As the world emerges from the Coronavirus pandemic and schools, offices and other public spaces become more crowded, demand for indoor air quality filtration systems has grown. Recognizing that indoor air quality plays a critical role in healing and wellness, consumers are not only using more filtration media but have also become more willing to spend more money on better performing systems.

According to NPD, which tracks the sale of small appliances, the U.S. market for air purifiers and filters in 2021 was approximately $1.1 billion. The category more than doubled in size in 2020 compared to 2019 during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. Consumer needs for improving indoor air quality, driven by stronger and longer allergy seasons, the impact of weather events including wildfires, and heightened interest in overall health and wellness are expected to drive the continued growth of air purifiers.

Hamilton Beach Brands, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hamilton Beach Brands Holding Company, has been in the home environment market in 2000 when it introduced its TrueAir line of air purifiers and odor eliminators. Earlier ths year, it partnered with Clorox to create air purifiers for the home health and wellness market.

“Hamilton Beach Brands is excited to launch our new line of premium air purifiers under the Clorox brand name, and we look forward to introducing additional models in the coming months,” says Scott Tidey, senior vice president, consumer sales and marketing. “We are confident that our experience as a leader in the air purifier market, combined with the trusted and well-known Clorox brand name, will be a winning combination for providing consumers with premium product offerings.”
The addition of the Clorox brand line of premium air purifiers to Hamilton’s product lineup supports two of the company’s strategic initiatives to deliver profitable growth from innovative solutions that improve everyday living. These include expanding its presence in the home health and wellness market and leveraging alliances with other companies that build on the complementary strengths of both enterprises.

The new air purifier models that are available now include a Clorox Large Room True HEPA Air Purifier, a Clorox Tabletop True HEPA Air Purifier, and replacement filters. These new products are available at top retailers, including Amazon, Walmart.com and Target.com. Hamilton Beach Brands continues to build the portfolio and plans additional launches in the coming months, including a Clorox Medium Room True HEPA Air Purifier, and three new connected technology models under the Clorox brand that use the Alexa App and Voice Integration services: Alexa Large Room True HEPA Air Purifier, Alexa Medium Room True HEPA Air Purifier, and Alexa Tabletop True HEPA Air Purifier.

The new premium Clorox Air Purifiers with True HEPA filters help improve overall indoor air quality, assist those with allergies and asthma with easier breathing, aid in sleep quality, and create a fresher smelling home. All of the new models provide 360-degree filtration as air is pulled in from all directions through a robust cylindrical filter. The True HEPA filter captures allergens such as pollen, dust, dust mites, mold spores, smoke, pet hair, pet dander, and more, and is 99.97% effective in capturing particles as small as 0.1 microns. It also captures up to 99.9% of airborne viruses and bacteria, reducing the overall concentration.


H&V Enters Distribution Agreements for Trupo
In 2021, Hollingsworth & Vose formed two distribution agreements for the use of H&V Trupor, a novel microporous filter media solution available in several industry standard polymer families. One agreement, with I.W. Tremont for the use of H&V Trupor in I.W. Tremont’s LabExact products, and other analytical products, including High Performance Liquid Chromatography (“HPLC”) applications, covers PES-PBT composites. H&V Trupor enables best-in-class flow rates with the reliability of conventional microfiltration membranes.

“Microfiltration is critical across industries, making water cleaner, bioprocess products safer, semiconductor products cheaper and industrial processes run longer,” says Fred Lybrand, H&V’s global marketing director for Process Liquids. “We are pleased to partner with I.W. Tremont to bring H&V Trupor to a broader audience.”

H&V Trupor enables enhanced flow compared to traditional membranes, improving the ability to filter novel fluid streams. Its composite structure and superior pore size uniformity deliver consistent and reliable results in the key performance characteristics required by the analytical and diagnostic markets. In most cases, the thin formation of this media offers interchangeable equivalency to its cast film counterparts while delivering performance enhancement both to existing and new process streams.

Additionally, H&V has partnered with Superior Felt & Filtration to bring Trupor membrane media to global markets. Superior Felt & Filtration is a preferred global distributor and converter of Trupor’s Nylon grades. Based in McHenry, IL, Superior offers ample inventory of Trupor as well as value added converting including, collating, slitting, pleating and die cutting. “Superior Felt & Filtration has partnered with H&V for over a decade distributing and fabricating Technostat, an electrostatic submicron filter media for high efficiency air applications. Trupor is a submicron liquid filtration membrane and will complement the submicron filtration world. Coupled with H&V’s unrivaled quality and benchmark testing, Superior will be able to offer valuable research and development support in conjunction with distribution and fabrication,” says Ping Hao, PhD scientist and technical nonwoven product manager.


Hamilton Beach Brands established a new strategic initiative in 2021 to expand its participation in the home health and wellness market. The company has taken many steps to introduce new products in the air purification, water filtration and home medical categories. These include the exclusive multiyear trademark licensing agreement with The Clorox Company, signed in 2021, to develop, source, market and distribute a line of premium air purifiers under the Clorox brand in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, through online and brick and mortar channels.

School Ties

Last month, Connecticut governor Ned Lamont announced that his administration is releasing $150 million toward a newly established state grant program dedicated to supporting upgrades for heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in Connecticut public schools. The grants will supplement more than $165 million that schools have already committed for air filtration improvements since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic through funding they received from the federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund. The governor said that he is creating the state grant program to ensure that schools have a dedicated source of funding to support additional infrastructure upgrades, noting that the pandemic exposed a significant need to have modernized air filtration units in schools.

“One thing the Covid-19 pandemic showed is that many school buildings in our state, particularly those that are of a certain age, are in serious need of air quality improvements,” Governor Lamont said. “Modernized ventilation systems provide an important public health function that filtrate the air and reduce airborne contaminants, including particles containing viruses. Most importantly, these air filtration systems will help ensure that our students can continue receiving their education in-person, in the classroom, where they learn best. Over the last two years, school districts in Connecticut have invested more than $165 million in Covid-relief funding to make these kinds of air quality improvements, and by creating a state program dedicated to these upgrades, we can continue providing schools with additional funding to implement these much-needed infrastructure enhancements.”

“The Covid-19 pandemic has reinforced the need to upgrade HVAC systems in schools across the state, especially in older school buildings that are long-overdue for improvements,” the members of Connecticut’s Congressional delegation said in a joint statement. “Outdated ventilation systems put students and staff at a greater risk of exposure to harmful viruses and other contaminants. We are thrilled to see this allocation of American Rescue Plan Act funding to support the health and safety of students and teachers and will continue to fight for funding to support upgrading the infrastructure of Connecticut’s schools.”

On the nonwovens level, Massachusetts-based Hollingsworth & Vose reports strong growth for its filtration media products driven by increased public awareness of the importance of sustainability and emission reduction, as well as government regulations and corporate air quality policies.

“We see a huge opportunity in indoor air quality (IAQ), particularly in schools, creating better learning environments for students, teachers and staff at a time when the need is greater than ever,” says CEO Josh Ayer.

The company’s Technostat filter media, which is used in MERV 11-13 filters, is playing a key role in how schools are making improvements to their indoor air quality. In fact, Technostat is the go-to choice of many prominent filter manufacturers who make the MERV 13 panel filters used in U.S. schools. This is not only because Technostat meets stringent industry ratings, but also because it is the leading electret media product in the market. It can capture small particles and offers high efficiency filtration with a low pressure drop, which means cleaner air with lower energy consumption in an HVAC system. 

Last year, H&V completed work on a capacity expansion for Technostat at its site in Hatzfeld, Germany. The investment is allowing the company to support growth of its key customers and its growth markets due largely to concerns over indoor air quality.

Also in investment mode is Ahlstrom. The company recently started production on additional capacity in both filtration and energy storage materials at its plant in Turin, Italy. By successfully expanding manufacturing facilities, Ahlstrom is making a strong commitment to customers in both the high performance filtration and energy storage markets.

The new machine at the Turin plant is a state-of-the-art line specifically designed to produce glass microfiber media. The line will serve applications where glass microfiber media is required, supporting growth initiatives in industrial filtration as well as in Absorbed Glass Matt (AGM), a key component in Lead Acid Batteries. In addition, the new line will also be able to deliver online saturated filter media, supporting the increasing global demand for filtration media.

“This investment supports our company’s strategic ambition to maintain a leading position in growth niches of the global filtration markets such as cleanrooms, HVAC and hydraulic applications,” says Giuseppe Costa, vice president, Filtration & Performance Solutions Asia and EMEA. “Additionally, the company is making a strong step into the energy storage market by bringing onstream a platform which will be fully qualified for the manufacture of AGM media.”

This investment follows the restart of one of the saturators in the Turin plant, enabling Ahlstrom to deliver additional capacity and effectively support customer demands for high-performance filtration media.

Other recent investments in the filtration business include a new saturator in Madisonville, KY, a machine rebuild in Binzhou, China, and capacity expansions in Fabriano, Italy, and Malmedy, Belgium.

The investment supports Ahlstrom’s strategic ambition to maintain a leading position in selected niches of the global fiber-based solutions market that offer positive growth outlook and are supported by sustainable market drivers. The company has responded to growing customer demand by successively expanding its filtration manufacturing capabilities globally through several new and expansionary investments in the past few years.

Another area of interest for Ahlstrom is the electric vehicles market. In December, the company announced it would create products solely dedicated to filtration media solutions for electric vehicles. The new solutions are for filtration solutions for cabin air, transmission and cooling systems.

“I am very pleased to introduce our new filtration solution for fuel cell air intake,” says Cedric Vallet, head of Business Development, Industrial Filtration & New Vehicles. “By protecting fuel cells from harmful gases and particulates, we ensure the effective operation of the fuel cell over the entire service lifetime of the vehicle.”

“Through increasing fuel cell lifetime and minimizing the use of catalysts, we are offering new filtration solutions which optimize cost/benefit for our customers,” he adds.

In August, Alkegen announced it would add 30 micro-fine glass fiber lines to support growing battery and filtration demand worldwide. The investments will increase its total micro-fine glass fiber (MFGF) manufacturing capacity by 30%.

“Our advanced micro-fine glass fibers are critical components in many of the world’s most innovative products, from medical devices to battery packs for electric vehicles,” says John Dandolph, president and chief executive officer, Alkegen. “These latest investments reflect Alkegen’s ongoing commitment to our partners in the fiber technology space, increasing supply in anticipation of future demand as we continue to develop compelling new specialty applications for these advanced glass fiber chemistries.”

Alkegen plans to accelerate enhanced MFGF capacity by adding a total of eight manufacturing lines in its facility in Bahrain and 22 lines to its U.S.-based facility located in Summerville, SC. The company also plans to expand and improve MFGF capacity and operations in China, including doubling its current rotary capacity in the region.

Formerly known as Unifrax, Alkegen assumed a new name in January 2022, after purchasing Lydall, a maker of high performance materials for filtration and other applications. Prior to being purchased by Unifrax, Lydall ambitiously invested in new meltblown nonwoven assets in response to increased demand for face mask material as well as long-term demand for filtration applications. The company added two meltblown lines in Rochester, NH, and one in Saint-Rivalain, France.

The installation of these two new production lines made Alkegen’s New Hampshire facility the largest site for meltblown filtration media production in the U.S. and a center of excellence for advanced filtration media innovation. To support the wider need for improved air quality beyond Covid-19, the company’s innovation team is focused on developing new carbon-based, high-efficiency media for MERV-, HEPA- and ULPA-grade filters for hospitals, airplanes, restaurants, office buildings and other public spaces.


NIRI Technology Used in Covid Capture Project
The Nonwovens Innovation and Research Institute (NIRI) has developed a new platform technology to enhance the performance of a broad range of nonwoven products, also suitable for multiple high-performance applications. Ross Ward, chief commercial officer at NIRI, demonstrates how the technology is already being used in a Covid Capture project, for PPE that captures and immobilizes SARS-CoV-2 to prevent viral transfer between healthcare staff and patients. He explains the process and its relevance for numerous sectors, such as air filtration, wastewater filtration, automotive, pharmaceuticals and HVAC.

The impacts of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic are far-reaching. While significant progress has been made in vaccine development and clinical treatments for Covid patients, even with the roll-out of vaccines and the increase in population immunity, it remains vital to reduce virus transmission to protect the public, frontline staff and vulnerable people from the current and mutated variants of the virus.

Ross explains the rationale underpinning the Covid Capture project. “In hospitals, increased environmental contamination with SARS-CoV-2 can be found in areas where PPE is removed,” he says. “Improvements to personal protective equipment materials could reduce the risk of dissemination of the virus into the environment and the risk of transfer between staff and patients in the healthcare setting. NIRI’s technology is designed to capture and immobilize Covid-19 and to prevent the cross infection from contaminated PPE and other products such as HVAC filters, thus protecting key workers and patients.”

To develop the technology specific to the Covid Capture project, NIRI used its new filtration platform technology. For this project, NIRI first identified a range of strategies for binding different functional groups onto the surface of the fibers. This allows the optimal binding strategy to be selected for the specific adsorbent molecule. The success of the project development to date means that Covid-Capture PPE is now being prototyped for clinical trial evaluation.

As noted, NIRI’s new filtration platform technology has applications—whether in product development consultancy or through licence—across a wide range of sectors and product types. 

“The nonwoven adsorbent technology is developed for the selective filtration of molecules, compounds and particles from gaseous and liquid environments,” Ross explains. “Harnessing NIRI’s technical expertise, with over 750 projects completed for more than 350 clients across over 30 sectors, the development of this new platform technology has been possible due to the extensive facilities we have at NIRI, including complete prototyping equipment such as drylaid, wetlaid, spunmelt, electrospinning and filament spinning and bonding techniques. The evaluation and optimization of filter performance is, likewise, critically dependent upon our complete analytical services which allow us to tailor and modify the nonwoven architecture and factor in other functional performance requirements. The engineered nonwoven can be tailored, depending on the nature and volume of unwanted material to be filtered, and on the specific application, carrier fluid and separation performance requirements.”

When designing an adsorbent filter for a specific application, there are key considerations: the nature of the contaminant and level of contamination; the nature of the application itself, and fluid dynamics such as dwell time, adsorption kinetics and required performance.  Thus, NIRI carefully considers the material, nonwoven architecture and binding strategies in the first stage of the process – the development of the base filter substrate. It is then possible, by considering the nature of the application and carrier fluid, to select and apply surface activation technology which serves as an anchor and binding site for linker chemistries. This surface activation technology can be an array of treatments, such as chemical and plasma techniques. 

Ross notes, “It’s important at this stage to consider the spacial arrangement and number of binder sites required, and to tailor the surface activation process accordingly. Too many binding sites or multiple sites too closely spaced and the adsorbent components may inhibit one another. Insufficient binding sites and there is a risk that the filter will not remove all the contaminants.” 

The next stage of the process is to bind the adsorbent molecule, which is specifically designed for interacting with an adsorbate or contaminant. When the contaminated fluid passes through the filter substrate the contaminant or adsorbate is captured. 

In addition to the Covid Capture project, NIRI has utilized the new platform technology to enhance its Sanguis universal plasma filter, and is already exploring applications in wound-care, air filtration and wastewater filtration. The company has seen significant investment and expansion, with more than 20 additional staff joining in the last year, including principal scientists, senior innovation engineers and technicians. Consistent investment in new technology underpins the development of the new filtration platform technology and the company growth and expansion are enabling NIRI to help more clients grow their businesses, accelerate innovation and develop their next generation of nonwoven products.