Real cost of clean air solutions

Created Monday, June 2, 2025

The challenge for everyone who is in charge of air quality in their company: purchasing reliable, long-lasting clean air solutions at the lowest possible cost. In most cases, companies make decisions based on the “low cost” price of replacement filters or complete extraction systems.

This short-term thinking results in ongoing increased energy and operational costs. A detailed calculation considering all the factors will help to reduce your overall expenditure.

Ulf Persson
Product Manager APC

Unbeknownst to some, air quality plays a pivotal role in companies, and that’s why there is a need to invest in clean air solutions. The main purpose of such installations is to protect people, products and the environment from airborne contaminants. But with increasing energy costs and strong global competition, companies have to make the right decisions not only to be profitable but also to reach their sustainability goals, which are of interest to their stakeholders. So the challenge is to determine a reliable and energy-efficient solution that reduces cost over the full product lifetime and lowers the environmental footprint.

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Cost drivers

Of course, there are many products from different manufacturers available on the market, but if you are professionally dealing with clean air solutions, you will know that the initial purchase price for air filters or dust collectors is just the tip of the iceberg. The true costs for energy, maintenance and disposal are lurking below the surface. To make the most economic decision in the long run, a proper cost analysis is recommended.

Especially when you think of the average lifetime of dust collection systems, which is up to 20 years. Looking at this time span, focus is shifting from the initial purchase price of the capital equipment to costs for energy, consumables, maintenance and filter disposal, particularly when you know that these are around 90% of the overall cost during the lifecycle of dust collection systems.

Purchase price & operational cost of clean air solutions

You will see a similar situation looking at your installed air filters. Generally speaking, only 8% of the overall life cycle cost is the filter itself, around 80% is on energy, and the other 12% is on system downtime, maintenance and disposal of filter elements.

In both cases, a deeper analysis and calculation are recommended and will help you choose the right product for your application, providing high filtration efficiency combined with the lowest energy consumption and lowest environmental impact.

LCC analysis and TCO calculation

You may have heard about the Life Cycle Cost (LCC) analysis as well as the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) calculation commonly used by Camfil experts. Why is it important to use these methods to calculate the cost of your clean air solutions? The detail below elaborates on the similarities and differences of both scenarios and shows how Camfil looks at it.

LCC - Life Cycle Cost Analysis

At Camfil, we utilize LCC as a component-based analysis, calculating the life cycle cost of air filters that are installed in existing air handling units.

Life cycle cost, in general, determines the user´s costs for cleaning the air during the entire user phase of the filter.
At Camfil, we utilize our LCC software to help our customers predict the full life cycle cost of the air filter solution.

* Data based on an annual lifecycle of an average HVAC filter operating 8,000 hours per year.

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TCO - Total Cost of Ownership calculation

For the calculation of industrial dust extraction systems, Camfil follows the TCO approach which in turn includes the investment for the capital equipment like dust and fume collectors.

Compared to the LCC analysis, the TCO calculation additionally includes the initial purchase price for capital equipment beside the filters and operational costs.
The TCO approach is used for calculating costs for industrial dust collectors with mechanically pulse-cleaned filters and additionally includes cost for compressed air consumption and the system's annual safety inspection.

Cost split purchase price dust collector & operational cost

* Our data is based on a selection of various processes with average cartridge style dust collectors, general dust type, 8 hours operation, 5 days a week, average of 24 month filter lifetime.

Written by: Ulf Persson, Product Manager Air Pollution Control

Summary

If you are in a process of comparing clean air solutions from different suppliers, its strongly recommended to employ the right calculation and analysis method. Comparing the initial purchase prices only, does not consider the real expenditures for operational costs which are around 85-90% of the total cost of ownership during product lifetime. Literally speaking, only accurately estimating costs over the equipment's lifetime will prevent from unpleasant surprises and helps your company to save money in the long run.

Camfil´s experts are glad to provide you with an LCC analysis for your air filtration product or support you with conducting a TCO calculation for you dust collection project.