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Markus Koch 0:03
We have done a rough calculation for all our customers in the EMEA region, we can save in total 105 million kilowatt hours per year. It also saves more than 25,000 tonnes of co2 that refers to 30 million euros in energy cost just by using the next generation. This is the savings that you have on EMA level.
Dusty Rhodes 0:35
Hello there and welcome to Let's Talk clean air our regular look at how clean air can affect the quality process for you and the workplace. My name is Dusty Rhodes. Today we are talking about one of the world's most popular filters the high flow filter range, which was originally launched by Camfil in 1969, and has been one of their biggest successes to date. Camfil have just launched the next generation of the high flow filter which delivers a very significant improvement in performance and sustainability. To find out how those improvements were developed, and how the improvements have been certified. I'm joined by Paula and a voice Scout who was part of the team who developed the filter and Marcus Koch, who is Camfil, Product Manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa. Both of you are welcome. I'll start with Marcus Marcus, can you just tell me in general about the hi flo bag filter?
Markus Koch 1:31
Yes. So in general, the back filter is the most simple way or one of the most simple ways how to construct an air filter. It basically consists of a filter frame, and then the filter media that is suited to a certain amount of bags. The all purpose of an air filter is of course to remove dust from an airflow to protect people to protect processes and also to protect environment. And such an air filter comes with two main characteristics. The one is the particle efficiency, and the other one is the energy efficiency. And the higher fullback filter combines the positive effect of both of those. When it comes to the particle efficiency, it is always the case that the higher power efficiency is better for the user. So the more particles you remove from there, the better it is. And also combined with energy efficiency. So it's always a combination of the both, you do not want to compromise on the path of efficiency in order to save energy. So the Hi-Flo combines a high power efficiency with the high energy efficiency. So that means that you do not need a lot of electricity to push the air through the hi-Flo bag filter. And this is achieved with a combination of factors. First of all, we use the most energy efficient filter metres in the market. And on the other hand side, we have the most modern production equipment, so that in the production process, the filter medias a suit together in an optimal kind of way.
Dusty Rhodes 3:11
The Hi flo bag filter has been one of the most successful filters over the last nearly 50 years maybe how exactly how successful has it been?
Markus Koch 3:25
As I said before, the Hi-Flo is the best because it's the combination of the party efficiency with the energy efficiency. So since the high flow bag filter has been launched decades ago, it was always one of the best filters to the market. I think we will never have the cheapest product on the market. But our customers can always rely on the efficiency of the product on the energy efficiency of the product and the overall performance both of the company as well as the product.
Dusty Rhodes 3:58
Okay, let me chat with Paula now because Paula, we know that the Hi-FLo bag filter is extremely good. And then they came to you and they said, Paula, we want you to make this better. Where do you start?
Paula Nowojska 4:14
Yeah, I must say that it wasn't the an easy process, because how to make the best even better. But we have actually achieved that. And we did it through several ways. First of all, starting from the most important component of the filter, which is the medium. We reached out to our suppliers and in collaboration with them, we have developed even better media. This media, as Mark has said combines best energy performance with keeping always same and consistent efficiency, filtration efficiency. And we know that and this is where r&d comes in play because we have tested the performance Have the filter during the life conditions. Now, why is it important because usually air filters are being tested in the laboratory. But laboratory conditions, they differ quite significantly from what we can experience in real life. And this is why Ken Phil has the resources to prove that even in life conditions, we are excelling, we are really the best. The efficiency is stable, we are not losing on the efficiency during its life. We know that we can protect the people, we can protect the processes, and we have a pro for that.
Dusty Rhodes 5:39
You said that Camfil have the resources to be able to do this research. How big is the r&d department in Camfil?
Paula Nowojska 5:49
So r&d is located in on three continents. We have r&d resources in Sweden we have in Malaysia, and we have in US. So we are pretty much good, very good equipped to provide our customers with enough expertise from three different continents.
Dusty Rhodes 6:10
Marcus, Paula said that there are three r&d centres around the world, why not just have one big one? Why are there three on three different continents?
Markus Koch 6:20
Well, I think there are two main reasons for that. One of the main reasons is that local presence is one of our capital core values. So we want to be in the country where we do the business. And the other reason is that sometimes we have for the project's regional demands. So what is considered a good air filter in Europe is slightly different than, for example, in Malaysia or China, and also in the United States, we have different set of standards that need to be followed. So in order to achieve those local requirements, it is always positive to have local experts that are familiar with the market, and as well as the legislation side.
Dusty Rhodes 7:01
So Paula, when you came to do the research and development for the new next generation hi flo filter, what were the problems in your mind that needed to be fixed to improve it,
Paula Nowojska 7:13
where the challenge was, I think was to come up with a good filter, or even the best filter without compromising on the attributes that we have already accomplished. What I mean is, we have always been consistent on the filtration efficiency, but we felt that we could be better on the energy performance. So it was very fine line, find balance to find between these two attributes. And I think we managed it quite well.
Dusty Rhodes 7:46
Excellent. And how long was this research and development phase do was it a number of years.
Paula Nowojska 7:53
So I have been a part of that team for the last three years. But the project has been going on for over four years. At the beginning, we didn't know really how to tackle the problem, because as I said at the beginning, how to make something almost perfect, even better. This is why the development took so many years. But this is also the argument why we are so sure, because we took our time, we spent the resources wisely. And we are now sure that what we provide on the market is really the best in class.
Dusty Rhodes 8:27
Marcus, because you're a product manager, I'm sure you are dealing with numbers and facts and figures every day. So I will ask you about the results of these filters that Paula was talking about. Let me ask you about the energy because the filter is better designed, it uses less energy, how much energy is saved.
Markus Koch 8:49
Exactly. So one of the main aspects of this whole project was to decrease the energy consumption of our air filters. And the main reason for that is, is that Camfil is in the most of the cases the innovation leader. So whenever there is an innovation in the market, there is a good chance that it comes from outside. But after a couple of years, the gap of the performance between our air filters and other air filters in the market becomes a little bit smaller, because also the other manufacturers are able to catch up. So that's why this project this project for the improvement of the Hi Flo bag filter as was launched. And I'm very happy to say that one of our main products one of our already most energy efficient products could be improved by over 100 kilowatt hours per year. So when the customers now use our new pack filter, it saves them 100 kilowatt hours per year per filter.
Dusty Rhodes 9:51
Marcus, do we know how much savings this upgrade is going to bring collectively to all Camfil customers? How much will they save?
Markus Koch 10:00
Yes, absolutely. So we have done a rough calculation for all our customers in the EMEA region. So with this upgrade, we can save in total 105 million kilowatt hours per year, just with this upgrade with using the new generation of high flow, it also saves more than 25,000 tonnes of co2, that refers to 30 million euro in energy cost just by this upgrade. And we are not talking about also customers switching from less energy efficient products to more energy efficient products, which is certainly a target. But just by using the next generation, this is the savings that we have on EMA level.
Dusty Rhodes 10:47
Wow, that's a big saving financially and also with the carbon footprint or handprint. That is very, very impressive. What about sustainability? Because you have the box that it comes in? And then what happens to the filter after you're finished with it? Is it a lot more sustainable polar?
Paula Nowojska 11:06
And yes, of course it is more sustainable. But I will bounce back this question with another question. Because what actually is a sustainable filter? Is it a filter that is with made from biobased raw materials, or maybe the one that sits really long in the installation? Or maybe that's the one that you can throw away and it will biodegrade in the soil? Or maybe all of them. Okay. What do you think?
Dusty Rhodes 11:37
Oh, you ask hard questions. I'm glad you're not presenting this podcast. I think I think biodegradable so that when you are finished with it, you can put it in the soil and it will not harm the Earth.
Paula Nowojska 11:50
Almost good. I think and we have proof that that the most sustainable air filter is the one that consumes the least amount of energy. And how do we know that it's because we have calculated lifecycle assessment of our filters. And what we have discovered is that if you look at the entire lifecycle of the filter, almost 80% is related to the use phase. So it's related to the energy consumption. This is why at Camfil, we believe that this is where the focus of every filter development should be oriented, because this is where we can save the most. And then of course, we can also look at the other aspects, we can make the filters made from bio based materials, or we can look at the sources of the raw materials. And this is also something that we looked at. And again, this is another area where research and development came into play. Because we looked into the packaging, and perhaps many, many of many of us put think, well, how important is the packaging. And when I think about it, when I think about all the products I am buying for myself, clothes, cosmetics, or I don't know electronics, this will all come with packages, and very often not even one, it may come in a plastic foil or bubble wrapping or box or two. And it's up to me to the consumer to get rid of the box and the packaging. So this is why we looked into the packaging of our filters. Are the raw materials sustainably sourced, can we do something to reduce the carbon footprint of the packaging itself? Because to me, something that we anyway throw away should be sustainably sourced. And if we can make some savings and contribute to the positive climate change. This is where we should focus our resources.
Dusty Rhodes 14:00
A lot of products as you say now come with an environmental product declaration and EPD I believe it's called do the Hi-FLo new next generation hydro filters come with an EPD?
Paula Nowojska 14:13
Yes, it does. And we have put a lot of focus on the EPDs because we know that this product is the sustainable solution. But of course, we need to have a proof for that. And for that reason we invested a lot. And now we have our main Hi-Flo products sold with the environmental product declarations. In these we focus not only on the use phase, which in my opinion is the most important but we also look at the raw materials. We look at the transport and then we look at the disposal and even beyond that we look at how much energy could be recovered or how much raw materials could be recycled from our products.
Dusty Rhodes 14:59
I think Everything you have said there are things that they did not consider in 1969, when they were making the first Hi-Flo bag filter. So the improvement today is just enormous. You mentioned that there were savings Marcus of per kilowatts per hour and a certain Euro amount that is going to be different for everybody. Is there a way or some kind of a calculator that I can use to calculate what the savings would be for me?
Markus Koch 15:34
Absolutely. So there are many ways or different ways how to calculate the energy saving for each and every individual. One of the most easiest ways is, if we go to our county website, it's on camfil.com. They will have little calculator where you can type in the characteristics of your system, meaning how many filters do you have, what your airflow is, and if you also, if you know how much what's your energy price per kilowatt hour. And then this little calculator will give you a very first overview about the saving potential. Because one thing that Paul has briefly mentioned, but that I want to that I want to point out here, once more, the most cost is DeVos. Patrol after cost 70% 75% of the cost of an air filter is the energy that is needed to operate air filter, the purchasing costs. So the one time cost that you pay to buy the air filter is not significant. But unfortunately, many of our of our customers, but many of the companies that deal with air filters, they only look at this one line and say, Okay, this is a very expensive air filter. But the expensive air filter for an operator is not what he pays one time to get the filter, but the energy cost that they need to put in to operate the filter. And that's where we are our filters are the best.
Dusty Rhodes 17:09
So that is good advice for anything you are buying. And immediately I think of buying a car, because you think of the price of the car and what it has the features. But you also have to think well, how much fuel does that car use? And how many kilometres Am I getting per litre of petrol? And it's the same with bag filters in that you have to think okay, well, that's the filter near the price. But how much is it going to cost me to run this? Okay, so that's a huge thing to take into consideration. Let me just wrap up Paul, with you because you spoke very well about the EPD packaging and Marcus was talking about, you know, kind of all the people in the market how many other manufacturers will have the EPD mark?
Paula Nowojska 17:53
Well, to my knowledge, today, it's only camfil can provide environmental product declarations for the back filters. So we are really the market leader not only by providing the best in class filters, but also the market leader who is able to provide additional certification.
Dusty Rhodes 18:13
Well, Paula, Marcus, can I thank you both for an excellent introduction into the next generation hi flo filter. If you'd like to find out more about it for yourself. The good place to start is the Camfil website camfil.com/hi-flo. And we can learn more through videos, there's calculators and some great statistics in there as well. That link is in the show notes along with the contact details for Paula and Marcus, which are in the description area of this podcast on your podcast player. That's it for now. Do join us next time as we keep you up to date with the latest issues on our let's talk at Clean Air podcast. To get it automatically just click the Follow button on your player right now. Until next time for myself to search. Thank you very much for listening. Take care
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