformation.
Initial production of GAC at the Red River facility was successfully achieved this summer. With this milestone achieved, the facility has now completed its commissioning phase and formally commenced ramp-up. Arq’s operations team is now focused on optimizing production processes to achieve targeted nameplate capacity. Management anticipates that the plant should reach its full nameplate capacity of 25 million pounds within the next six months.
With this announcement, Arq confirms successful commercial-scale GAC production at Red River and reports first sales revenue from initial GAC shipments to customers for previously announced testing programs. As production increases, the company will begin fulfilling its existing supply agreements while finalizing contract negotiations for the remaining production capacity. www.arq.com
WaterSurplus, a leader in sustainable water treatment, offers a line of high-performance catalytic filter media designed to remove tough contaminants from groundwater more effectively and affordably. Costcompetitive, long-lasting, and NSF/ ANSI/CAN 61 certified, these products include OxiPlus12™ and OxiPlus75™
The latest addition to this media line is OxiPlus12, a U.S.-made catalytic filter media certified to meet NSF/ANSI/CAN 61 standards for safe drinking water. It significantly reduces contaminants such as iron, manganese, hydrogen sulfide, arsenic, and radium from groundwater – and does so with great efficiency, surpassing many traditional methods.
OxiPlus12 features a durable silica sand core coated with 12% manganese dioxide, more than the level found in competing products. This enhanced coating accelerates chemical reactions needed to turn dissolved iron and manganese into particles that can be easily filtered out. Unlike conventional systems that require large, costly tanks and extended contact times with oxidizing chemicals, OxiPlus12 enables faster reactions and smaller system footprints – making it ideal for upgrades or retrofits.
Certified for flow rates of two to eight gallons per minute per square foot, OxiPlus12 works well in both vertical and horizontal filters, as well as gravity systems. It is Buy America Build America Act (BABAA) certified, making it suitable for federally funded infrastructure projects. www.watersurplus.com
Getek – an ODM supplier to top semiconductor and cleanroom facilities – has introduced the CHEMSORB-R Series filters. This innovative chemical filter is designed to effectively eliminate Airborne Molecular Contaminants (AMC) and control Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) contamination, significantly advancing ESG compliance.
With full in-house production, Getek customizes chemisorptive media using the TAFS Engineered Approach to match each site’s needs, ensuring precise alignment with each client’s specific contaminant-removal needs. The CHEMSORB-R filter efficiently targets ACIDs, BASEs, Molecular Gases, IPA, Acetone, O3, RC, Boron, and phosphorus gases. Its precise media design ensures peak filtration performance and low pressure drop, optimizing energy efficiency and reducing maintenance frequency.
The CHEMSORB-R Series features a modular tray system designed for MAUs. Its tool-free maintenance capability allows teams to easily
replace media trays independently, reducing downtime and waste. Tray dimensions and frame materials (SUS, Galvanized Iron, ABS Plastic) can be customized to specific site requirements, providing robust anti-corrosion properties and optimized specifically for critical HVAC systems in semiconductor and cleanroom applications. The tray design eliminates the need for filter cotton linings, preventing media leakage through its precisely engineered structure. It also allows for easy on-site replacement and refilling of the media mix, further simplifying maintenance and extending product life. www.ge-tek.com/amc-solutions
American Air Filter Co. Inc., a member of the Daikin Group and global leader in air filtration solutions, recently introduced the BioCel® VXL RC and VariCel ® VXL RC V-Bank Class of air filters, ushering in a new generation of high-performance air filters designed to perform better, last longer, and reduce maintenance time and total cost of ownership.
Designed for use in HVAC systems in hospitals, schools, manufacturing plants, hotels, and other commercial facilities, the VariCel VXL RC and BioCel VXL RC each feature an eight-panel design with multiple recessed, mini-pleat media packs assembled into a series of V-banks, allowing them to contain up to 50 percent more media than standard rigid cartridge filters. This increased media area provides greater airflow capacity and reduces initial resistance by up to 20 percent compared to conventional VBank filters, lowering overall energy usage and extending filter life.
99% average efficiency on 1.0µ to 5.0µ particles, which encompasses the sizes of most bacteria harmful to human health, weighs significantly less, and is much easier to handle and install when compared to traditional 12”-deep, box-style ASHRAE-grade filters.
The VariCel VXL RC is the most efficient V-Bank air filter in its class, dramatically reducing airflow resistance to enable systems to operate using less energy. It is specially designed to deliver consistent air quality even in challenging operating conditions, including variable air volume systems, turbulent airflow environments, repeated fan shutdown scenarios, and moderate to high humidity settings.
AAF’s new class of air filters.
The BioCel VXL RC is AAF’s highest performing MERV 16/16A HVAC filter with near-HEPA-level filtration efficiency and a low initial pressure drop, making it an excellent choice against airborne biological contaminants in hospital critical areas as well as in food and pharmaceutical processing plants. The BioCel VXL RC filter offers greater than
The VariCel VLX RC’s dual-density design allows dirt particles to be collected throughout the entire depth of the media pack, utilizing the full filtering potential of the media and maximizing dust holding capacity, extending the life of the filter while minimizing operating costs. The VariCel VLX RC also features a strengthened frame for added durability with industry-leading burst pressure and resistance is available in single- and double-header models, with MERV 15/15A, MERV 14/14A efficiencies, and meets LEED® Project Certification efficiency requirements. www.aafintl.com
Camfil has revamped its flagship Hi-Flo filter range with a 12% improvement in energy performance. This improvement has been taken as an average across multiple sizes in the range, compared to its predecessor.
The clean air solutions company first launched the Hi-Flo filter to target industrial and commercial applications in the late 1960s, with numerous updates since. The most recent update has been spurred on by the updated standard from the European Committee for Standardization (CEN). CEN’s standard “EN 16798-3” covers energy standards for ventilation solutions in non-residential buildings. The standard was updated in June 2025.
Camfil’s updated range has a new name and launches as the Hi-Flo ePM1 70% air filter and meets or exceeds filtration performance for targeted sectors such as hospitals, pharmaceuticals and other commercial buildings. www.camfil.us
Aquaporin has successfully completed the Living Lab Project to develop the world’s first biomimetic low-energy Aquaporin Inside ® CLEAR membrane at demonstration scale. The membranes were installed at the Kranji NEWater Factory (KNF), operated by PUB, Singapore’s National Water Agency. After 12 months of continuous operation benchmarked against parallel concurrently operated trains with other commercial membranes, the Aquaporin Inside ® CLEAR membranes have achieved up to 20% energy savings for the energy-intensive reverse osmosis treatment stage, while consistently meeting the stringent water quality standards of NEWater. Essentially, aquaporin proteins are specialist water channels, existing in the membrane of all living cells and found in every living organism. Placed within the cell membrane, aquaporin proteins transport water – and only water – in and out of the cell. These proteins are far better than any manmade water filter. One square meter of synthetic manmade membrane can filter around 50 liters of water per hour. One gram of aquaporins can filter 700 liters per second. The project marks a major step forward in the potential use of this membrane technology.
Dr. Gurdev Singh, PUB’s Chief Engineering & Technology Officer, said, “At PUB, we recognize that the future of water management lies in meaningful collaborations. We actively seek to partner with industry players who share our vision of innovation and sustainability. By working hand-in-hand from the early stages of planning and conceptualization, to the deployment of innovative technologies, we can transform promising ideas into robust solutions that serve Singapore’s water needs whilst creating opportunities for growth in the water sector.” www.aquaporin.com
Sigma Design Company, a leader in the development of patented and innovative water conditioning components, filters, and systems, has introduced the Sigma Industrial Water Group and added two new systems that expand its portfolio of water and wastewater treatment products and solutions. This capability, which builds on more than 25 years of work in the water and wastewater sector, provides clients with fully customizable, engineered solutions for industrial water and nonhazardous wastewater challenges.
The Sigma Industrial Water Group specializes in the development of systems and technologies for industrial water reuse and recovery, separation and filtration, desalination pretreatment, ultraviolet (UV) disinfection, and the reduction of wastewater TSS discharge. The group builds all of its products to spec, and if building a component destined to be part of a bespoke water system, the group en-
sures that it can be integrated smoothly into the existing line.
The new systems are:
Model 4613 Automatic Tubular Backwash Filter System with 1-to-1500-micron Filter Elements, designed specifically to filter particulates from the fluid stream. Each filter housing contains a filter element with multiple tubes. To achieve finer filtration levels, each tube can be fitted with a 1-micron (1μ) up to 200-micron polymer filter sleeve. Multiplex units consist of anywhere from 2-20 individual tubular filters piped and valved in parallel to common inlet, outlet, and drain headers. Sigma’s advanced control system includes motor control and protection circuitry and constantly monitors the flow rate and different pressures across the entire system.
Model 4614 UV + Automatic Prefilter Process Water System , which couples Sigma Industrial Water Group’s patented
In collaboration with the Waikato District Council, Watercare, a public water utility in New Zealand has selected DuPont ™ MemPulse ™ membrane bioreactor (MBR) and OxyMem ™ membrane aerated bioreactor (MABR) technology for a new 6.0 MLD wastewater treatment plant to serve the Waikato District community of Raglan. This will be the first deployment of OxyMem™ MABR modules in the country – marking a significant milestone in the adoption of advanced wastewater treatment technologies in New Zealand.
In addition to enabling greater automation and reducing on-site personnel requirements, this multi-tech modular solution can provide compliance with New Zealand’s stringent discharge regulations and provide additional treatment capacity to future-proof the plant. Raglan’s existing wastewater treatment plant
combines an oxidation pond system with ultraviolet (UV) treatment before the treated wastewater is discharged into the sea on the outgoing tide. The treatment upgrade to MemPulse™ MBR and OxyMem™ MABR is the first step in removing the connection to the harbor. The clear water permeates discharge from the
q DuPont MemPulse: The graphic depicts air scouring efficiencies achieved by introducing a plug flow of air at the base of each module.
Model 4613: Automatic Backwash Tubular Filter System (left) and Model 4614: Automated Prefilter and UV Water System for effective water disinfection.
automatic water filtration technology with UV disinfection, a chemical-free water treatment process that uses ultraviolet (UV) light to kill or inactivate harmful microorganisms, including bacteria, viruses, and protozoa. It provides a highly effective, environmentally friendly, and easy-to-use solution for treating and disinfecting water in a wide range of applications and industries. Examples of applications include wastewater treatment and industrial water reuse and makeup water, while industries range from aquaculture to pharmaceutical production, electronics manufacturing, food & beverage, and other industrial markets. www.sigmadesign.net
new treatment plant has helped gain support for a regenerated land-based discharge.
The decision to combine MemPulse ™ MBR, which can provide the plant with highquality effluent, with OxyMem™ MABR will help Watercare achieve a lower total nitrogen concentration, making this community’s preference for land discharge viable. www.dupont.com
As the filtration industry continues to grow, innovate and produce an even wider range of products to meet the needs of various critical applications, A2Z Filtration continues contributing to this process by designing, developing, and manufacturing complete automation solutions for such requirements.
A2Z Filtration is pleased to showcase the future of HVAC production lines which minimize manual operations, reduce manpower, increase productivity, reduce inventory and reduce costs.
A2Z HVAC Filter Production Line is fully automated. All you will need to produce a filter is media, hot melt glue and rolls of side band material. At speeds of 8 filters a minute, you get fully labelled and packed filters using two operators. The sizes can range from 12 to 30 inches and heights of 1 to 2 inches.
inches and nominal heights of 1 to 2 inches. This line uses die cuts, cold glue and pleated packs – requires only 1 operator and can produce up to 12 filters a minute.
Another example of a built to purpose line is the A2Z HVAC Pad Filter Line. Producing disposable pad type filters at a production rate of 8 filters a minute, with filter sizes ranging from 10 inch to 30 inch and a nominal height of 1 inch.
A2Z HVAC Filter Assembly Cell has been designed to automate the assembly of die cut frame filters from 12 to 30
A2Z Automated HVAC Cutter Capper is designed to automate the process to produce odd sized/small volume filters. The operator scans the input filter part number and the output filter size or part number. The system recognizes this entry and then automatically cuts and caps the output filter to the required size. This equipment fully automates the cutter capper process while keeping all safety concerns in mind.
In the unlikely event that this is our first meeting, A2Z provides complete turnkey solutions around the globe using SolidWorks® 3D Design, a state-of-theart software, for the design and simulation of filter manufacturing lines which are IOT & Industry 4.O ready
A2Z has over 2100 machines working across 75+ countries across 6 continents and has done so with a dynamic work force of more than 70 engineering professionals well versed in design, manufacturing and installation.
Our team at A2Z has continued to play a key role in the development of new products for the filtration market as a supplier of special purpose filter manufacturing and testing equipment.
A2Z excels in providing superior value, durable and globally serviceable product lines with components that are sourced from leading global suppliers to ensure ease of availability and troubleshooting.
A2Z products feature remote access for servicing and upgradation of equipment/ software, trouble-free maintenance, coupled with pictorial manuals that make the product easy to use, efficient and offer great value.
For further information, please visit our website – www.a2zfiltration.com or contact us at marketing@a2zfiltration.com WhatsApp number: +91 9871690592
By Philippe Wijns Principal at CleverSustainability, Filtration Expert and Sustainable Business Development Advisor
In my recent article on ecodesign in filtration and its implications for supply chains and business opportunities, I came across a publication from the German Bertelsmann Stiftung: Wertschöpfung für das 21. Jahrhundert – Geschäftsmodelle in der Transformation (translated: “Value Creation for the 21st Century – Business Models in Transformation”). The Bertelsmann Stiftung is widely regarded as one of Germany’s leading think tanks. As an independent foundation recognized for its in-depth research on economic and social transformation, it has significant relevance both within Europe and internationally.
The report presents a Transformation Compass with six pillars to guide sustainable value creation. Below are the six themes in English. Each of these six themes offers a lens through which filtration companies can sustainably re-imagine value creation. Let’s examine them one by one in the context of filtration. The Six Transformation Compass Themes:
1. Environmental & Climate Protection
2. Material Cycles (Circularity)
3. Social Responsibility
4. Economic Resilience
5. Risk Management & Transparency
6. Sustainable Finance
Environmental & Climate Protection
For filtration companies, Environmental & Climate Protection involves adjusting products and operations to meet environmental objectives. This includes efforts to reduce the industry’s carbon footprint, such as setting targets for climate-neutral operations using renewable energy in manufacturing, reducing CO₂ emissions per filter produced, increasing energy efficiency in production, and ensuring filters assist users in meeting environmental regulations. Industrial filter manufacturers may also
Philippe Wijns is Principal at CleverSustainability, and serves as a Filtration Expert and Sustainable Business Development Advisor. He is a Certified Expert in Sustainable Finance, Climate Finance, and Renewable Energy from the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management. He began with global leaders in the nonwovens industry before transitioning to the filtration sector, where he specialized in filtration technologies across a wide range of applications and markets – including industrial and automotive systems, HVAC, household appliances, medical and life sciences, as well as power storage solutions such as fuel cells, hydrogen systems, and battery separators.
Wijns recently founded CleverSustainability, a consultancy dedicated to sustainable business development to help companies develop and implement sustainability strategies, ensure compliance with the EU legal reporting requirements, and enhance their sustainable business growth, product portfolio and development, and market positioning.
develop products intended to help clients achieve emissions targets. These environmental measures are regarded as factors that can drive operational change and innovation within the industry.
The Material Cycles theme, focused on circularity, is especially relevant to filtration, where products are often disposable. It promotes extending material life and reducing waste, encouraging designs for easy disassembly and recycling while avoiding hazardous materials. What about organizing take-back programs with recyclers to keep used filters out of landfills and improve resource efficiency, moving closer to a “zero-waste” model?
Some filtration firms are also adopting new models like servitization, or “Filter-as-a-Service,” leasing equipment and handling maintenance. This allows them to recover and recycle used filters, supporting circular material use, creating revenue streams, and strengthening customer ties while minimising waste.
While the filtration industry is technology-focused, it also involves considerations related to people, highlighting the importance of Social Responsibility. This theme refers to addressing the well-being of workers, communities, and society at large. For manufacturers, this includes implementing fair labour practices, maintaining appropriate working conditions, and upholding health and safety standards in production and throughout the supply chain. It also involves performing due diligence in sourcing materials. These efforts are consistent with the “triple bottom line” framework, which emphasises a balance among profit, people, and the planet. Engaging stakeholders, such as employees, customers, local communities, and even NGOs, in sustainability initiatives can foster trust and enhance product quality. For instance, a filter manufacturing facility may work with the community on environmental monitoring or support recycling programmes for used filters. Ensuring ethical treatment of employees, responsible supply chains, and positive community relations can strengthen brand reputation and facilitate continued business operation. Sustainable value creation encompasses both environmental and societal impacts.
The recent pandemic highlighted the need for resilience in every industry, including filtration. The Economic Resilience theme emphasises building strong supply chains and agile operations to withstand market shocks and disruptions. Filtration companies can reduce risk by sourcing materials locally or diversifying suppliers, ensuring production isn’t stalled by delays or geopolitical issues. Lean manufacturing and energy efficiency cut costs and support sustainability. Sustainable practices and resilient strategies often go hand in hand; using greener supply chains lowers both carbon footprint and business risk. According to a Bertelsmann study, Economic Resilience is essential for sustainable value creation, showing that environmentally conscious actions also serve as effective risk management.
The Risk Management & Transparency theme addresses the need for companies to actively manage environmental and social risks and communicate their performance clearly. For filtration companies, this involves establishing systematic risk management procedures that identify potential sustainability concerns, such as future changes in emissions regulations or risks related to raw materials. Transparency is also necessary: monitoring and reporting nonfinancial indicators (such as ESG – Environmental, Social, Governance metrics) alongside financial outcomes. A filtration company may track its products’ carbon footprint, the proportion of recycled materials used, water consumption, and community impacts, providing this information in sustainability reports or on product labels. Many organisations publish annual Sustainability Reports, which support the credibility of their sustainability claims with data. Customers, investors, and regulators increasingly expect access to this information for verification purposes. Through transparent practices, filtration companies can align with developing policies, including new labelling and reporting standards, and demonstrate compliance. Practically, a company might issue a yearly sustainability report documenting progress in areas like waste reduction and CO₂ emissions per output unit. Transparency can also facilitate stakeholder engagement by encouraging feedback from employees, partners, and customers on possible improvements. In summary, risk management and transparency have become essential practices within the filtration industry.
Sustainable finance, one of my areas of expertise, is concerned with ensuring that financial strategy supports sustainability goals. For filtration companies, this may involve utilising green finance instruments, such as obtaining green loans or issuing sustainability-linked bonds to fund eco-friendly equipment, factory upgrades, or research and development for
advanced filters. These financing tools can include terms linked to environmental targets, such as adjusted interest rates based on emissions reductions. Another component is the integration of sustainability criteria into investment decisions, where companies might invest more initially in anticipation of long-term benefits like energy savings, regulatory compliance, or enhanced brand value. Sustainability initiatives are considered strategic investments with the potential for measurable returns. For example, investing in filter cleaning technology could allow for reprocessing and resale, potentially providing additional revenue. The alignment of finance with sustainability has also become a focus for policymakers, as illustrated by regulations like the EU’s Sustainable Finance Taxonomy. Filtration companies adopting these approaches may find it less challenging to secure investment and expand sustainable innovations. Coordination between financial planning and sustainability objectives is thus essential, as the use of sustainable finance tools can enable companies to pursue growth while advancing environmental and social aims.
Within the filtration industry, the six themes of the “Transformation Compass” offer a framework for reassessing value creation in the 21st century. These themes suggest that moving towards more sustainable filters and filtration systems involves integrating environmental, social, and governance considerations into the core business model, rather than relying on isolated improvements. Approaching transformation holistically may result in a filtration business that is resilient, innovative, and delivers value to stakeholders and the environment, alongside financial returns, a concept referred to as “true 21st-century value creation.” The filtration sector, while focused, is connected to important areas such as clean air, clean water, and healthy environments. By adopting this framework, filtration firms have the opportunity to demonstrate approaches that could inform industrial sustainability efforts more broadly.
Before concluding, two questions arise from these topics for consideration within the filtration community: Is achieving economies of scale necessary for advancing sustainability in filtration, or can individual companies and initiatives affect meaningful change? While scaling up can reduce costs for green materials and recycling and improve competitiveness, many filtration innovations originate as small-scale projects that later expand. Is a zero-waste filtration industry feasible, or is it an unattainable goal? Completely eliminating waste would entail significant redesigning of products, substantial reclamation efforts, and potentially reexamining definitions of “waste,” but some believe it is achievable.
For now, I will keep them rhetorical. After all, sustainability in filtration is a journey, one we’re all learning from as we go.
iStockphoto/Nauval Wildani
Compiled by Ken Norberg, IFN Editorial & Production Manager
International Filtration News Explores Trending Innovation
IFN highlights significant research from universities and institutions around the world. If you are a part of a project you would like to highlight, email csmith@inda.org. Please write “IFN Emerging Research Submission” in your subject line in order to apply. Please send a completed press release and/or summary of the research as you would want it to be printed, a link to the university online story (if applicable), and all high resolution photographs/charts/graphs, short researcher bio(s). All selections could be edited for length.
By Jim Eadie
Agroundbreaking study from the University of Minnesota Department of Veterinary Population Medicine, sponsored by AAF International, a global leader in air filtration solutions, has revealed that air filtration systems can dramatically reduce the occurrence of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus (PRRSV) in U.S. breeding herds.
A comprehensive longitudinal study analyzed 16 years of data from 413 sow farms participating in the University’s Morrison Swine Health Monitoring Project (MSHMP), spanning the period from 2009 to 2024. The research represents more than 1.5 million sows and, for the first time, compares negative versus positive pressure filtration, while also making a solid financial business case for using air filtration to help reduce the occurrence of PRRSV in breeding herds.
The study found that farms with commercial air filtration systems experienced significantly lower risk of PRRSV outbreak compared to unfiltered operations:
• Negative pressure filtered farms: 51% lower risk of PRRSV outbreak.
• Positive pressure filtered farms: 58% lower risk of PRRSV outbreak.
“PRRSV continues to pose significant challenges to the U.S. swine industry,” said Dr. Cesar Corzo, DVM, MS, PhD,
University of Minnesota. “While air filtration methods combined with biosecurity measures have demonstrated effectiveness in preventing PRRSV introductions, this study is the first to comprehensively address the impact of different ventilation pressure types while controlling for regional pig density which is a main risk factor for disease occurrence.”
The research, led by Dr. Xiaomei Yue, postdoctoral associate with the Morrison Swine Health Monitoring Project, analyzed breeding herd health status data from 413 sow farms, accounting for 1.5 million sows, including 238 unfiltered operations, 128 farms with negative pressure filtration, and 47 with positive pressure filtration systems. Researchers calculated total PRRSV occurrences and weeks at risk for each farm based on air filtration status, while accounting for herd size, the
number of farms within a 35-kilometer radius, and the number of pigs in the county.
Using Generalized Additive Models (GAM), the study provided robust statistical evidence while controlling for herd size and regional pig density and comparing filtered versus unfiltered farms within nearby geographic areas.
The findings offer valuable data for swine producers considering air filtration investments. “A single PRRSV occurrence can devastate a farm financially, so this research gives producers evidence-based guidance for implementing air filtration strategies as part of their biosecurity measures to protect their herds from airborne viruses like PRRSV,” comments Dr. Yue.
“For the first time ever, sow farmers can now make a concrete business case for investing in air filtration technology,” said Carlos Lora, Global Director of the Animal Science Division at American Air Filter International. “The numbers don’t lie. In
this study, filtration did an excellent job at preventing the risk of PRRSV outbreaks, which is just as much about biosecurity as it is about protecting their businesses.”
READ: https://www.swineweb.com/animalhealth/ new-independent-university-of-minnesota-studyshows-air-filtration-systems-significantly-reduceprrsv-outbreaks-in-breeding-herds/
Researchers at Penn State find that microbial and other processes do not completely clear wastewater shallowly injected into groundwater of potentially harmful contaminants
By Adam Smeltz
For seaside communities reducing their pollution, nitrogen is a prime target. Often found in agricultural runoff and human waste, nitrogen and the nitrogencontaining nitrate molecule can enter coastal waters as a critical nutrient for algae. Its abundance leads to a surplus of algal blooms, upsetting delicate balances of plant and marine life.
Many South Florida communities dispose of treated wastewater – which contains nitrate and more – by shallowly injecting it into the ground below the groundwater table. Microbes living in the groundwater within the porous limestone bedrock convert and consume wastewater-derived nitrate to nitrogen
gas or ammonium. But underground microbes are an imperfect – if still helpful – antidote for wastewater nitrogen in the Florida Keys, a finding that researchers at Penn State said may help other coastal areas with their cleanup strategies. The scientists reported their findings and potential applications in The Depositional Record, a journal in sedimentology.
A Penn State team previously evaluated phosphate – a nutrient involved in many biological processes and applied in industry products, like fertilizer – and its removal from shallowly injected wastewater near a treatment facility in Marathon, Florida.
The treatment facility releases effluent 60 to 90 feet below ground into the porous limestone bedrock near the coastline. Drawing samples from an array of groundwater wells positioned between the effluent injection well and the coastlines of the Florida Bay and Boot Key
Harbor, which both lead into the Atlantic Ocean, between 2021 and 2023, the researchers consistently found appreciable nitrogen and phosphorus had migrated toward the shore. This indicates that while the underground microbes converted and consumed some of the nitrate and phosphate, they did not successfully capture all of the nutrients.
“Both nitrate and phosphate are greatly reduced between injection and the time the effluent reaches nearshore waters,” said lead author Miquela Ingalls, an assistant professor of geosciences in Penn State’s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. “Yet the contaminant levels shifted widely over time. How much nitrate and phosphate had already been removed from the water, or still remained, varied by orders of magnitude.”
The variability is likely tied to seasonal differences in wastewater volume and to phosphate’s interactions with porous carbonate bedrock, Ingalls said, explaining additional research would be needed to confirm.
Funded by the Environmental Protection Agency, both phosphate and nitrogen studies centered on contaminant sampling in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
The team also wanted to establish whether shallow injections there serve as a “functional equivalent” of the direct discharge of untreated sewage. They found the injections aren’t equal to direct discharges to the ocean, explaining that biogeochemical cycles occurring within the route the waste material takes back to the surface water significantly filter its content compared to a direct discharge.
However, the nitrogen findings signal that effluent may need more travel time from the injection point to coastal waters to better filter the contaminants and avoid adverse ecosystem effects.
One fix may be to modify the effluent’s chemical makeup for greater salinity and density. That approach could keep the discharge from buoying as quickly to the
surface, giving it more filtration time, Ingalls explained.
Further research will delve more into the process called adsorption, when phosphate binds to the carbonate bedrock, made of ancient coral reefs. In a follow-up project, researchers are exploring how long the phosphate stays attached and how easily it can dissolve back into the water.
READ: https://www.psu.edu/news/earth-andmineral-sciences/story/imperfect-undergroundprocesses-help-filter-wastewater-florida
THE FULL RESEARCH: https://onlinelibrary.wiley. com/doi/10.1002/dep2.70018
Rollie Mills, Ph.D., developed a novel filter for water contaminants that responds to temperature changes.
By Michelle Zhao
Responsive membranes – materials that change properties in response to different conditions – can sustainably and economically filter pollutants from water, according to Rollie Mills, Ph.D., formerly with the University of Kentucky Superfund Research Center. Mills described his research, which aims to treat water contaminated with chemicals like PFAS.
PFAS are a large group of stable compounds that can leach into water and persist for many years. These chemicals have been linked to many health issues. Existing methods to remove PFAS from water, such as activated carbon or nanofiltration, have drawbacks that limit widespread usefulness.
Mills sought to develop a flexible filter that was not only efficient and affordable but also easily and sustainably reusable. He created a specialized membrane coated with a thermo-responsive polymer that could attract or repel PFAS
Growing up in Kryoneri, Greece, which depended on a nearby waterfall for fresh water, Mills learned the importance of clean water from an early age. Rollie Mills
depending on the temperature.
“At temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius, about the temperature of a hot summer’s day, the membrane can attract and capture PFAS from the water,” explained Mills. “Then, at lower temperatures, the material will repel PFAS and allow us to clean and reuse the filter.”
Mills also tested flexible membrane filters that could be used to remove other contaminants in different environments. He incorporated the thermo-responsive polymer into a membrane that could degrade polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and found that the new filter could capture and destroy PCBs more efficiently than the membrane alone. Additionally, Mills found that light could be used to stimulate and heat membranes, introducing the possibility of using sunlight to treat contaminated water.
He said that, in addition to PFAS and PCBs, membrane filters could also be used to remove a range of pollutants, including trichloroethylene and volatile organic compounds.
In addition to creating membranes for filtering water contaminants, Mills developed an aerosol filter that can neutralize COVID-19 viral particles. The filter, which can be placed in N95 masks, contains enzymes that deactivate disease-causing proteins on the virus within 30 seconds. The membranes are also long-lasting and are capable of degrading viral particles for weeks after their initial use. Michelle Zhao is a science writer for MDB, Inc., a contractor for the NIEHS Division of Extramural Research and Training.
READ: https://factor.niehs.nih.gov/2025/5/ science-highlights/water-filters
Securing the future supply of a vital resource to modern technology – Argonne and the University of Chicago researchers have developed an advanced membrane technology that extracts lithium from water.
Lithium, the lightest metal on the periodic table, makes it ideal for electric vehicles, cellphones, laptops and military technologies where every ounce counts. As demand for lithium skyrockets, concerns about supply and reliability are growing.
To help meet surging demand and possible supply chain problems, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have developed an innovative membrane technology that efficiently extracts lithium from water. Several team members also hold joint appointments with the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME) at the University of Chicago.
“The new membrane we have developed offers a potential low-cost and abundant alternative for lithium extraction here at home,” said Seth Darling, chief science and technology officer for Argonne’s Advanced Energy Technologies directorate.
Right now, most of the world’s lithium comes from hard-rock mining and salt lakes in just a few countries. Yet most of the Earth’s lithium is actually dissolved in seawater and underground saltwater reserves. Extracting it from these unconventional sources has been prohibitively expensive, energy-hungry and inefficient. Traditional methods struggle to separate lithium from other, more abundant elements like sodium and magnesium.
In salt water, lithium and other elements exist as cations. These are atoms that have lost one or more electrons, giving them a positive electric charge. The key to efficient lithium extraction lies in filtering out the other cations based on both size and degree of charge.
The new membrane offers a promising low-cost solution. It’s made from vermiculite, a naturally abundant clay that costs only about $350 per ton. The team developed a process to peel apart the clay into ultrathin layers – just a billionth of a
meter thick – and then restack them to form a kind of filter. These layers are so thin they’re considered 2D.
Untreated, the clay layers fall apart in water within half an hour due to their strong affinity to it. To solve this problem, researchers inserted microscopic aluminum oxide pillars between the layers, giving the structure the look of a high-rise parking lot under construction – with many solid pillars holding each “floor” in place. This architecture prevents collapse while neutralizing the membrane’s nega-
H-shaped cell for studying membrane transport behavior: one half has a salt water mixture (blue liquid), the other shows result after membrane separation (clear liquid).
tive surface charge, a crucial step for subsequent modifications.
Next, sodium cations were introduced into the membrane, where they settled around the aluminum oxide pillars. This changed the membrane’s surface charge from neutral to positive. In water, both magnesium and lithium ions carry a positive charge, but magnesium ions carry a higher charge (+2) compared with lithium’s (+1). The membrane’s positively charged surface repels the higher charged magnesium ions more forcefully than it does the
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lithium ions. This difference allows the membrane to capture lithium ions more easily while keeping magnesium ions out.
To further refine performance, the team added even more sodium ions. This decreased the membrane’s pore size. The result is that the membrane allows the smaller ions like sodium and potassium to pass through while catching the larger lithium ions.
“Filtering by both ion size and charge, our membrane can pull lithium out of water with much greater efficiency,” said first author Yining Liu, a Ph.D. candidate at UChicago and a member of the AMEWS team. “Such a membrane could reduce our dependence on foreign suppliers and open the door to new lithium reserves in places we never considered.”
The researchers believe this breakthrough could have broader applications, from recovering other key materials like nickel, cobalt and rare earth elements, to removing harmful contaminants from water supplies.
This research was funded by AMEWS, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences.
The findings first appeared in the journal Advanced Materials. In addition to Darling and Liu, Argonne authors include Yuqin Wang, Bratin Sengupta, Omar Kazi, Alex B. F. Martinson and Jeffrey W. Elam. Liu, Wang, Kazi, Elam and Darling also hold joint appointments with PME.
READ: https://www.anl.gov/article/argonneresearchers-develop-new-membrane-technologyto-extract-lithium-from-water
RICE UNIVERSITY
A Smarter Membrane for Cleaner Water
New process modeling framework aims to take guesswork out of catalytic membrane design.
By Alexandra Becker
As climate change and population growth place mounting pressure on global water resources, communities
around the world are seeking sustainable ways to reclaim water from nontraditional sources such as stormwater, agricultural runoff and municipal wastewater. A team of researchers led by Menachem Elimelech and his former postdoctoral researcher Yanghua Duan at Rice University has taken a major step toward solving one of water purification’s biggest puzzles: how to best design catalytic membranes that simultaneously filter and transform contaminants in a single step.
Menachem Elimelech, the Nancy and Clint Carlson Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rice. Gustavo Raskosky/Rice University
“Our work addresses a long-standing limitation in the field,” said Elimelech, the Nancy and Clint Carlson Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering. “Until now, most progress in reactive nanofiltration membranes has been empirical. We’ve lacked a solid framework to understand and optimize how these membranes actually work.”
Reactive nanofiltration membranes offer a powerful promise: the ability to remove salts, heavy metals and small stubborn organic pollutants all at once. But behind that promise has been a challenge – performance that’s hard to predict and scale due to the complex interplay between chemical reactions and mass transport.
To tackle that complexity, Elimelech and Duan developed the first mechanistic model that simulates how oxidants and pollutants move through and react inside catalytic membranes under realistic operating conditions.
“We hypothesized that membrane performance is fundamentally governed by the interplay between reaction kinetics and solute transport,” said Duan, who is now an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Colorado State University. “By capturing these interactions in a model, we can move beyond trial-and-error design.”
Their framework, recently published in Nature Water, simulates how variables like
catalyst placement, membrane thickness, pore size and water flow affect the removal of contaminants.
“We discovered that the same membrane can behave completely differently depending on where the catalysts are located,” Duan said. “At low water flux, surface-loaded catalysts dominate, but at higher flux, the action shifts inside the membrane. That has big implications for how we design systems for different water treatment needs.”
One major discovery was identifying the ideal range for catalyst loading. Too little catalyst limits the reaction rate, while too much creates a transport bottleneck.
“We showed that more isn’t always better,” Elimelech said. “There’s an optimal catalyst distribution, and we now know how to find it.”
Elimelech and Duan also introduced new performance metrics that go beyond conventional removal rates – tools that can help engineers better compare and refine membrane systems across the board.
“We’re shifting the field from reactive experimentation to predictive design,” Duan said. “That opens the door to membranes that are not only more effective but also more scalable, energy-efficient and adaptable to different water qualities.”
Importantly, the study lays out design principles for tailoring membranes to specific goals such as minimizing salt contamination, reducing energy use or maximizing contaminant selectivity. The researchers also evaluated how different oxidants, such as hydrogen peroxide and persulfate, behave inside the membrane, showing that the charge of the oxidant strongly influences its accessibility and reactivity.
“Water is too essential to be left to guesswork,” Elimelech added. “Our goal is to empower the global water community with the tools to design smarter, cleaner and more sustainable solutions.”
The research was supported by the Rice Center for Membrane Excellence, the
National Institutes of Health and in part by the Yale University Superfund Research Program, which is supported by a grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
READ: https://news.rice.edu/news/2025/smartermembrane-cleaner-water
DREXEL UNIVERSITY
Drexel to Lead Multinational Effort to Produce MXene Materials for Water Desalination and Medical Diagnostics
Drexel University is embarking on a three-year, $5-million multinational collaboration to produce MXene nanomaterials. The project, which is a collaboration with Kalifa University in the United Arab Emirates, the University of Padua in Italy and the Kyiv, Ukraine-based MXene manufacturing company Carbon-Ukraine, seeks to use the promising nanomaterial, first discovered at Drexel, to provide clean drinking water for arid areas of the world and improve cell labeling and tracking technology for biomedical analysis.
Drexel’s collaboration, MX-Innovation, is part of a broad initiative, funded by Kalifa’s Research & Innovation Center for Graphene and 2D Materials (RIC2D), to translate two-dimensional materials into commercial innovations in areas that include water treatment, energy, health care, and technology infrastructure, among others.
“We are thrilled to begin work on this exciting project,” said Yury Gogotsi, PhD, Distinguished University and Charles T. and Ruth M. Bach professor of Materials Science and Engineering in Drexel’s College of Engineering, and director of the A.J. Drexel Nanomaterials Institute, who is heading the project.
Gogotsi and his collaborators in Drexel’s College of Engineering have been studying MXenes, a family of two-dimensional nanomaterials they discovered in 2011, and testing them in a variety of applications, from telecommunications to energy storage to electromagnetic shielding. This two-dimensional nanomaterial has proven to be exceptionally versatile
and easy to integrate into existing technologies because it can be produced in dozens of different chemical configurations, which allows researchers to optimize for each application.
While the material boasts more than 70 patents and has been licensed by the Japanese company Murata Manufacturing Company for development in electronicsrelated applications, its broad commercialization has been slowed by the lack of a commercial-scale production of materials designed for specific applications – an impediment that the MX-Innovation team aims to remove by 2028.
An effort like this to boost the availability of MXenes could enable their widespread use for industrial applications, as well as academic research, according to Gogotsi.
MXenes have already demonstrated an exceptional acuity for liquid filtration and ion separation. The nanomaterials’ layered structure and adjustable chemical composition allow them to be customized for straining a wide variety of ions or chemicals out of a solution. MXInnovation will harness this capability as it designs a pilot-level device that can turn salt water into drinking water using a physical and electrochemical filtration process.
The UAE already produces 42% of its drinking water through desalination, primarily via an energy-intensive process
involving evaporation and condensation of water. But producing more potable water is quickly becoming a priority for large swaths of the world, with some estimates suggesting more than 844 million people do not have access to clean drinking water, and many have to travel long distances to find it.
Drexel researchers have conducted preliminary research in using MXenes for desalination, which has already shown promising results. Focusing on this goal as part of the initiative could speed progress toward the development of a hybrid capacitive deionization (HCDI) technology. It could also reveal other desalination methods that may benefit from the use of MXenes.
“Our preliminary results show that the MXene electrodes with bi-stacked architecture exceed the salt removal performance demonstrated by nanostructured carbon electrodes,” said Yuan Zhang, PhD, a Humboldt Fellow and postdoctoral researcher in the Nanomaterial Institute, who will be helping to lead the group’s desalination research.
The second goal of the MX-Innovation team is to develop MXenes as a cell labeling technology that could improve early detection of cancers, outcomes for transplant patients and possibilities for tissue regeneration.
MXenes will be developed and tested for use in a cell analysis technique, called
Cytometry by Time of Flight (CyTOF), that uses metal materials as tags or labels on the surface and interior of cells to observe and quantify their behaviors and study the interactions of proteins, carbohydrates or lipids within a cell.
This is another area where the multifaceted MXenes have the potential to expand current capabilities. Over the years, Drexel researchers, in collaboration with Lucia Delogu, PhD, from Khalifa University and Laura Fusco, PhD, a Marie Curie Fellow and former postdoctoral researcher in the Drexel Nanomaterials Institute, from the University of Padua; have refined the process of making the nanomaterials to the point that they can uniquely tailor a flake of MXene to latch onto nearly any type of cell –and even the organelles inside cells.
Because MXenes are nontoxic and readily detectable by mass spectrometry technology, they are prime for use
MXenes
have already demonstrated an exceptional acuity for liquid filtration and ion separation. The nanomaterials’ layered structure and adjustable chemical composition allow them to be customized for straining a wide variety of ions or chemicals out of a solution.
in this type of biomedical analysis. And the MX-Innovation team has taken the first steps toward a pilot technology that could be improved as part of this effort.
By the end of the project, the team aims to scale up its MXene production and lay the groundwork for a commercial manufacturing facility for the products created by this collaboration.
Carbon-Ukraine will focus on developing a process for low-cost synthesis
of MAX Phase – the precursor ingredient for MXenes – which will enable their production at an industrial scale. While this process has been demonstrated and tested to ensure the properties of the MXene are not affected when they are produced in large quantities, it has not yet been implemented in a dedicated manufacturing facility.
READ: https://drexel.edu/news/archive/2025/July/ MXene-desalination-medical-diagnostics-KalifaPadua-Carbon-Ukraine
At the Aslan Biomass biogas plant in Ankara, Türkiye, the team at NPHarvest celebrates their concept at an industrial scale to recover valuable nutrients from wastewater, making “what used to be a headache into a resource.” The company’s clever marketing proclaims, “We recover value from your sludge, or [insert other flashing descriptive words] side stream, digestate, manure,” you get the point. Their circular plan will offer municipalities, farmers, and biogas plant operators a proprietary process, based on hydrophobic membrane stripping, to recover nitrogen as a pure ammonia salt and phosphorus as amorphous calcium phosphate directly from wastewater streams, including black water, liquid digestate, and manure. Both minerals are not only useful but necessary for fertilizer production.
In Ankara, NPHarvest’s technology is expected to recover nutrients at a rate equivalent to approximately 93 tonnes of ammonium sulfate and up to 73 tonnes of phosphorus-based product in one year, with the potential to recover 3,255 tonnes of ammonium sulfate and 2,555 tonnes of phosphorus-based product through a full-scale installation. These recovered nutrients would otherwise be lost in wastewater, often leading to environmental damage and wasted economic potential.
The Aslan Biomass facility, which previously trucked nutrient-rich wastewater to regional fields and farms, is reaching its capacity for nutrient load. It will now recover resources on-site, cutting environmental impact and operating costs. Türkiye, with over 2,000 wastewater treatment plants and a growing cleantech ecosystem, offers
CEO, NPHarvest
By Caryn Smith, Publisher & Chief Content Officer, IFN
significant expansion potential for nutrient recovery technologies.
More clever marketing boasts: “Invest in the Future of Wastewater. Literally. ... Our startup is building scalable, researchbased tech that turns sewage into circular economy wins. If you’re looking for returns with impact, this is where the sh*it gets serious.” And while their marketing lingo is light and catchy, this team is serious about their core mission to get more from wastewater.
They cite key reasons this makes sense for water treatment operators:
• Russia’s share of EU fertilizer imports has grown from 17% in 2022 to 30% now. In 2024 alone, imports rose by more than 33% to around $2 billion (€1.75 billion). With the EU announcing new significant tariffs on Russian fertilizers, European agriculture is facing the prospect of fertilizers doubling in cost by 2028.
• Pressure to find alternative sources is at an all-time high to prevent further economic volatility for millions in the EU and ensure food security, a critical building block for Europe’s defense.
• The modular technology produces high-purity ammonium sulfate and amorphous calcium phosphate, both essential raw materials for fertilizer production, by utilizing hydrophobic membrane stripping. The process operates without the need for heating, pressure, or aeration, relying solely on alkaline and acid dosing, which makes it highly cost-efficient and easy to operate.
NPHarvest started as a research project at Aalto University in Finland and made the significant jump to a full-fledged company in March 2023. In April 2024, they met the next milestone by raising €2.2M to take their proprietary nutrient catcher machine to the market. The round was led by Nordic Foodtech VC, with participation from Stephen Industries and Maaja vesitekniikan tuki ry. It consisted of a €1.3M equity investment and a €900.000
grant from the Finnish Ministry of the Environment and their RAKI program.
A supporter of this effort, Hamse Kjerstadius, Development Engineer of Swedish NSVA, Northwest Skåne Water and Wastewater, said, “As a public water utility, NSVA needs to pursue climate neutrality to benefit the municipalities we work for. NPHarvest’s technology for nitrogen and phosphorus recovery has the potential to allow increased nutrient recovery from wastewater, which is a promising method that can aid our municipalities in reaching reduced climate impacts.”
Continuing that thought, NPHarvest CEO Juho Uzkurt Kaljunen says, “The entire water management market in Europe is estimated to be worth around 170 billion euros, and the concentrated water management market in the EU is worth approximately 47 billion euros. We are excited to enter the next stage of our company’s journey together with our investors, enhancing food security, creating better environmental impacts, and making wastewater management and nutrient catching a profitable business,” he concluded.
Partners in the effort include Federico Varalta, with over two decades of experience in the organic waste and wastewater sectors, and a rare combination of technical expertise and commercial attention toward clients’ needs. His career spans five countries and roles across plant design, project execution, and company leadership – from managing complex infrastructure builds to leading market entries in the Middle East and Europe. At NPHarvest, his instinct for sales benefits his role leading all commercial activities, using his deep sector knowledge, sharp prioritization, and straight-talking style to build momentum and unlock opportunities across the market.
Burak Yirmibesoglu has over a decade of experience in the biogas and cleantech sector. He has founded and run his own consulting company, Earthtech Oy, and worked across sales, project development, and research roles for biogas and wasteto-energy projects throughout Europe and the Middle East. At companies like Doranova and BiogasWorld, Burak has
built tenders, developed markets, and represented international networks. At NPHarvest, he manages everything from demo unit construction to daily operational needs.
Dr. Juho Uzkurt Kaljunen is one of Europe’s leading experts in nutrient recovery from liquid waste streams. This scientist didn’t set out to become an entrepreneur, but did so out of sheer commitment to getting his innovation into real-world use. With a PhD in environmental engineering from Aalto University, Juho’s academic work has been widely recognized, including a dissertation ranked among the top 10% in its field and over 10 peer-reviewed publications.
Over the past decade, he has designed, built, and operated pilots across lab and industrial settings, directly laying the technical foundation for NPHarvest’s technology. His technical depth, work ethic and calm decisiveness provide the total committed leadership needed to move the project forward.
International Filtration News spoke with NPHarvest CEO Juho Uzkurt Kaljunen to get the details of this exciting breakthrough project.
International Filtration News: Share how the business started, and went from a research project to a startup company.
Dr. Juho Uzkurt Kaljunen: We had been working on the research for about four years at Aalto University when the team at Aalto Innovation Services said, “This could be something more than just a paper.” They encouraged us to start thinking about patents and commercialization.
That’s when the idea of turning this into a business started.
The more we engaged with industry, the clearer it became that there was real interest. The operators at our research test sites were asking when they could get this solution at full scale – that feedback really pushed things forward.
Things changed when we received funding from Business Finland to explore commercialization. That support allowed us to bring in business developers and establish a startup. During that 1.5-year phase, my co-founders joined the team. And eventually, in 2023, the company was officially founded by the three of us along with the professor who had led our research group, Professor Anna Mikola.
That’s how NPHarvest moved from a lab concept into a real business – with a mission to bring environmental science into practical, scalable use.
IFN: Share about the company’s co-founders and how they came together to create this new company.
Dr. Kaljunen: I was a researcher through and through – I didn’t plan to become an entrepreneur. As the research progressed and the technology started showing real promise, I realized that if I wanted this innovation to make an impact beyond academic papers, I had to find a way to bring it into the real world. That’s ultimately why NPHarvest was founded.
I knew from the beginning that we’d need strong expertise in business and a deep understanding of the key clients to succeed. That’s when Burak and Federico joined.
Burak had over ten years of experience in the biogas sector, especially in sales and customer work, and he immediately understood the value of what we were building and how it could fit into the existing industry landscape. His entrepreneurial background didn’t hurt. Federico joined soon after Burak, bringing more than 20 years of experience in managing international projects in organic waste and wastewater – precisely the kind of
operational leadership we needed to turn a research concept into an industrialscale product.
It’s been a great mix: I bring the technical background and the original vision, and Burak and Federico bring the commercial and operational expertise to actually make it happen. We all share the belief that nutrient recovery is essential – not just scientifically interesting, but necessary for a more sustainable and selfsufficient future.
IFN: Explain the business model and mission of the company. What is the current and future target market, and how will you be helping that segment with filtration?
Dr. Kaljunen: At NPHarvest, our mission is simple: we make wastewater valuable so that society and nature can coexist in harmony. Today, nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus are seen as pollutants in wastewater, even though they’re essential for food production. Our goal is to change that by recovering those nutrients and turning them back into assets.
Our business model is twofold. First, we design and sell our patented nutrient recovery units – called Nutrient Catchers – to wastewater-intensive sectors like biogas plants, animal farms, and municipal treatment facilities. That’s the technology side. The second layer is about the nutrients. Many of our customers don’t want to manage the recovered materials, so we’re also developing services for nutrient valorization – collecting, refining, and selling those nutrients as raw materials or even ready-made fertilizers.
This dual model allows us to create value in both directions: we help reduce the operational and regulatory costs of wastewater treatment, and we generate a new revenue stream from nutrient reuse.
In terms of the target market, we’re currently focusing on Europe because its environmental regulations are fairly coherent across countries. Our first commercial Mini unit is already running on a Dutch dairy farm, and our Demo unit is commissioned at a biogas plant in Ankara, Türkiye.
We’ve also built strong distributor relationships in key markets like Italy, Sweden,
the Netherlands, and Spain, so we’re ready to scale.
In the future, we see major opportunities beyond Europe, first in other regions with robust existing regulation on nitrogen discharges or where there’s interest in more circular and self-sufficient agriculture. We want to make nutrient recovery profitable so that regions that otherwise would pollute the environment with excess nutrients would start recovering the nutrients instead.
There is a small misconception regarding filtering, although the difference is almost semantics. We do not technically filter (water does not go through a mesh), but we strip. Our process is based on hydrophobic membranes that allow gases to pass but repel water. Ammonia is the gas that passes through the membrane wall and reacts with an acid on the inside of the membrane fiber. Ammonia and acid react into a salt that is our end product.
IFN: As a “Nutrient Catcher,” why is “food security” an essential element in your company’s objectives? Where did that initiative stem from as your company formed?
Dr. Kaljunen: Food security wasn’t actually relevant at the beginning. Back in 2016, our goal was to make wastewater treatment more environmentally sustainable to reduce pollution and recover nutrients simply because it was the right thing to do for nature. But by the time we founded NPHarvest in 2023, the world had changed significantly.
The war in Ukraine made it clear that global supply chains, especially for critical resources like fertilizers, can’t be taken for granted. What started as an
environmental solution also became a question of strategic independence. Nutrient recovery isn’t just about preventing eutrophication or N2O emissions. It’s about enabling countries to produce fertilizers locally, without relying on imports from politically unstable regions.
As a Finnish company, that shift in perspective felt very natural. Finland shares a long border with Russia, and we’ve always had a national mindset around complete national security, ranging way beyond the pure militaristic scope – the idea of being self-sufficient and resilient in crisis. That ethos has shaped how we think about the value of our technology. NPHarvest is not just about sustainability – it’s also about sovereignty. We help countries secure their food systems by providing them with recycled, locally produced nutrients.
IFN: How was the technology created and tested? Provide scientific data or proof of concept that illustrates your solution’s overall effectiveness.
Dr. Kaljunen: Our research started with a membrane fiber strap in a small jar. The idea was to capture ammonia from urine. It worked so well that we began to scale the solution up, initially because the scientific community likes to publish laboratory studies, and field-scale experiments are rarer. We saw more value in larger-scale experiments that are closer to real-world conditions.
Throughout the academic years, we scaled up the process and tested it in different environments, such as wastewater treatment plants, biogas plants, and landfill sites. In Figure 1, the development steps are a) first small batch reactor, b) first continuous reactor, c) field scale membrane
contactor, and d) complete field scale process with phosphorus recovery.
The results from the field were encouraging. Graph 1 shows the ammonia recovery efficiency of three testing sites in Finland. The recovery efficiency averaged to ~70% which gave us enough motivation to find ways to improve the efficiency and start commercialization.
IFN: Mika Kukkurainen, Partner at Nordic Foodtech VC, said about NPHarvest, “No one has done nutrient catching on a real commercial level,” which impressed the investors. What makes your system viable for commercial scale-up? What did the investors bring to the table?
Dr. Kaljunen: What makes our system viable for commercial scale-up is, first and foremost, that we’ve now built our first industrial-scale demo, which is based on a modular design. That means we’re not starting from scratch every time we scale up. We’ve also worked through the key technological bottlenecks, such as improving the suspended solids tolerance for our system so that we can tackle even the most difficult wastewaters. This often holds similar technologies back. We’ve deliberately engineered the system to handle real-world conditions, not just lab scenarios.
We’ve ensured there’s a strong business case. Our recovery process is especially cost-efficient in concentrated waste streams – because the operating costs scale with the volume of water, not the amount of nutrients. That’s a big contrast to many current removal methods, where
costs increase in direct proportion to nutrient loads. We’re also operating at ambient pressure and temperature to keep the costs down – we only increase pH. This cost structure is one of the main reasons our approach is commercially viable and scalable.
As for our investors, they’ve brought much more than just capital, which is, of course, critical when you’re scaling hardware. Nordic Foodtech VC, Stephen Industries, and Tukinvest have all provided strong support in helping us navigate the startup landscape, plan future funding rounds, and think strategically about growth. I’ve come from an academic background – I didn’t get into this to build a startup. Having experienced partners around the table that tolerate me asking sometimes even elementary-level questions related to the startup world has been really valuable.
And finally, I must highlight the €0.9 million grant we received from the Finnish Ministry of Environment. That support has been directly earmarked for building the demo unit and absolutely essential.
IFN: What challenges or problems did you have to solve to get to the industrial filtration level? What is the science behind NPHarvest’s patented industrial-scale system, which “provides a circular, energyefficient solution for recovering critical nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, directly from wastewater streams, including black water, liquid digestate, and manure.”
Dr. Kaljunen: Getting to the industrial stripping level has been a long road. First, the suspended solids tolerance for a membrane solution had to be thought through. We used calcium hydroxide to increase pH, and that enabled us to easily add phosphorus recovery, but using calcium hydroxide was mechanically challenging.
The science behind that statement is based on two core recovery processes that are central to our patented system:
chemical precipitation for phosphorus, and hydrophobic membrane stripping for nitrogen.
For phosphorus, we raise the pH of the wastewater using calcium hydroxide. This issue causes the phosphorus to precipitate out of the liquid phase as amorphous calcium phosphate, which we can then separate and collect as a solid fertilizer product.
For nitrogen, we use a process called hydrophobic membrane stripping. Once the pH is raised to around 10, ammonium in the wastewater shifts into a gaseous ammonia form. Our membranes are gaspermeable but water-repellent, so only ammonia gas passes through – no water or solids. On the other side of the membrane, we introduce an acid, typically sulfuric acid, which binds with the ammonia to form ammonium sulfate, a clean and reusable liquid fertilizer.
What makes the system energy-efficient is that neither of these steps requires heat, pressure, or aeration – just pH control and simple liquid circulation. And because we recover nutrients from concentrated streams like black water, digestate, or manure, we generate high yields without having to process vast volumes of diluted wastewater. Some of these liquids have high suspended solids content, which causes issues with other technologies. We have developed our patented process to handle suspended solids up to over 3% without clogging or fouling.
Together, these technologies create a circular solution: they capture nutrients that would otherwise be lost or cause pollution, and turn them back into productive use – helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve wastewater treatment performance, and support sustainable agriculture.
IFN: What other challenges have you encountered and overcome as you developed your system?
Dr. Kaljunen: There are technical challenges that exist when creating something new, and then there are systematic challenges. Technical challenges I enjoy solving. While there have been a number of those, they haven’t increased my stress
levels. Designing the system in a way that it tolerates suspended solids of difficult wastewaters, making sure that the membrane fibers are not subjected to high mechanical stress, but still the system has high recovery efficiency, and in general, making the system as simple and easy to use as possible are examples of challenges that we had to design around. You know, the fun stuff.
Then, there are other kinds of challenges I’ve enjoyed solving less. Obtaining funding was a big challenge already in academic circles, and is even more critical now that we’ve become a startup. The jump from academia to the commercial world has required considerable effort. There’s a lot of bureaucracy to handle and internal systems and processes to set up – it is a lot of work for three co-founders. I haven’t loved these kinds of challenges since, as they take time away from my core purpose: developing technology for nutrient recovery.
IFN: What do you qualify as “nutrient-rich wastewater streams” that benefit from your system?
Dr. Kaljunen: When we talk about “nutrient-rich wastewater streams,” we mean any liquid waste that contains a high enough nitrogen concentration to make
In early August, NPHarvest unveiled an industrial-scale demo unit at the Aslan Biomass biogas plant in Türkiye. It recovers nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater, critical raw materials for sustainable fertilizer production amid tightening EU restrictions on Russian imports. The demo unit shows that the company’s technology is scalable, energy-efficient, and reliable. NPHarvest
nutrient recovery commercially viable – typically anything above 500 mg of nitrogen per liter.
In practice, that includes:
• Biogas plant liquid digestate, usually between 2 to 4 kgN/m³
• Municipal wastewater treatment plant reject waters with about 0.8 to 1.2 kgN/ m³ of nitrogen
• Animal farm liquid proportion of manure, which can go up to 6 kgN/m³ or even more
• These are our main focus areas, but we’re also open to working with other industrial streams that meet similar criteria.
The phosphorus recovery is an optional module in our system, allowing us to treat both wastewaters with and without phosphorus.
On solids content, we typically communicate that our system can handle up to 30,000 mg/l total suspended solids (TSS). That’s not a hard technical limit – it’s more
about commercial viability. The higher the solids, the greater the wastewater’s buffering capacity, which means you need more alkaline chemicals to raise the pH for ammonia recovery. That increases operational cost. Still, our system is quite robust – for example, we’re currently operating at a biogas plant with digestate between 3–3.5% TSS, and it’s performing well.
A key reason for the high TSS tolerance is how our core technology works: we don’t filter the water through membranes. Instead, we use gas-permeable hydrophobic stripping membranes where only the ammonia gas passes through – not water or solids – paired with a gentle water flow profile and ambient pressure, which makes clogging and fouling much less of a concern than one would expect for filtering membranes.
IFN: Explain how the project in Ankara came about, how long it took to launch, and how you calculated the expectations.
Dr. Kaljunen: We chose to build our industrial-scale demo unit in Turkey because we found a really strong engineering partner there. As the unit neared completion, it made perfect sense to look for a nearby site to conduct the first field tests. That’s how we began discussions with ASKI, the public wastewater utility in Ankara, in January.
ASKI, was facing a very real nutrient overload issue in the region. Five biogas plants are operating quite close to each other, and between digestate from those plants and local manure production, there’s more nitrogen and phosphorus than the land can safely absorb. ASKI being a public sector actor, was under pressure to find a solution, and not just to solve the problem, but also to set an example for the private sector.
They were very open to piloting a technology like ours. Through them, we connected with Aslan Biomass in April, a local biogas plant, and they became our demo site partner. From Aslan’s perspective, they naturally want to find the most cost-effective way to treat the liquid digestate. One practical option that is often used is shipping the wastewater further away to regions with less nutrient load, but that is also costly, and, in this case, the region is dry. They’d rather recover the water locally to use it again for irrigation.
In terms of expectations, the nutrient recovery calculations are based on the wastewater characteristics – primarily the ammonium nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations in the digestate. Our recovery efficiency is around 90%, and we know from previous trials that we produce liquid ammonium sulfate at a concentration slightly above 30%. We calculated that over a full year of continuous operation, the 20 m³/day demo could recover roughly 93 tons of ammonium sulfate.
For phosphorus recovery, we focus on the phosphorus concentration and the overall solids content of the digestate –we’ve previously tested our process with a variety of wastewaters in smaller units, so we used that historical data to extrapolate the expected amount of precipitated P-product here. Of course, this test run
will only last a few months, but those figures give a good estimate.
When extrapolating to a full-scale scenario, we used Assan’s actual digestate volume, which is about 700 m³/day. Scaling up from 20 to 700 m³/day with the same wastewater characteristics yields around 3,255 tons of ammonium sulfate and 2,555 tons of phosphorus product annually.
IFN: You report that “fertilizer prices are volatile, and they need to be imported from abroad, decreasing self-sufficiency.” How does your technology provide selfsufficiency in the marketplace you are operating?
Dr. Kaljunen: Fertilizer prices have become a real point of vulnerability for many countries, especially in Europe. Most nitrogen fertilizers are produced using natural gas, and the cheapest sources have historically come from countries such as Russia. That creates both price volatility and geopolitical risk, which we’ve seen firsthand in recent years.
A few other facts:
• In 2021 (the last year Russia reported trade data), they were the largest global exporter of mineral or chemical fertilizers containing nitrogen, exporting 5 900 kt. For comparison, the second largest (the EU) exported only 2 200 kt.
• For 2022, World Population Review estimated that Russia was the second largest global producer of urea (after India) and ammonium sulphate (after the USA). For fertilizers overall, Russia was the third largest producer –behind only the USA and India. Our technology addresses this by turning domestic wastewater – whether from farms, biogas plants, or treatment facilities – into a local source of high-quality fertilizer. Instead of importing synthetic fertilizers made abroad, we enable countries to recover nitrogen and phosphorus on-site and use it directly or process it further within the local economy.
So, we’re creating a circular, decentralized fertilizer supply. It boosts self-sufficiency, lowers reliance on global markets, and helps stabilize costs while reducing environmental impact. That’s a win
not only for farmers, but for national food security policies and sustainability goals.
IFN: Overall, how will your system be used to achieve sustainable, circular environmental benefits, for wastewater management?
Dr. Kaljunen: At its core, our system is designed to shift wastewater management from linear disposal to circular recovery. Traditionally, nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus are treated as pollutants –something to remove and dispose of at high cost, often with significant environmental impact. Our approach flips that model by recovering those nutrients in reusable form, turning wastewater into a resource rather than a liability.
By capturing up to 90% of nitrogen and phosphorus from concentrated streams like manure, digestate, and reject water, we not only reduce emissions and eutrophication risks but also provide clean, locally sourced fertilizer inputs. This helps close the nutrient loop – from soil to food to waste and back to soil – which is exactly what a sustainable circular system should do. Our system eliminates N2O emissions from N treatment practically completely compared to traditional wastewater treatment – typically these constitute over half of the scope 1 GHG-emissions from wastewater treatment.
In practice, this means lower treatment costs for plant operators, less pollution to air and water, and a reduced dependency on fossil-based fertilizer production. Whether it’s supporting food security, decarbonization, or cleaner waterways, our system is a practical tool for building a more sustainable and circular future for wastewater management.
IFN: Do you have any final thoughts?
Dr. Kaljunen: Sometimes when I look in the mirror, I’m reminded that chasing something meaningful isn’t supposed to be easy. This journey hasn’t been smooth or glamorous – but I never wanted a steady office job. I wanted to build something that helps society and nature live in balance. And that’s what keeps me going.
www.npharvest.fi
qClimeworks, launched Mammoth, its second DAC facility in Iceland and the largest to date, in May 2024. Climeworks
By Adrian Wilson, International Correspondent, IFN
In the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) signed into law by President Donald J. Trump on July 4th this year, the U.S. government reaffirmed its continued support for direct air capture (DAC) – the emerging new industry aiming to filter legacy carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the atmosphere.
On one level, this is surprising. Back in March, incoming U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Lee Zeldin announced no less than 31 actions in just a few hours, intended to shred almost every major environmental rule in place in the USA. They include a move to halt the plan to cut pollution from coal-fired power plants as well as revisiting pollution standards for cars and trucks, which Zeldin said had imposed a “crushing regulatory regime” on automotive companies.
“Today is the greatest day of deregulation our nation has seen,” Zeldin claimed. “We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion to drive down the cost of living for American families, unleash American energy, bring auto jobs back to the USA and more. The Biden and Obama era regulations now being reconsidered have suffocated nearly every single sector of the American economy.”
Commercial-scale DAC is, in addition, very much former President Joe Biden's baby. Back in August 2023, Biden announced up to $1.2 billion in funding to advance the development of two initial facilities in Louisiana and Texas. These represented the first selections of his administration’s highly ambitious DAC Hubs program, aiming to kickstart a nationwide network of large-scale carbon removal sites to address legacy CO2 pollution and complement rapid emissions reductions.
At the same time, however, many environmental groups and scientists have opposed DAC as simply a smokescreen to enable the major oil companies to continue with business as usual.
This move certainly dovetails with President Trump’s encouragement to “drill baby, drill.”
The OBBBA significantly narrows the window for full-value tax credit eligibility for wind and solar projects while maintaining the 45Q tax credit of $85 per ton for CO2 sequestered by established carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies at industrial sites and $180 per ton for that captured via DAC.
Going a stage further, CCS CO2 used or converted into valuable products or injected and geologically stored in a qualified enhanced oil recovery or natural gas recovery site will qualify for the same higher dollar value credit as DAC CO2.
CO2 is in the air at the same concentration everywhere in the world which means that DAC plants can be located anywhere as they do not need to be attached to an emissions source.
The OBBBA also introduces new restrictions on ‘Foreign Entities of Concern,’ which could prove problematic going forward, since the company currently at the forefront of DAC technology is Zurichheadquartered Climeworks and the biggest mass producer of dedicated filters for the technology is Vancouver-based Svante Technologies.
At the time of going to press, the Trump Administration had slapped tariff charges of 39% and 35% on goods imported to the USA from Switzerland and Canada respectively.
In July this year Climeworks secured a further $162 million in new funding – the largest carbon removal investment round globally to date this year – to take its total funding to over $1 billion.
“Direct air capture has gone from experiment to essential and we’re focused on scaling it by driving down costs and pushing innovation,” said co-CEO and cofounder of Climeworks Christoph Gebald. “Our hybrid model builds long-term demand while generating cash flow today, helping us grow a market that investors now see as inevitable. Crossing the $1 billion equity mark isn’t just a milestone – it shows that carbon removal is real, needed and here to stay.”
In May 2024, Climeworks launched Mammoth, its second DAC facility in Iceland and the largest to date, with a planned annual capacity of 36,000 tons once fully operational.
The key benefits of DAC, according to Climeworks, are that it is locationindependent, highly scalable, and measurable, and enables efficient land usage.
CO2 is in the air at the same concentration everywhere in the world which means that DAC plants can be located anywhere as they do not need to be
attached to an emissions source. They are only required to be placed near a renewable energy source and in a place where CO2 can be stored.
Climeworks plants are based on a modular technology design, making them highly scalable and they require less land than other CO2 capturing methods. The planting of trees is the most obvious and natural way of absorbing carbon, but on a land area of less than half an acre, a Climeworks plant can remove 4,000 tons of CO2 from the air every year, which is almost 1,000 times more effective than trees. The same land would host around 220 trees with an estimated capacity of 22kg each – only 4.62 tons of CO2 per year.
The company further points out that direct air capture and storage (DAC+S) is often confused with CCS, but the two are very different. CCS captures CO 2 emissions at a point source, for example, a smokestack at a power plant, where the aim is to offset carbon emissions as they’re being released into the atmosphere. DAC+S works instead to remove unavoidable and historic CO2 emissions already present in the atmosphere.
3M aims to scale to thousands of miles of the MOFs-containing filter material for Svante over the next few years. Svante
In Iceland, the geological storage of CO2 from the two Climeworks plants is dissolved in water before being injected into the ground, where it reacts with rock to form solid carbonate minerals.
There are a number of different DAC technologies for filtering CO2 from the air but the most promising to have emerged are based on MOFs – metal ions and organic ligands that form a three-dimensional structure with a high surface area and well-defined pore size and porosity. These properties make MOFs ideal for gas storage and separation, including carbon capture, and they can be effectively encapsulated in nonwoven fabrics.
Other potential applications for MOFs include chemical feedstock preparation, direct lithium extraction, improving HVAC filtration and refrigeration reclamation.
In May 2023, 3M, headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota announced a partnership with Svante Technologies to mass produce MOF-embedded nonwoven sheets. These sheets can be stacked into high-performance filters designed for both industrial point-source and DAC. Svante is also collaborating with BASF, headquartered in Ludwigshafen, Germany, to scale up the production of the crucial MOF sorbents. These tailor-made solid sorbents have an exceptionally high storage capacity for CO2 – a sugar-cubesized quantity of the material boasts the surface area of a football field.
Additionally, Svante has developed structured adsorbent filters capable of capturing and releasing CO2 in under 60 seconds – a significant improvement over
other solid sorbent technologies, which can take hours.
In May this year, Svante officially completed the commissioning of its new Centre of Excellence for Carbon Capture and Removal manufacturing facility (Redwood) in Burnaby, British Columbia.
The Redwood plant spans 141,000 square feet and is equipped to manufacture enough solid sorbentbased filters to capture up to 10 million tons of CO 2 annually –equivalent to the emissions of more than 27 million cars.
In addition to manufacturing filters for Climeworks and DAC, Svante is also targeting biogenic carbon dioxide removal (CDR) for sectors like pulp and paper, ethanol production, and waste-to-energy, where carbon concentrations in postcombustion flue gas are higher, and capture costs are lower, to generate CDR credits.
Capturing the emissions from other industries such as cement, steel, and fossil fuels is an essential part of a sustainable energy transition. With the commissioning of Redwood, Svante is stepping up to the challenge. The plant’s launch follows a $145 million capital investment.
Svante’s technology is already powering several major carbon capture pilot projects, including installations at oil and gas major Chevron’s Kern River plant in the San Joaquin Valley in California.
“The Redwood gigafactory is a critical step forward in building the infrastructure necessary to scale up the carbon management industry and to build a marketplace for physical CO2,” said Claude Letourneau, president and CEO of Svante. “This is a demonstration of what’s possible when technology and climate ambition align to lend nature a hand in managing global CO2 emissions.”
Adrian Wilson is an international correspondent for International Filtration News . He is a leading journalist covering fiber, filtration, nonwovens and technical textiles. He can be reached at adawilson@gmail.com.
& ASHRAE
Pleat heights 1/2” to 12” upto 39” wide. Interrupted beads, many configurations.
Mini-Pleat: H.E.P.A. & ASHRAE
Pleat heights 3/4” to 4” upto 25” wide. Interrupted beads, many configurations.
By Adrian Wilson, International Correspondent, IFN
Japan remains at the forefront of hollow fiber technology for ultrafiltration (UF) and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes, leading not only in volume production but also in technical refinements, including the development of nanostructured polymer blends and hybrid membranes that integrate adsorptive or catalytic properties.
The strength of Japan’s membrane industry can further be attributed to close collaboration between academia, government, and industry. Organizations like the Tokyo-based Japan Membrane Society (JMS) have fostered knowledge exchange, while national R&D programs have provided consistent funding for membrane science since the 1980s.
Japanese researchers and companies were among the first to recognize the potential of these membranes for large-scale applications back in the 1960s. One of the earliest breakthroughs came in the field of hemodialysis — the life-saving treatment for kidney failure that removes waste and extra fluids from the blood and regulates blood pressure.
Toray Industries made a further step forward with the development of hollow fiber membranes made from cellulose acetate for use in dialysis. Toray’s early work was based on refining the phase inversion process and producing fibers with consistent inner diameters and controlled porosity, critical to safe and adequate blood filtration.
At around the same time, Asahi Kasei entered the field and subsequently became a global leader in producing hollow fiber membranes for dialysis machines, ultrafiltration and gas separation. Asahi’s development of polysulfone-based membranes in the 1980s improved the biocompatibility, durability and filtration efficiency of dialysis fibers and is recognized as a key milestone in the field.
Beyond medical use, Japanese companies then began applying hollow fiber membranes to water purification, particularly for municipal and industrial water treatment. Japan’s need for compact, efficient systems — given its limited land and dense urban areas — drove innovation in membrane bioreactors (MBRs) and ultrafiltration modules.
Mitsubishi Rayon (now part of Mitsubishi Chemical Group) played a leading role in advancing hollow fiber membranes for water and wastewater treatment, focusing on PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) membranes with excellent chemical and mechanical resistance. PVDF fibers can operate in moderately high-temperature environments and their pore size of around 0.01 µm is ideal for UF applications, allowing excellent removal of microorganisms and fine particles.
Hollow fiber membranes are also employed in milk protein concentration, wine clarification and juice purification. At the same time, in the field of gas
separation, companies including Ube Industries and Kuraray have developed specialized hollow fiber membranes for separating oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide. These are used in applications such as nitrogen blanketing in chemical plants, oxygen enrichment for medical and industrial use and CO2 removal in natural gas processing.
Japanese companies have also been heavily involved in extending the applications for these membranes into applications such as seawater desalination, zero-liquid discharge systems and fuel cells. In the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, they are also employed in cell harvesting, protein concentration and sterile filtration processes in drug manufacturing.
The production of hollow fiber membranes involves a sophisticated polymer spinning process that creates long, flexible fibers with a hollow central core. This process allows for precise control over the membrane’s pore size, structure and filtration performance.
The process begins with the preparation of a polymer solution, consisting of a base polymer, such as polysulfone, polyethersulfone, PVDF or cellulose acetate, dissolved in a suitable solvent like N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone or dimethylacetamide. Additives, such as pore formers or surfactants, are often included to tailor the membrane’s porosity and performance characteristics. The precise composition of this solution has a direct influence on the chemical resistance,
q In April this year,
mechanical strength and separation efficiency of the final membrane.
The polymer solution is extruded through specially designed spinnerets, which shape the material into its distinctive hollow fiber form. A second fluid, known as the bore fluid, is injected simultaneously through the center of the spinneret to form the inner lumen of the fiber. Depending on the specific manufacturing method, the extruded fiber is either passed directly into a coagulation bath or first exposed to air before coagulation.
In wet spinning, the fiber enters the non-solvent coagulation bath immediately after extrusion, which causes the polymer to solidify and take on a porous structure. In dry-wet spinning, the fiber passes through a short air gap before it hits the bath, allowing some of the solvent to evaporate. This creates an asymmetric membrane structure with a dense, selective outer layer and a more porous inner support layer.
After the fibers are formed, they undergo a series of post-treatment steps, including thorough washing to remove residual solvents and other chemicals, and in some
cases, chemical stabilization to improve durability, particularly for cellulose-based membranes. Depending on the intended application, the fibers may also be treated with hydrophilic or hydrophobic coatings or antifouling agents to enhance performance and longevity.
Thousands of individual fibers are then bundled together and secured at both ends using a potting material such as epoxy or polyurethane. These potted bundles are then enclosed in a protective casing to form a complete membrane module. The design of the module determines the direction of flow during operation — either from the inside out, with fluid passing through the hollow core of the fibers, or from the outside in, where fluid flows around the exterior and permeates inward.
These modules have an extremely high surface-to-volume ratio of around 60 square meters and can be operated under moderate pressures of a maximum of 3 bars.
The use of a combination of UF and RO membranes to recycle wastewater and industrial effluent is growing. Still, conventional UF membranes are poor at
removing the biopolymers commonly found in wastewater. As a result, RO membranes generally have to be cleaned more frequently with chemicals, increasing water production costs and carbon dioxide emissions.
To address this issue, Toray has now developed a high-removal UF membrane that maintains the high water permeability of UF membranes while reducing the RO membrane load to stabilize long-term production of high-quality water in wastewater reuse. This result has been achieved by quantitatively analyzing the formation process of sub-10-nanometer nanopores at the design stage.
Tests have confirmed that Toray’s new UF membrane reduces biopolymer transmission — a prime factor in RO membrane contamination — to less than one-third of the levels of current leading to excellent removal performance, including for sewage and industrial wastewater.
Pilot operations at a sewage plant have linked UF and RO membranes and demonstrated that the high-removal UF membrane maintains water permeability while reducing the decline in RO membrane permeability by one-third.
This advance will reduce the need for RO membrane cleaning in wastewater reuse applications, including for sewage treatment and industrial wastewater recycling in the chemical, steel, textiles, and other sectors. It should also help minimize chemical cleaning, reduce operational problems, and extend RO membrane lifespans, cutting water treatment costs and lowering carbon dioxide emissions from replacing and disposing of RO membranes by more than 30%.
The demand for water purification is rising rapidly in the Middle East and in April this year, Toray Membrane Middle East began operations at its new Middle East Water Treatment Technical Center (MEWTEC) in Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
The new facility provides integrated technology services, covering everything from membranes through to full treatment processes, and will cater to the surging water demand in the Middle East, Africa, and neighboring regions.
In July, Toray Membrane Middle East further announced the supply of RO membranes to the new Shuaibah 3 IWP seawater desalination plant in Saudi Arabia. It has a daily potable water
Planova filters are highly regarded for virus removal performance and protein permeability, as cellulose-based hollow fiber filters.
“This new plant reinforces the momentum behind our newly established Life Science business,” says Yusuke Kanazawa, head of the bioprocess division at Asahi Kasei Life Science Corporation. “It demonstrates Asahi’s commitment to making strategic investments while responding to the rising global demand for virus filtration. This project was selected under METI’s Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Project, which supports the development of the domestic infrastructure critical for vaccine production during public health emergencies. Through this government-
production capacity of 600,000 cubic meters. It provides stable supplies of drinking water to Mecca, Jeddah, Taif, and Bahah, where demand has risen as a result of both population growth and inbound tourism.
In July this year, meanwhile, Asahi Kasei Life Science announced plans to construct a new spinning plant in Nobeoka City, Miyazaki, Japan, specifically to expand production of its Planova virus removal filters.
This will be the company’s fourth spinning plant for hollow-fiber cellulose membrane filters and operations, although operations are not scheduled to start until January 2030. The initiative is backed by a grant from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).
backed initiative, we are strengthening our supply resilience and enhancing our competitiveness in the global biopharmaceutical market.”
Japanese companies have been central to the evolution of hollow fiber membranes, pioneering their use in the medical, industrial, and environmental fields. An emphasis on precision manufacturing, long-term investment in R&D, and an integrated industry structure have ensured the longevity of this leadership.
Adrian Wilson is an international correspondent for International Filtration News . He is a leading journalist covering fiber, filtration, nonwovens and technical textiles. He can be reached at adawilson@gmail.com.
By Iyad Al-Attar, Global Correspondent for Innovations and Technology
The pursuit of knowledge knows no bounds and is exemplified in this interview with Dr. Oliver F. Bischof. He is a Senior Director at TSI Incorporated, with responsibility for all of the company’s business units in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region. In addition, he provides global support for TSI’s Particle Instruments group and is closely involved with several professional associations. He is also a company secretary of TSI GmbH, which is TSI’s European headquarters based in Aachen, Germany. As a company, TSI is a global frontrunner in precision measurement instruments. Their focused discussion emphasizes the need for a collaborative and proactive approach to capitalize on the scientific marvels of particle technology in advancing particle measurement, transport, and data reporting.
We discussed particle technology indepth, and its essential role in today’s air quality and filtration methods.
Dr. Iyad Al-Attar: Dr. Bischof, why does particle technology seem to be overlooked when it comes to air filtration? Where do we fall short in terms of the information and the knowledge required? From a characterization point of view, what knowledge would you like air filtration engineers to have so that they can appropriately select air filters?
Dr. Oliver F. Bischof: Your question is a good one. A great deal relates to understanding how air filters work, and their need to replaced. There’s some more profound knowledge involved that engineers would benefit from in selecting the correct type of filtering for the right kind of job or any given application. You
DR. OLIVER F. BISCHOF Senior Director, TSI Incorporated
can’t choose just one filter that is most efficient for everything. That doesn’t make any sense, because obviously, you don’t need the same efficiency for everything. There are also ways to incorporate pre-filters and more efficient filters subsequently. Still, there’s also the caveat that the more efficient the filter is, the more energy is required to pass the flow through it, particularly when it’s loaded heavily with particles. These concepts are fundamental and crucial to understand if you’re an engineer selecting and installing filters. It’s also essential to know that some filters contain electrically conductive materials, which means charging plays a role in particle loading. In humid conditions, the charging state of the particles can change, which presents additional challenges. If people know particle technology, they can do a better job of selecting and then installing those filters.
Al-Attar: With over 35 years of experience in the field, how do you think particle technology has evolved as a science? Additionally, how have advancements in instrumentation enhanced our ability to make better filter selections?
Bischof: Particle technology has been in existence for approximately 80 years, but it has gained momentum rapidly over the last couple of decades. It is much more prevalent today, and an increasing number of scientists are realizing that particles play a significant role in their fields. There are many users of particle technology, and filtration is more common today than ever before. If you think of filters, decades ago, we didn’t have exhaust filters in our cars, as the technology didn’t readily exist. Engineers then came up with a way to filter hot gas emissions very efficiently, while also maintaining a pressure drop that allowed the cars to operate as usual, so the user didn’t even realize that a filter was in place.
Rarely used until the COVID pandemic, another example is portable air cleaners. Most people didn’t think about cleaning the air in their indoor environments. With COVID, perceptions changed, and filtered air became a vast topic, with a massive number of companies manufacturing devices to keep up with the demand. COVID-19 also helped to refine many test standards, so that today we can purchase very efficient portable air cleaners that didn’t exist 20 years ago.
Al-Attar: How does the morphology and surface charge of airborne particles influence their capture across different filtration mechanisms?
Bischof: When the efficiency of a filter is measured, it is done in the lab under
standard test conditions with very specific test particles so that an efficiency rating can be determined for these conditions. However, the efficiency of a given filter is not the same for all particles; it is specific to the test dust or particle type. In real life, morphology is a more complex theme because it encompasses not only the shape of the particle but also its entire structure. Just imagine that some particles are shaped more like snowflakes, but they are very loose particles. These particles exhibit a different behavior than particles that are an agglomerate, such as soot particles, which we try to filter because we want to avoid indoor combustion emissions, for instance.
Ultimately, real-life morphologically very different particles will behave differently compared to those used in standard efficiency tests. This difference impacts the efficiency of a given filter, and we do not test for it. We only test for what the standards dictate so that filters will behave differently in the real-world operation, and we don’t know how many morphologically different particles are present in whatever they’re filtering. That’s one of the big unknowns, unless you’re taking samples, for instance, upstream of the filter, and then repeat the efficiency tests with these particles, which most likely nobody does.
When I think about the morphology question, I mainly think of engineered particles that we’re using in industry, like silica fumes or something to make different materials. Still, there are also the particles that we encounter in real life that we want to keep out of our homes. Think of the Canadian wildfires, which were not only a local event, but also affected locations thousands of miles away because the emissions and dust from these wildfires were transported to locations thousands of miles away. We had Canadian wildfire episodes here in Europe, which made the ambient air incredibly dirty and you could see the color of the sky change. Obviously, wildfires produce combustion particles as trees and everything else have been burnt, and that’s not a clean burning process, so it generates something that is essentially dirty agglomerates. In addi-
There are many users of particle technology, and filtration is more common today than ever before. If you think of filters, decades ago, we didn’t have exhaust filters in our cars, as the technology didn’t readily exist.
tion, the wildfire particles age over time during transport and there is atmospheric processing taking place, which is considered in atmospheric science. Anyway, these are not uniform or spherical particles once they get here, so if you want to keep them from entering our homes, then we have to take into account morphological differences.
Al-Attar: What advances in particle technology would you like to see happen? You’ve spoken lately about the low detection limit in terms of ultrafine particle or nanoparticles.
Bischof: Particle technology is a broad field that encompasses various areas, including particle manufacturing, transport, collection, and measurement. However, it also encompasses a wide range of industries, each with distinct challenges for the measurement side, including the limit of detection, accuracy, and comparability of measurements, all of which are critical factors. Specifically, the most difficult to measure particles, whether they are ultrafines or nanoparticles, are often the most important ones. This is where the detection limit of the measuring instruments, their resolution, and accuracy come into play. Furthermore, there is a need to have more measurement sites, which also involve lower-cost devices. Getting more data points is key to getting better spatial resolution that could reveal the locations of pollution sources, the substances to which people are exposed, and how particles are transported.
Al-Attar: In some countries today, liquid filtration technologies have helped countries make their tap water drinkable. What role do we want global governments to play in making our tap air fit-for-purpose, and what role can particle technology instruments play in that regard?
Bischof: It’s a very interesting analogy to consider both the water we drink and the air we breathe. And I’m very fortunate to live in a country that has excellent quality tap water. My dad, who was a food chemist for the city of Berlin, used to say that our water over here is the best controlled foodstuff we have. Everybody realizes that they can simply open a tap and drink the water, so why don’t we expect the same from our air, particularly considering the number of liters of air we inhale daily, compared to the little amount of water we drink? It is impressive how water quality is well-controlled, from appropriate purification mechanisms to transportation. The fact of the matter is that there is so little we do about the poor urban air quality in cities and appropriate air filtration in buildings where people spend most of their time. More work is needed to make available filtered air that is fit for purpose to all communities and building occupants, and not only in the developed world.
Al-Attar: Given that people spend much of their lives indoors and indoor air can be more polluted than outdoor air, how can advancements in particle technology instrumentation (like real-time, low-cost sensors for various particle sizes and compositions) help governments shape public policy for better indoor air quality?
Bischof: That’s a loaded question. There are some spaces where it’s easier to do that, specifically public buildings, such as government buildings, convention centers, shopping malls, or even indoor sports arenas. Those are probably relatively easy to control because there’s money involved, and the fact that people are made aware of what air quality they are exposed to, which can be potentially not very clean. Many of the efforts in North America these days focus on filtration
and ventilation, as well as monitoring the air quality introduced into buildings. It becomes more complicated when addressing personal spaces, such as homes, because in many parts of the world, there is neither filtration nor air conditioning. Evidently, we need to educate people that poor outdoor air can impact their health. What happens when I open the windows and let my living room naturally ventilate? I have an air quality sensor in my home because I want to monitor the air quality when I use my fireplace, which I do very rarely now, as I’m very aware of what even very efficient stoves still emit into the air. I actually completely stopped burning candles in my home because my particle sensor goes berserk due to the high particle concentration they emit. It all starts with awareness and educating people on how to improve the air in their own homes.
Al-Attar: What do you want governments to do for us?
Bischof: We can both agree that we would like governments globally to make more efforts to clean up the air. However, what we see these days is the impact ambient air monitoring can have, spe-
cifically on source control. There are local regulations in many countries that require fence-line monitoring when people start building activities. Companies that dig up the soil and create dust by doing so need to monitor what is being emitted to the immediate environment, which governments and legislation drive. The same is true for sources like incinerators, power plant stacks, or factories. There are continuous emission monitoring systems, and then there are filtration mechanisms. Huge industrial filters, which are beyond most people’s imagination, consisting of multi-stage bag filters, are, for instance, used in the cement industry to comply with ambient air quality standards. Another example is vehicle exhaust filtration to comply with exhaust emissions legislation, which is already implemented in many countries. However, we can all agree that it shouldn’t stop there; we need to tighten the standards and source control while enhancing filtration technologies to achieve tighter limits and ultimately better air quality.
Al-Attar: Embracing sustainability involves responding to environmental challenges linked to fossil fuel use. We need to address
source control to prevent particle emissions and minimize impact. What can we do individually and at a state level to achieve this?
Bischof: First of all we need to listen and pay attention to science! That might be an easy statement to make because science is complicated, it exists in niches, there are various experts, and they might not even all agree, etc. – but the combined body of science has taught us a lot of things. Unfortunately, it’s often not understood, ignored or even denied. That being said, in the past 10 years, we’ve made a lot of progress by paying attention to science, with concrete measures that have been taken to improve both outdoor and indoor air quality. If I had a wish, it would be to get things to governments and through parliaments more quickly. Let’s not be hesitant. If there’s something that benefits the population, improves our lives, keeps people safe, and saves the planet, then we shouldn’t be that hesitant. On a personal level, I think we all have a role to play as humanity consists of individuals, and every individual has to challenge themselves in their role. We can all make an impact.
Al-Attar: How can we relate air filter performance and indoor air quality to the characteristics of challenging particles? Is this too much to ask from a particle technology and filtration perspective?
Bischof: That is an excellent and relevant question. It brings together particle technology, filtration technology, and building technology by examining various parameters. From an instrumentation standpoint, the capability is there as scientists have the tools to measure airborne particles. Let’s start upstream of the filter. Whatever is upstream can be like the layers of an onion. You could examine the ambient environment of a specific location. Then you could look at the air intake of a building and sampling ports from different locations of the HVAC system to determine whether it is really clean air that is being brought into indoor environments. Measurements within a given room with human occupants are also of interest, and it’s possible to do so when
We have recently made substantial advances, and it is fantastic to see how new guidelines to regulate particles, and especially ultrafines, have been embraced by the WHO and even the European Commission in this part of the world.
we move our measurement equipment there. The problem is that these are typically spot measurements for research, not continuous, as it’s not practical and an affordability issue.
A daily routine tool is what’s required, so that every building can have access to a continuous monitoring solution. It should also not require a scientist to operate it and interpret the data obtained, which must accurately represent the current air quality status. I see that as a major challenge. Providing IAQ or IEQ solutions for office buildings and public spaces that are accurate requires careful consideration of all factors. We already have IAQ monitors that continuously measure several parameters to understand if indoor air is healthy for occupants. Still, adoption will be slow unless there are concrete guidelines and requirements for it.
Al-Attar: What role can AI play when everything surrounding particle technology is based on measurement and a scientific basis, and the physics of particles? What is left for AI tools to play?
Bischof: AI is a topic that is very interesting these days because it continues to grow in terms of its capabilities. You are certainly right to question what AI can do because it is neither going to change the fundamentals of particle technology nor change particle kinetics. It will for instance not change how filters remove particles. However, there are instances where AI will play a crucial role. The first one is in selecting appropriate tools for specific requirements. Consider this from the perspective that we may be experts in one field, but nobody can be an expert in all of them.
Ultimately, AI can collectively look at the subjective holistically and come up with suggestions that we should consider as a more efficient way of combining knowledge in one place for review and consideration. I would still advise every-
one who is using AI not to simply accept, but to question it. But AI can save time by providing more knowledge in selecting the right tool for a given job, and by tool, I mean anything. It could be a specific particle technology process to be employed, or it could be a device used for metrology to measure and monitor outdoor air. AI could also help by selecting the right filter for a specific application, providing a rationale for the choice. It is a process of devising solutions while considering numerous parameters that impact your decisions. AI can also play an essential role in interpreting and presenting data, and putting it into a wider context.
Al-Attar: Can AI, as a tool, help in air performance prediction, given the pollution profile of specific individuals or sources?
Bischof: The most significant benefit that I see for AI is in analyzing, processing and using data because that’s ultimately what AI can do. It cannot replace the actual measurements. The measurement will still need to be done by instruments, but once their data becomes available, you need to interpret the data. We need to use the data and draw conclusions from it, which is where the power of AI lies. It’s able to do that in very short amounts of time and by questioning whatever we’re getting from AI, by refining it, so we come up with very credible and functional analysis.
It then allows us to address pollution sources. Imagine that you have a specific source or a certain production environment, and you know when an emission takes place and how it spreads. AI can simulate it for you and provide concrete areas, and you can then use that information to automatically trigger your ventilation and filtration system to address this pollution. That’s the type of role that I can imagine AI can play, and I’m keeping it to the simple example, but you can come up with a lot more complicated examples
that we as humans would struggle with conceiving. AI, by its very nature, will come up with proposals that we can then take into account and make fit our needs.
Al-Attar: How should particle technology inform global policy frameworks that aim to harmonize indoor air quality, occupational health, and climate resilience?
Bischof: That’s a loaded question! I think the easiest thing is to go away from this part of the world and look at a different one. If you look back to what happened in China when industrialization first took place and production ramped up very, very quickly, the air in China suddenly became very poor. China had one of the poorest air qualities, and people were exposed to it for 10 or more years. The Chinese science community and in their wake also legislators learned that this is very negative for what they were trying to do in the country and for their population. So, they took measures.
China is actually an example where legislators stepped in, as they banned the use of combustion vehicles on certain days. They also electrified the vehicle fleet, they fitted stacks with filtration mechanisms like ESPs and whatever was deemed to be relevant. Through all of these steps they drastically managed to cut air pollution.
Now we’re looking at India, and India still has a long way to go. If you’re looking at any publication or comparison table that shows you the most polluted places on earth, then typically six out of 10 are in India and then two are in neighboring Pakistan. This is closely related to industrialization in the country, which has led to significant traffic emissions.
However, it’s also some common practices that are still prevalent in India, like open fires or the burning of crops in the fields. Farmers still do that because it’s a cheaper way of doing it. Some of these problems are probably easier to govern from a legislative point of view than others,
but it is something that the Indian research community and also the Indian government are paying increasing attention to. So maybe five years from now India will have made the same improvements that we’ve seen in China, and even China still has ways to go to reach the air quality that we have in much of Western Europe.
Al-Attar: When COVID-19 hit in 2019, we needed to address knowledge gaps about virus transmission and particle technology. Are we now better equipped, given our advancements in understanding these areas over the past six years?
Bischof: Complex question to answer on the COVID side. Particle technology continues to improve, and the significant difference from pre-COVID times is that we’ve bridged the gap between the medical community’s understanding of an aerosol and the understanding of the aerosol particle science community.
As I’m on the particle technology front, many of these concepts were understood, but without having knowledge of the virus itself. How the virus impacts human health from a medical perspective required knowledge of the virus, which was surprisingly quickly understood, considering how quickly it led to the development of effective vaccines.
Whatever was missing was a good understanding of the profound difference in the knowledge of aerosol kinetics, because the medical understanding was that aerosols are (very) large droplets that fall to the ground quickly, making them no longer inhalable. Therefore, much time was spent on surface decontamination and the importance of not touching surfaces, which was driven by the medical community. There was a lack of understanding the kinetics of small particles and small aerosol droplets containing the viruses.
My understanding is that COVID-19 is transmitted as part of an airborne droplet that contains the virus, which has a size that determines how long it stays in the air, how long it remains in a room, how it can be effectively prevented from entering the human body, and how it can be removed by different mechanisms such as
air cleaners and effective, well-fitting respirators. So, we have learned a lot about social distancing, avoiding crowded indoor spaces, proper ventilation, filtration, and face masks. Not a single one of these measures alone would prevent us from having another COVID pandemic, but a combination of many of them, starting with appropriate vaccines and the right masking approach, as well as air filtration, ventilation, and spending time outdoors versus indoors, would help us to be in a very different position these days. The global science community has certainly learned a great deal by coming together and combining its knowledge and tools.
How much of a role can particle technology help urban planners make our cities more fit to occupy with their buildings and building envelopes?
Bischof: A lot of that is the understanding we have in the use of particle technology, as well as in building sciences. And there are ways of doing it alone and how we are building e.g., in terms of how air moves through our cities, how clean air even comes to our cities, how we keep places well-ventilated and cool, how we use plants in cities to remove pollution, how we bring plants close to roadsides, how we avoid busy roads in cities – all of these are questions that are related to outdoor air. Again, excellent research is being conducted in this field, and it is well-documented in the literature. The other aspect is not the city itself or the urban planning side of it, but rather the transport of
air through cities. However, it’s really the buildings themselves that’ve been a focus, and again, we’ve learned a lot during the COVID pandemic in terms of the need for ventilation and filtration, particularly in public buildings where people spend a lot of time, and are not necessarily in control of their own destiny. How to actively manage air quality in schools, offices, buildings, hospitals, hotels, and other similar settings, and what tools are available to mitigate poor air quality indoors, must lead to a very different understanding than we had pre-COVID.
Al-Attar: Thank you so much for having me in Germany at the TSI’s European headquarters. This has been an insightful journey in learning not only how to measure particles, but also to embrace sustainability. Thank you for addressing the correlation between particle characteristics and filter performance, as well as the associated boundary conditions, which constitute a viable and reproducible dataset. Your explanation of data interpretation and how AI can aid in understanding the complex science of particle technology is insightful.
Bischof: Likewise, Dr. Iyad, thank you for taking the time to come and interview me today. It’s a real pleasure and an honor to do this for International Filtration News. I consider myself a passionate engineer and atmospheric researcher, as you may have noticed during this interview. There’s a significant role we can play as engineers, researchers, and scientists in helping to improve the lives of our communities. Making a difference lies in addressing issues at the early stages; it’s often in the planning side.
How do we design our cities, and how do we manage production processes? Some of it involves understanding what is happening in advance. Such an understanding centers on the research component, and many people are working diligently to advance the knowledge of particle technology. I genuinely respect it, and it gives me pleasure to see it in peerreviewed literature, conferences, and so forth. I encourage everybody to embrace that research side and its contribution
to advancing our knowledge. Particle technology has a promising future and will help us combat the harmful particles that impact our climate, which have adverse effects on human health, reduce life expectancy, and cause visibility issues.
There are also beneficial particles that we can consciously utilize, for instance, to create new materials, better semiconductor wafers, and new sensors. From a personal perspective, I have dedicated a significant part of my career to the measurement side, focusing on measuring and monitoring particles. We have recently made substantial advances, and it is fantastic to see how new guidelines to regulate particles, and especially ultrafines, have been embraced by the WHO and even the European Commission in this part of the world. A wider implementation of more advanced measurements is a necessary but promising step. Still, there is a need to continue down that road to improve the quality of the air we breathe.
Al-Attar: [Note: Interviewing Dr. Oliver Bischof felt like drinking from a fire hydrant. His deep knowledge of particle technology measurement and the underlying physics offers immense value to audiences and learners alike. A key takeaway is the potential of specific technologies to save lives, allowing more time with loved ones.]
Dr. Bischof, you highlight that although particle technology and filtration have been around for over a century, their recognition and rapid advancement have surged recently. Yet, the field remains “overlooked” in air filtration despite its critical importance. Please comment.
Bischof: When I said particle technology is a broad field, I have to think back to the late Professor Sheldon Friedlander from Caltech in the United States. He talked about the good particles and the bad, and that’s something that really stuck with me. In fact, there are different reasons why we are surrounded by particles, and the good ones are the ones that we are creating deliberately. There is particle syntheses, in which we are engineering them to create new materials, such as my tennis racket, which incorporates carbon nanoparticles.
These are tiny particles to improve its strength and stability. Consider microchips, as the leading semiconductor manufacturers can now produce wafers with much smaller feature sizes. These tiny structures are created by using nanodroplet, that then form more powerful transistors.
Many materials use particle technology that people may not even consider, such as sunscreen and pharmaceuticals. Think of medical sprays that can be tailored to be inhaled to reach even the lowest region of the human lung.
Harmful particles are those we neither want to inhale nor have around us, such as from combustion sources, like vehicle emissions in cities and those emitted from industries through huge stacks into the atmosphere, but there are many other sources as well. Also, natural sources like the wildfires and Saharan dust from sandstorms that bring particles into our air even in cities far away from where they occurred. I believe that the concept of good and bad particles is an important one to remember, as it also incorporates the need we have for applying particle technology.
Dr. Al-Attar is IFN’s Global Correspondent, Technology and Innovation, with insight as a mechanical engineer and an independent air filtration consultant. He is a Visiting Academic Fellow in the School of Aerospace, Transport, and Manu facturing at Cranfield University, consulting for air quality and filter performance relevant to land-based gas turbines. His expertise is on the design/performance of high-efficiency filters for HVAC and land-based gas turbine applications, focusing on chemical and physical characterization of airborne pollutants. Dr. Al-Attar is also the strategic director, instructor, and advisory board member of the Waterloo Filtration Institute. In 2020, Eurovent Middle East appointed Dr. Al-Attar as the first associated consultant for air filtration, as well as an Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) patron for EUROVENT.
Compiled By Dr. Iyad Al-Attar
When Saharan dust storms sweep across Spain, painting the cities and skies amber and leaving the Spanish Pyrenees coated in orange snow, the spectacle may seem surreal – even beautiful. But beneath this haunting beauty lies a serious public health concern. These calima episodes can carry high concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 particles, which, combined with rising temperatures, significantly degrade outdoor air quality.
And the danger doesn’t stay outside. Dust finds its way into buildings, silently worsening IAQ – indoor air quality – and threatening those who assume they're safe behind closed windows. This is where QAI – quality air intelligence – becomes critical: unlike the weather, we can control the air we breathe indoors and make our spaces learn to breathe with us, adapting filtration and ventilation in real time to protect our health.
High-efficiency filtration systems (HEPA, activated carbon), demand-controlled mechanical ventilation (please – with heat recovery!), and air purification technologies that actively clean and refresh the air are no longer optional features; they are our first line of defense.
We must go from passive air to intelligent air. Through sensors that track CO₂, radon, particulate matter, humidity, and VOCs, we begin to understand how buildings "breathe." When powered by AI, these systems don't just react – they anticipate, predict, adapt, and learn, responding to occupancy, external pollution, and building usage. For schools, homes, offices or hospitals, this isn't about luxury or comfort – it's about
creating cognitive indoor environments that actively protect health and well-being.
For too long, we've ignored IAQ, complacently dismissing the invisible. But now the signs are clear – and visible. Orange snow is not a miracle of nature; it’s a warning sign. And it's no longer rare: calima, DANA, wildfires, and other climate-driven threats are becoming more frequent. In this new era, the only clean air we may have is the air we manage. That’s why we need QAI for IAQ.
About Marta San Román. Marta San Román has over 30 years of international experience in innovation, applications engineering, product management, marketing strategy, communications, sales, and business development in mature and emerging markets for diverse industries and organizations, including Fortune 100/500 and large cooperatives, in sectors related to electronics, HVACR, solar thermal, energy efficiency, etc. Marta has a BS in Physics and is currently the Director General of AFEC, the association of HVAC equipment manufacturers in Spain, where she can develop her passion for sustainability and energy efficiency for comfort, indoor air quality, and environmental health in a decarbonized society.
Spending nearly 90% of our time indoors has made the quality of indoor environments a non-negotiable factor for human well-being. Based on experience working across schools, offices, and healthcare settings, I've come to realize that achieving "healthy air" requires more than a well-
functioning HVAC system – it demands intentional design, continuous adaptation, and data-informed action.
The first step in going beyond standard compliance is understanding what we’re up against. Indoor air isn't uniform; it is shaped by the building’s purpose, construction materials, occupant behavior, and even outdoor pollution patterns. Common culprits like particulate matter (PM), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and elevated CO₂ levels can originate from office equipment, cleaning agents, or simply overcrowded meeting rooms. During a retrofit project, it is not uncommon to identify unexpected VOC peaks tied to newly installed furnishings, which would likely go unnoticed without real-time monitoring.
Smart building technologies, particularly those integrating IAQ sensors, now enable us to track these invisible threats continuously. These systems not only collect data, but also respond. In one project involving a mid-sized university building, automated HVAC adjustments triggered by CO₂ spikes resulted in a measurable reduction in student fatigue complaints. When combined with demandcontrolled ventilation and intelligent setpoint optimization, these interventions not only improved perceived air quality but also reduced energy consumption.
Filtration, of course, plays a foundational role. High-MERV and HEPA-grade filters have yielded impressive results, especially when supported by smart air handling units. Even more promising are adaptive technologies like UV-C disinfection, electrostatic precipitation, and photocatalytic oxidation – particularly when deployed in response to real-time IAQ insights rather than as static design features.
Ultimately, going the extra mile isn’t about installing the most expensive system; it's about aligning technologies with human health outcomes. This involves incorporating indoor air quality (IAQ) into building performance metrics, tailoring strategies to the specific needs of each space, and recognizing that clean air is not a luxury, but a prerequisite for productivity, comfort and resilience.
Healthy buildings are living systems. And when it is designed with intelligence and care, they make every breath count.
Even more promising are adaptive technologies like UV-C disinfection, electrostatic precipitation, and photocatalytic oxidation – particularly when deployed in response to real-time IAQ insights rather than as static design features.
About Dr. Kadir Isa. Dr. Kadir Isa is a retired faculty member who specializes in HVACR technologies and applications. He holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering and has over 35 years of experience working at various universities. He currently serves as a technical consultant at the Turkish HVACR Exporters Association (ISIB) and various NGOs in Türkiye, where he plays an active role in industry-government relations. He is a member of ASHRAE and a founding member of the ASHRAE Turkish Chapter, as well as being a Turkish delegate to the International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR).
Over the past few years, I have become increasingly concerned that buildings designed to meet energy targets often fall short when it comes to supporting the people who use them. We have focused on carbon and compliance but frequently overlooked health and comfort.
That is why Indoor Environmental Quality, or IEQ, has become such a focus for me and for Raven Delta. IEQ considers the full experience of being in a space: air, light, sound, temperature, and how people interact with their environment. It is not about extra complexity. It is about shifting the
goal from technical performance to human impact.
But the first challenge is visibility. Across our work, I have seen poor quality monitoring in buildings of all types. Too often, sensors are installed without validation, producing vast datasets that seem credible but are misleading. That is dangerous.
We established the Centre of Excellence for Monitoring to address this. We needed a way to certify sensors and data systems to make sure the insights they offer are reliable. With the right data, you can act. Without it, you are guessing.
BS 40102 part one was another critical step forward. It provides a clear and practical framework for assessing IEQ in real environments. At Raven Delta, we use this alongside our delivery model: identify the issue, rectify it with targeted intervention, and maintain performance through ongoing oversight.
However, monitoring alone does not improve well-being. Action is essential. And to act effectively, we need good governance. Existing certification frameworks often focus on checklists rather than outcomes. IEQ must be linked to health impacts, not just compliance. It must also reflect local realities. A hospital in the Gulf faces different challenges than a school in the United Kingdom.
We also need to build the right skills. IEQ is not just about technology. It requires people who can interpret data, understand systems, and communicate clearly across disciplines. We will see regulation emerge in time. But we do not need to wait for that. As a sector, we can lead now. Let us stop building only for efficiency. Let us start building for people.
About Dave Kieft. Dave Kieft is the Group CEO of Raven Delta, a multi-sector group focused on innovation in sustainability, building performance, and human health. He played a key role in supporting the development of BS 40102 part one and led the creation of the Centre of Excellence for Monitoring to raise standards across indoor environmental quality practice.
By Caryn Smith, Publisher & Chief Content Officer, IFN
New emerging technologies and equipment are geared to improve segments in the industrial filtration, such as filtering PFAS, reusing wastewater, and adding efficiencies to aging systems. This new feature will keep readers ‘in the know’ about what hits IFN’s inbox on all things industrial water.
What’s driving change in this segment? For one, legislators in the U.S. are taking note of opportunities to reuse wastewater. In fact, in April, U.S. House of Representatives Darin LaHood (R-IL), Claudia Tenney (R-NY), Linda Sanchez (D-CA), and Brad Schneider (D-IL) introduced the Advancing Water Reuse Act (H.R.2940), which aims to catalyze the use of recycled water by manufacturers, data centers, and other industrial entities.
The WateRuse Association applauded the action. Bart Weiss, President of the Association, said, “Whether it’s supporting the AI revolution or boosting American manufacturing, the Advancing Water Reuse Act will help ensure that businesses have long-term, reliable water supplies and that community water resources are protected.”
While nearly 70 percent of the planet is covered by water, only 2.5 percent is freshwater, and only 1 percent is accessible. Industrial water use in the U.S. is second only to agribusiness in terms of water usage, and current industrial water reuse offsets only a fraction of this. The Advancing Water Reuse Act will create opportunities for businesses to expand operations and grow jobs while also protecting local water resources by establishing an Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for industrial water reuse. By incentivizing investments in water reuse, the Advancing Water Reuse Act will help protect water quality by limiting discharges of industrial effluent, reducing demand on freshwater supplies, and catalyzing business development and job growth.
A growing industry means an increasing water demand. U.S. data centers, for example, are expected to consume up to 33
billion gallons of water in 2028. Hyperscale data centers alone will use as much water as 299,154 households. A single semiconductor chip manufacturing facility can use as much water as a small- to midsize city (tens of millions of gallons per day).
Meanwhile, the European Union revised its Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD) in January 2025. The revised UWWTD now includes two urban areas with populations of 1,000 inhabitants. This ensures that smaller communities also implement proper wastewater collection and treatment systems. Secondary treatment will become obligatory for these communities by 2035. It covers extra treatment, extended producer responsibility, and measures to play an important role in significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions and helping the EU achieve its climate neutrality objective.
This revised UWWTD has received much pushback and controversy, mainly in the extended producer responsibility arena. Some sectors find it unfair that the EPR scheme mandates that the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries cover
at least 80% of the costs for quaternary treatment. Also, the European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) warned against the broad definition of ‘micro-pollutants,’ which could encompass thousands of substances, potentially making the scheme unmanageable. They also made the case that the UWWTD should distribute pollution mitigation costs more fairly among all stakeholders, including producers, consumers, and recyclers, rather than placing the financial burden predominantly on producers.
While those initiatives play out on the world stage, industry is innovating.
NWPX Park delivers pre-engineered, fully integrated, and automated systems that improve efficiency, safety, and environmental compliance. The company recently announced its PumpTrooper® Lift Stations, an advanced and comprehensive solution for wastewater and stormwater conveyance across diverse industries. These fully integrated and automated stations offer dependable fluid transfer, easy installation, and versatile applications, minimizing installation time, jobsite delays, and construction costs. NWPX Park is a part of the NWPX Infrastructure, a global player in the design and construction of innovative water utilities and environmental solutions.
The PumpTrooper® Lift Station package includes a concrete wet well, internal piping and valves, and a range of pump options such as axial flow, non-clog, grinder, and vertical turbine pumps. This process eliminates the coordination of multiple suppliers and ensures system compatibility. Automation is central to the system, with a control panel that monitors liquid level, pressure, and flow with sensors. These systems operate continuously and automatically alternate pumps to balance use and extend equipment life. Visual and audible alarms, along with email alerts and a web-based and mobile application, can notify operators immediately of any high water, pump failure, or maintenance issue.
In another equipment innovation, the National Pump Company, a recognized market leader in vertical turbine pumps, announced its newest line, showcasing at the upcoming WEFTEC 2025, September 27 - October 1. The H28MC and H28LC 28inch pumps were designed, engineered, manufactured, and performance-tested at NPC’s NSF 61 and ISO 9001 certified facility in Glendale, Arizona, ensuring the highest standards of quality and reliability. They were developed to bridge the gap between NPC’s existing H24 and H30 models, addressing the need for highvolume flow in demanding applications. Utilizing advanced Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) flow simulation for efficiency and Finite Element Analy-
sis (FEA) for optimal strength-to-weight ratios, these pumps set a new benchmark for performance and are customizable for exact needs. The H28MC model has demonstrated impressive capability, recently shipping to Wyoming to provide up to 10,500 gallons per minute powered by a 500-horsepower motor. At their Best Efficiency Points, the H28MC achieves 14,750 gallons per minute at 143 feet per stage, while the H28LC delivers 13,250 gallons per minute at 131 feet per stage, both operating at 1,180 RPM with up to 87% efficiency. With a specific speed range of 3,600 to 3,800, maximum power rating of 2,000 horsepower, and maximum head of 1,500 feet, these models can be customized for up to seven stages to meet a variety of project specifications.
Active Membrane’s corporate mission is to address global freshwater scarcity by providing more fresh water at a lower cost. The company has met a significant
milestone in fulfilling this noble endeavor. Their new membrane technology could expand access to water for agricultural and industrial segments.
Active membranes are used in the reverse-osmosis desalination process and equipped with electrical conductivity, it improves their ability to separate salts and other contaminants from hard-to-treat waters. The company has received funding from the National Alliance for Water Innovation (NAWI), a public-private partnership led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). NAWI's Executive Director, Peter Fiske, validated the discovery, saying, “In a normal oil well, there is far more produced water than oil, and the disposal of this water often limits oil and gas production. Treating and desalinating produced water could allow this ‘wastewater’ to become a source of irrigation for agriculture.”
The Aquapreneur Innovation Initiative aims to discover and support the most innovative start-ups and scale-ups tackling the world’s most pressing water issues.
The build-up of salts and organic matter on the membrane is a common problem with membrane-based water purification – two phenomena that are called “scaling” and “fouling,” respectively. Active Membrane has developed a novel approach to keep membranes clean. By applying an ultra-thin, electrically conductive coating on top of the membrane and then charging the surface with low voltage, the salt ions and other charged species in the water are pushed away from the membrane surface, reducing scaling and fouling. In a recent field pilot in Ventura County, CA, which tested the electrically “active” membranes against conventional membranes, the active membranes demonstrated a 2030% improvement in water production.
This technology could improve the odds of achieving clean water from hard-to-treat waters. Approximately 40 percent of the U.S. water supply comes from underground water reserves. Still, far more brackish groundwater is available – much of it too salty from calcium and magnesium content; however, it is not suitable for practical use. By sufficiently treating brackish groundwater to separate salts and other contaminants, the U.S. could significantly expand its available water supply.
The HCL Group, a global conglomerate, and UpLink, the World Economic Forum’s early-stage innovation initiative, set out to advance water innovation and ‘aquapreneurship’ through their joint Tackling Water Pollution Challenge. Ten Aquapreneurs were selected from over 270 applicants in 2025’s third of five challenges under the five-year CHF 15 million Aquapreneur Innovation Initiative launched by HCL Group. In addition to the financial awards, the winners will have the
Aquagga, United States of America , focuses on innovative PFAS destruction using its Hydrothermal Alkaline Treatment (HALT) technology for environmental remediation and wastewater treatment.
Digital Paani, India , focuses on enhancing operational excellence in water treatment, addressing water scarcity and pollution through scalable solutions in under-resourced areas.
Fluidion, France , advances water intelligence with innovative sampling solutions that monitor pollution and water quality across urban, natural, and industrial environments.
FREDsense, Canada , provides in-field lab-based water quality testing solutions, empowering utilities and environmental consultants with real-time, accurate data for effective water management.
Fungi Life, Colombia , uses fungal biotechnology to create sustainable ingredients, aiming for net-zero emissions by revalorizing agro-industrial waste for environmental sustainability.
Mimbly, Sweden, optimizes water resources in the laundry industry through innovative
recycling and filtration solutions, promoting sustainability with advanced water-saving technologies.
Oxyle, Switzerland , offers an economical, sustainable solution to PFAS contamination by completely eliminating PFAS from water, empowering industrial and environmental remediation companies to tackle contamination effectively.
SENTRY, Canada, is a biological activity and water quality monitoring platform that uses unique bio-electrode sensor technology for real-time microbial performance monitoring in wastewater treatment systems.
Syrinx, Australia , offers innovative water treatment solutions with its nature-based ‘Wetland-in-a-Box’® (EnPhytoBox), addressing water pollution and boosting climate resilience, especially in agriculture.
WASE, United Kingdom , treats industrial wastewater onsite, helping customers comply with regulations, maximize bioenergy generation, and decarbonize thermal energy demands through sustainable, economically viable solutions.
opportunity to participate in events and projects led by the World Economic Forum and its partners. These opportunities will provide invaluable support to scale their ventures, ensuring sustainable and impactful solutions for water challenges.
Roshni Nadar Malhotra, Chairperson of HCL Group, said, “Water scarcity and pollution are existential threats to
humanity and biodiversity. The Aquapreneur Innovation Initiative, launched a couple of years ago, aims to discover and support the most innovative startups and scale-ups tackling the world’s most pressing water issues. The 20 pioneering start-ups who were winners of the previous two challenges have collectively gone on to achieve immense success.”
“In 2024 alone, these startups helped save over 12 billion litres of water, equivalent to Switzerland’s entire water footprint each year,” Malhotra continued. “They also treated 3 billion litres of wastewater. The Grant provided by HCL enabled them to expand to new markets, deploy pilot projects, increase customer count, and scale up production and operations. These 20 start-ups have raised US$70 million in funding since joining the Initiative.”
With wine-soaked Bordeaux, France serving as the host region with all it offers, the 14th edition of the World Filtration Congress held in July 2025 was well-attended by international filtration professionals, coming for WFC’s networking, education and expo.
WFC14 opened with remarks from Chairman Pascal Ginisty, IFTS, and Professor Pierre-Yves Pontalier, INP, Toulouse. Members of the organizing committee followed with thoughts on the Congress, which drew approximately 700 participants from 47 countries and six continents together.
Vincent Edery, Managing Director, IFTS, set the tone for attendees, “Your presence from across continents is a powerful testament to the global importance and scientific vitality of our field. Whether you come from academia, industry, public research institutions, you are part of a community united by a common goal to push the boundaries of what filtration and separation science can achieve.
“At its core,” Edery continued, “this Congress is much more than an industry event. It is a scientific forum, a platform
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By Caryn Smith, Publisher & Chief Content Officer, IFN
where fundamental research meets application and innovation, where emerging technologies are presented and challenged, and where rigorous peer-topeer exchange helps us move the entire discipline forward. Across plenary sessions, technical presentations, posters, the exhibition and panel discussions, we witness the latest breakthroughs in material science, membrane technology, particle characterization, modeling and simulation, process optimization and much more.
“We’re also witnessing a growing interdisciplinary convergence – where filtration research now contributes to fields as diverse as chemistry, physics, biology, data science and environmental engineering,” Edery said. “This scientific crossover is not only enriching, but essential, as the challenges we face today are complex and multi-faceted, such as clean water, clean air, efficient use of resources, environmental protection and public health.
They are no longer optional goals. They are global imperatives, and they cannot be achieved without robust, reliable and constantly improving filtration solutions. That’s why research presented is not just important for our field, but for society as a whole.”
WFC14 marked 50 years since the inaugural World Filtration Congress was held in Paris in 1975. Called upon to speak as an attendee of the first Congress was Roger Ben Aim, IFTS Founder and WFC14 organizing committee member, who emphasized the power of connecting face to face in this age of digital communication.
“I strongly believe that this conference is really the place for having real contact –talking and being with colleagues, which is very important, and especially in the mixing of generations. There is a growing majority of the younger generation really engaged in research activities of this field. For those researchers, they can have meaningful engagement with the eldergeneration professionals. I believe that this is the main interest of the conference.”
Plenary Lecturer Herman Nirschl, from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), spoke on “Autonomous Processing in Separation Technologies” in the first session of the event. The focus of the work was on filtration, centrifugation, as well as mixing technology and agglomeration. The lecturer presented a deep look at technologies like digital twins and digitalization, and how it would be possible to introduce autonomous processing, not just in separation technologies, but in general for processes, emphasizing the challenges in various industries like mining, beverages, and electro-mobility.
He highlighted the use of AI and machine learning to improve process efficiency and accuracy, particularly in centrifuges and decanters. Examples included scaling up simulations from small devices to large-scale machines, using gray box models to combine white and black box models, and optimizing energy consumption. He also covered the importance of online measurement devices and control
systems to achieve autonomous processes, reducing operator intervention and improving product quality.
“The goal is that we get resource and energy-efficient operations for a high product quality, and without any intervention of operators,” he said. “We have already done some parts of our processes. They are driven by computers, but it’s very hard with particle processes, because the conditions are changing all the time, and we also have distributed properties. We always have particle size distributions. We have different surfaces, different volumes and so on. We have changing properties, so how can we achieve this?” He noted, “With AI, we have a possibility to correct our computations. Now this helps us because there’s some information included which never gets into an integration.”
Plenary Lecturer Hervé Buisson spoke on “Water Filtration: Challenges and Opportunities in the Age of Sustainability.”
Buisson is a globally recognized expert in water and wastewater treatment with over three decades of industry experience. He is a Manager of Veolia’s Corporate Research Centre in France and Vice-President of Process Engineering for Veolia Water Technologies Americas.
He emphasized the importance of modularity in water treatment systems to enhance durability and adaptability, especially in the face of climate change and extreme weather events. His key points included the need for robust design to handle increased storm frequency, the development of sustainable processes to minimize energy consumption and raw material use, and the integration of advanced analytical techniques for pollutant detection and removal. The challenges like disposal
of disposable filters and the dewatering of waste-activated sludge were also highlighted, with a call for collaborative efforts and innovative solutions to address these and other issues.
“In sustainability, the first consideration was energy consumption, and today we are still really chasing energy,” he notes. “Energy is key for the economy of many countries, so we are still trying to minimize the energy consumption of our processes. One part of it is ‘fit for purpose.’ Do not over design the water plant that you want to do, because it will be a cost on energy. But we have to go beyond energy.”
He suggested the development of durability indexes, KPIs, and best practices to address climate change impacts on water treatment systems; the need for better integration of features to meet customer demands and to develop more sustainable solutions; the development of more sustainable filters, as well as new filtration equipment, advanced sensors, and diagnostic tools to improve plant operations and provide preventive maintenance. He also suggests the need to design filters
with fewer components to facilitate recycling and addressing systems as a whole to improve water treatment efficiency and sustainability. Finally, Buisson advocated for stronger measures, especially in choice of raw material usage to pre-qualify material availability. This will help to determine future access and cost considerations. He further stressed the need for detection of pollutants at very low concentrations, the removal of microplastics and other micro pollutants from water, deeper consideration of the positives and negatives of process choices, as well as the critical importance of collaboration between different utilities to determine the impacts of upstream processes on downstream operations.
Plenary Lecturer Kenneth Winston is a recognized expert in the sectors of Energy, Fuels, and Chemical Projects, with business development and process engineering degrees and experience. He works as a Senior Application Engineer for Calgon Carbon, part of Kuraray, a global manufacturer of chemicals, fibers, and specialty materials.
He walked attendees through the technology-drivers and current global industrial projects and investments, that include technologies for reducing and reusing carbon dioxide to green and renewable fuels and chemicals. He looked at modern gas processing innovations and technologies for carbon capture and reuse, renewable energies, green fuels and chemicals in fast-moving projects, and focused on ecological footprint investments.
He discussed the complex energy industry with the fluctuations caused by the regulatory and market impacts. The conversation also touched on the challenges of scaling up renewable fuels, such as ethanol and bio gas, and the need for research on super critical CO2 contaminants. He concluded with a focus on the potential of hydrogen, particularly for maritime and industrial applications, and the importance of continued research and policy support.
“The new commodities to watch, the new research that we need to be doing, is hydrogen, ammonia, methanol and ethanol. So let’s take a quick look at the chemical processing. In the green and blue hydrogen projects around the world –once the field levels – it will leave 355 high probability projects for green and blue hydrogen. The chemical processes industry
continues on. As I mentioned, there’s ammonia and methanol. Once the project probability is calculated, we still have 89 high ammonia and methanol projects.
“The engineers working on these projects need research, data, and support,” he continued. “They can ask for equipment from the equipment vendors, but a lot of times there’s no data. All of us who design equipment regularly, we read paper after paper to try and keep up and find the data that we can to design these systems. And more than likely, we’re going to recommend a pilot unit because we don’t have good data. That raises the cost of the facility and slows implementation. Technology and data deficits are reasons that we have the low probability projects. Sometimes it’s not that we run out of money, we just don’t know how to build it yet.”
Plenary Lecturer Dr. Christine Sun, President, with Dr. Iyad Al-Attar, Strategic Director, of World Filtration Institute highlighted how filtration is fundamental
to providing clean air and ensuring water quality suitable for a myriad of applications. The duo underscored the innovative solutions their organization is pioneering to tackle some of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges.
“Filtration is more than just a process; it is a cornerstone of a sustainable and healthy future,” said Dr. Sun. “From the air we breathe to the water we drink, filtration is essential to protect public health and preserve our planet’s delicate ecosystems.”
Custom plastic filtration netting, mesh screens, and cores with various configurations and pore sizes.
• Rigid plastic cores
• Flexible tubular sleeves
• Flow channel spacers
• Media, pleat support
• Welded tube overwraps
• You design it, we create it!
Dr. Al-Attar, also a writer for the IFN, elaborated on the strategic importance of investing in filtration research and development.
“Our work redefines the capabilities of filtration technologies while highlighting the collective responsibility we all must embrace for more sustainable, energy-efficient, and environmentally friendly living,” he stated. “By advancing the limits of what is achievable, our children and grandchildren can enjoy a planet much cleaner than the one they could inherit and dream of a sustainable future worth fighting for.”
Throughout WFC14, attendees enjoyed sessions from seven educational tracks, complete with cutting-edge research presentations, as well as networking with vendors at the WFC Exposition and special social opportunities. Look for articles from presenters of agenda sessions to be featured in future editions of the IFN.
Atlas-SSI, Inc., North America’s premier provider of water management solutions, announced the strategic acquisition of WTR® Engineering, a trusted leader with over 100 years of expertise in mechanical water filtration. This acquisition enhances Atlas-SSI’s ability to provide comprehensive and robust water management solutions across diverse industries, including municipal, industrial, utility, and commercial sectors.
WTR Engineering is widely recognized for its expertise in identifying and solving complex water filtration issues, such as raw water intakes for industrial plants, condenser protection for power plants, and headworks challenges in sewage treatment facilities.
Atlas-SSI will leverage WTR’s deep technical knowledge and proven track record to enhance its product offerings, including the Talon Rake®, traveling water screens, fish-friendly screens, debris handling equipment, wastewater headworks, and stormwater management systems. Additionally, this acquisition provides Atlas-SSI with enhanced capabilities, further solidifying its role as an industry leader in sustainable water management. www.atlas-ssi.com
PowerChina has won a contract worth around $4 billion to build Iraq’s first large-scale seawater desalination plant in the southern city of Basra, in partnership with an Iraqi company, officials said.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani inaugurated the project, which will have a daily capacity of 1 million cubic meters and is expected to begin commercial operations in June 2028. The plant is part of government efforts to address severe water shortages in the southern region.
The project also includes the construction of a 300-megawatt power plant to supply electricity to the desalination facility, according to two Iraqi officials.
CRI-MAN S.p.A., an Italian pump manufacturer, will become part of Atlas Copco Group.
CRI-MAN was founded in 2000 and is located in Correggio, Italy. As part of the acquisition, 85 employees will join the Atlas Copco Group.
The company manufactures and sells chopper pumps, separators, and mixers for anaerobic flow, processing slurry in biogas, and domestic and industrial wastewater treatment plants. Main customers can be found within the biogas and wastewater industries.
The purchase price was not disclosed and in 2024 the company had revenues of approximately 30M Euro.
The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2025. The company will become part of the Industrial Flow division within the Power Technique Business Area. www.atlascopcogroup.com
Doug Kirby, Production Manager at Tri-Mer Corp., has become the company’s newest sales engineer. Kirby spent 12 years at Tri-Mer mastering every facet of manufacturing air pollution control equipment before being tapped for the production management position in 2017. In his new post, Kirby will manage projects for several of the company’s largest customers in the semiconductor and alloy manufacturing sectors.
Tri-Mer is a manufacturer of equipment for control of air emissions from industrial and municipal sources, such as particulates, process gases, heavy metals, toxic fumes, odors and oil mists. www.tri-mer.com
Centrisys/CNP, a leading North American manufacturer of decanter centrifuges and advanced biosolids treatment technologies, recently celebrated the ribbon-cutting of a new 70,000-square-foot facility on its Kenosha campus. Known as “Building 4,” the addition increases Centrisys/CNP’s total footprint to approximately 300,000 square feet and represents a significant investment in U.S.-based manufacturing, advanced service capabilities, and the company’s long-term growth strategy.
From the ribbon cutting of the Centrisys/CNP expansion in Wisconsin.
The expanded space supports Centrisys/CNP’s production and repair of its largest centrifuges to date, while also providing dedicated space for aftermarket services and its growing rental fleet support. As utilities and industrial clients shift toward largerscale systems, the facility is designed to help meet increasing demand with improved turnaround times, greater in-house capacity, and enhanced customer support.
“This expansion reflects both the momentum of our business and our commitment to building solutions here in the U.S.,” said Michael Kopper, CEO and Founder of Centrisys/ CNP. “With new technologies, additional manufacturing space, and increased service capabilities, we’re in a strong position to support larger projects and continue providing the high level of responsiveness our partners expect.” www.centrisys-cnp.com
Japanese technology company Asahi Kasei announced that its Microza & Water Processing Division, which provides Microza® hollow-fiber membranes for filtration and separation, received a Gold rating in the EcoVadis sustainability assessment conducted in June 2025. EcoVadis is a sustainability assessment company based in France that performs the review annually. This rating places the Asahi Kasei division among the top 5% of all entities assessed.
Microza® is used broadly in two areas: water treatment processes, such as water purification and wastewater/industrial water reuse; and industrial processes, including filtration and separation in biopharmaceuticals, pharmaceutical water, food, and industrial chemicals. By providing membrane technology for these applications, Asahi Kasei contributes to improved productivity, reduced environmental impact, and effective utilization of limited water resources.
The EcoVadis assessment evaluates corporate sustainability initiatives across four categories: Environment, Labor & Human Rights, Ethics, and Sustainable Procurement. This assessment targeted manufacturing at the Microza® Fuji Plant and related supply and value chain activities. The Microza & Water Processing Division received particularly high marks in the Environment category.
EcoVadis ratings are based on international sustainability standards and have been awarded to over 150,000 companies across 185 countries and 250 industries. The EcoVadis evaluation has become a globally recognized benchmark for objectively assessing corporate sustainability efforts. www.asahi-kasei.com
Filter King LLC, a leading manufacturer of UL-certified custom HVAC filters, announced the grand opening of a state-of-the-art manufacturing and distribution center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The announcement comes hot off the heels of the February launch of its Las Vegas, Nevada plant, and last year’s opening of its Miami, Florida headquarters and production facility. The 61,600 square-foot Bethlehem facility, equipped for production, warehousing, and distribution, significantly enhances Filter King’s ability to serve the Northeast’s growing demand for premium air filtration solutions.
“Our goal is to reach the entire continental U.S. with next-day delivery. With the addition of the Pennsylvania facility,
Germany-based company Hengst Filtration has taken a further step in its transformation from automotive supplier to filtration specialist in new areas. The company has signed an agreement to acquire the Chinese air filtration specialist CSC Tech, making it a full-service provider for the semiconductor industry.
CSC Tech manufactures fan filter units (filter-fan units) as well as HEPA and ULPA filters for the clean room production of Chinese and Taiwanese microchip manufacturers and electronics production. This ideally complements Hengst’s expertise in the field of particle and harmful gas filtration, as well as trace gas filtration at Artemis Control AG. In the future, the Hengst Group will therefore offer a full range of products for cleanroom and semiconductor production.
Like Hengst China, CSC Tech is based in the Yangtze River Delta (Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui): Administration and sales are in Suzhou, a city with a population of 13 million, while production is located in Kunshan, which is part of Suzhou. Hengst also has its two Chinese locations in Kunshan and further north in Jinan (Shandong province). www.hengst.com
which means we now have a total of 200,000 square feet of operational space across three states and a workforce of more than 125 employees, we are well on our way to achieving this goal,” said Rick Hoskins, Founder and CEO of Filter King.
Strategically located in the Lehigh Valley, the Bethlehem site was chosen for its proximity to major metropolitan areas, including Philadelphia and New York City, placing it within a sevenhour drive of 40% of the U.S. population. The facility’s access to robust transportation networks and a skilled local workforce supports Filter King’s rapid expansion and commitment to operational excellence, and commitment to American manufacturing. www.filterking.com
FEB 2 -4 2026
HVACR’s main event for more than 90 years
V
eolia has appointed Nicole Springer as CEO of Mobile Water and Integrated Services for its water technologies activities.
In this role, Springer will lead the global business line dedicated to services and mobile units, accelerating the deployment of Veolia’s large mobile fleet and expanding its emergency response capabilities, helping clients ensure business continuity while meeting increasingly stringent environmental requirements.
Springer comes to Veolia from Xylem, where she most recently led the utility services division in North America. During her six-year tenure, she also served as general counsel in Singapore before successfully transitioning to general management in Budapest, Hungary. www.veolia.com
Several dozen water-harvesting pods are set to be deployed along the sea floor off the coast of California as the United States ramps up its first subsea desalination project. The effort is expected to produce 60 million gallons of fresh water per day.
Water technology company OceanWell has just announced the launch of Water Farm 1 project in cooperation with Las Virgenes Municipal Water District, which manages fresh water for around 70,000 residents located in western Los Angeles County.
The project will see roughly 60 of the company’s modular subsea pods submerged to a depth of about 1,300 ft and mounted to the ocean floor in Santa Monica Bay. The tremendous pressure at this depth forces water through the filters in each pod through reverse osmosis. A pilot project has demonstrated the efficacy of the underwater system. www.oceanwellwater.com
October 27-29, 2026
Minneapolis Convention Center Minneapolis, Minnesota
FiltXPO™ 2026 is where breakthrough filtration technologies, industry leaders, and new business opportunities converge.
Whether you’re looking to showcase your innovations or discover the next big thing, FiltXPO is where filtration moves forward.
Grow your business by connecting with decision-makers across diverse industries who are actively sourcing advanced filtration and separation solutions.
• Engage with 1,200+ filtration professionals from around the world
• Expand your North American market reach
• Generate leads across high-impact sectors, including:
• Automotive & Aerospace
• Biotech & Pharmaceuticals
• Food & Beverage Production
• HVAC & Indoor Air Quality
• Water & Wastewater Treatment
• Power Generation, Oil & Gas, and more
Minneapolis offers direct flights from major international and domestic cities, making it the ideal location to meet top-tier prospects.
Reserve your space on the show floor today and make your mark at FiltXPO 2026.
