This week at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, PA, INDA is sponsoring Filtration 2008 International Conference and Exhibition. The exhibition took place yesterday, Wednesday, December 10, and will continue today, Thursday, December 11. In addition to the conference, which is being held Tuesday, December 9 through Thursday, December 11, a networking reception took place Wednesday evening from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. on the exhibit floor.

Despite dreary weather conditions, exhibitors are pleased with the traffic and quality of visitors at the show. According to INDA president Rory Holmes, the number of exhibitors grew from 112 at last year’s Chicago venue to 120 this year. “What’s really exciting about this year’s show is the level of international exhibitors here—25% of all exhibitors are off-shore companies. Filtration 2008 includes European equipment manufacturers as well as machinery producers and other suppliers from Asia.”

Yesterday morning’s keynote address was moderated by INDA’s Filtration 2008 Committee chair Robert Burkhead of Blue Heaven Technologies. In his talk, “GE Imagination At Work,” Mark Hachenski, GE Energy’s general manager, boiler efficiency and productivity, discussed products and services that improve energy efficiency, filtration product innovations and offered several examples of how GE’s filtration products are being applied in diverse applications such as coal-fired power generation, cement production, steel production, primary aluminum, carbon black production and gas turbine inlet filtration.

Also moderated by Mr. Burkhead, today’s keynote speech will be offered by Barry Granger, vice president and general manager for DuPont Nonwovens. His presentation, “The DuPont Sustainability Commitment and Its Implications for Filtration,” will outline DuPont’s commitment to energy sustainability, the company’s success in its efforts to date, DuPont’s goals for the future and how DuPont’s goals tie specifically to filtration.

Another highlight from the show floor yesterday was INDA’s annual Best Booth Competition, which recognized the most creative and attendee-friendly booths in the large and small categories. Chosen yesterday, winners were Irema-Filter GmbH (first place, large booth); Ahlstrom (second place, large booth); Dolan GmbH (first place, small booth) and Industrial Netting (second place, small booth).