Air pollution control at IFAT ENTSORGA 2012 –  Great potential in energy-efficiency and resource recovery

The waste-recovery and disposal industry makes use of technologies to reduce air pollution in many different ways. For example in the extraction of harmful substances in biomass combustion processes, in environmentally friendly operation of processing plant and in purifying the emissions resulting from the recycling of electronic waste. As a spin-off, more and more systems are recovering energy or secondary raw materials from the emissions streams.

This is an area with great potential therefore, and the next IFAT ENTSORGA which takes place May 7-11, 2012 in Munich (Germany), has succeeded in attracting as a partner the air pollution abatement section of the German Engineering Federation (VDMA). The VDMA, with six specialist sections, is a conceptual sponsor of IFAT ENTSORGA.

Among the core themes for the exhibiting member companies of the VDMA’s section on air-pollution control is energy-efficiency. "The increasing levels of pollution from fine-particle emissions means that better and better control of these emissions is necessary. The rising demand for high-performance filters is also increasing energy needs," explains Christine Montigny, spokesperson for the VDMA’s air pollution abatement section. "In order to meet these challenges, products needs to be even more energy-efficient, for example by making use of new methods of heat recovery." Other approaches include energy-saving fans, intelligent control technology and demand-oriented filter cleaning, says the VDMA expert.

Within the EU wider implementation of the European directives is giving new impetus to the market. "Increasingly the EU limit values are also being demanded by the customers, for example in projects in Eastern Europe and in Turkey, which has not been the case in the past," reports Montigny.

In Germany over 150 mainly small and medium-sized companies supply air-pollution abatement solutions for industrial processes. Waste-incineration plant, the waste disposal/recovery sector and power stations make up 24 percent of the customers, the second largest group after the metal industry (35 percent).

The German companies involved in air-pollution abatement have a strongly international business base: exports are at around 50 percent. According to Guntram Preuß, an industry expert in the VDMA’s section on air-pollution abatement technology, in 2011 the strongest signals for growth came from East and Southeast Asia, from the European countries outside the EU and from Germany itself.

The VDMA member companies who are involved in air-pollution abatement can look back on positive sales development in 2011, according to Preuß. "For the coming year, too, there is cautious optimism in the sector," said Preuß.