Big Topics

Among the panel presentations over the three days of engaging programming are sessions tackling:

• How do we achieve better Indoor Air Quality (Moderator: Ashish Diwanji, President, Lydall Performance Materials)

• How did COVID-19 change the perspective on filtration and how prepared is the industry for the next pandemic (Moderator: Mike Clark, Divisional President, Filtration Solutions, Hollingsworth & Vose Company)

• What is the single-use filtration industry doing to improve its environmental footprint (Moderator: Philip Whitaker, CEO, BFC Solutions)

• Are filter standards friend or foe, a help or a hindrance (Moderator: Tom Justice, President, Zene, LLC)

• How can filtration/separation help ensure adequate clean water supply in a changing climate (Moderator: Mark Siebert, General Manager, Healthcare and Specialties, US and Canada, Berry Global, Inc.)

Industry leaders moderating the sessions are looking forward to the provocative discussion and exchange of ideas by experts on these important matters facing the filtration and separation sector.

One panel focused on the pandemic will dive into the latest research on aerosol transmission and capture; future vulnerabilities; and standards and regulations for facemasks, HVAC filters, and test methods.

“COVID-19 has been a horrific pandemic, with millions of lives lost and infection rates still raging in many parts of the world,” Clark said.  “As absolutely dreadful as the crisis has been, and continues to be, I recognize that it would have been even worse without the deep commitment of the first responders and the essential workers who have saved countless lives and kept global supply chains running.  The filtration industry continues to be on the ‘front line’ providing critical personal protective equipment (PPE) and IAQ (indoor air quality) to minimize the spread of the virus, along with advanced filtration solutions for medical equipment and hospitals, and the biopharma production processes used to develop and produce the vaccines at tremendous scale.”

Terms that have become mainstream as a result of the pandemic, he said, include N95, the most common type of particulate-filtering facepiece respirators; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH); Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value (MERV) and HEPA (High-efficiency Particulate Air).  

A presentation on clean-water will explore contaminant control; advances in industrial process water treatment and reuse; and minimizing the energy required to purify water through desalination and water reclamation.

According to Mark Siebert, General Manager, Healthcare and Specialities, US and Canada, Berry Global, Inc., “Water is essential to living.  What is not as well recognized is the use of filtered and reclaimed water as being equally essential to saving this precious commodity and the environment. Our industry is critical in providing safe, cost-effective solutions to supply safe and clean water for healthy consumption while conserving and reusing water as good stewards of our planet’s valuable resource.”

For speaker announcements and program updates, please see the FiltXPO website:

https://www.filtxpo.com/

FiltXPO™ attendees will also get full access to the exhibitions at IDEA®22, the triennial global nonwovens and engineered materials exposition, March 28-31. Both events will be held at the Miami Beach Convention Center, in Florida.