The 4th edition of FILTREX India closed recently and was hailed as a “qualitative and quantitative success” by the 150 participants from across the filtration supply chain. There was keen awareness from players at both a local and global level of their role in addressing the societal challenges of air pollution and indoor air quality.

Organised by EDANA and BCH, FILTREX INDIA has strengthened its position as a leading and unique platform for the filtration industry on the Indian sub-continent.

“After the outstanding experience of FLTREX Asia last December in Shanghai, focussing on the world’s largest potential filtration market, this conference has emphasised similar issues and the same urgent needs to be met in terms of air pollution and indoor air quality. Two Indian cities for example, feature among the 10 most polluted mega-cities in the world according to WHO,” says says Pierre Wiertz, general manager of EDANA. The first keynote speaker, Christine Sun (President, Filtration Technologies International), reminded the audience that approximately 80% of filter media globally are made of nonwovens and highlighted industrial megatrends, observing that the filtration industry is growing at a rate of approximately twice that of global GDP. She also provided insights into the ‘next big things’; opportunities in hybrid nonwoven media, nano-and fine fibre composites, and in general terms, the optimisation of media in terms of higher efficiency, size, and lower resistance, or in other words, energy efficiency. The latter theme was developed by the second keynote speaker, André Boni (Global Marketing Director, Hollingsworth & Vose), who elaborated on air filters for general ventilation, evolution in media design and energy efficiency. Throughout the conference, a number of recurrent and convergent topics such as composite pleatable filters and enhanced meltblown media – including the challenges of sub-micron versions- illustrated the latest technology trends, whilst the extremely important new standard ISO16890 and its potential benefits in improved air filter media selection was explained by several speakers. Engine and transportation filtration, as well as respirator masks for personal protection, complemented the broad range of topics presented.

“Like its previous editions, FILTREX INDIA 2019 has attracted expert attendees from producers of all types of filter media, filter makers, raw material suppliers, test and research institutes, making this conference the only filtration event of its kind in India,” says Samir Gupta, managing director, BCH.

“It’s a great place to meet fellow industry people and you don’t often meet so many people together, especially the right ones. I thank the BCH and EDANA team for organising such an event,” says Ankit Desai of Autotech Nonwovens. “I think we at Kimberly-Clark follow up on in terms of making impact in filtration and specifically around new media involving the meltblown technology, but I must say as far as FILTREX goes,  to me, it is about making connections, so the talks today really opened up lots of possibilities,” adds Bryan Haynes, Sr Technical Director for Global Nonwovens Research and Engineering , Kimberly-Clark(USA)

“I have attended this BCH/EDANA conference series since it started in India and I have seen technologies evolving around media manufacturers and suppliers and it is helping me a lot in my business activities. I think attending such events in India is a great opportunity for small manufacturers like me. And I wish all attending this event, good luck for their future, thank you,” concluded Rajeev Kumar Mangla, Director, SVS Filtration Engineering & Consultants.

FILTREX™ also included a successful table-top display providing producers, converters of filter media and equipment suppliers with the opportunity to showcase their offer and network with other participants, and this area was kept extremely busy throughout the long breaks designed for such interactions

 In his closing remarks, Christian Hassmann (Global Business Director, F&S, Johns Manville)  reminded the audience that this is an initiative of EDANA’s Filtration Working Group & BCH, and that these two days have proven the dynamism of the industry, which requires such a forum to continue to build-up business connections between filter media suppliers and filter makers across all markets.