NEWS RELEASE                                                                                                    AUGUST 2015

World Fabric Filter Sales Could Exceed $23 Billion by 2019

Revenues for suppliers of bags, filters and systems to capture dust from exhaust stacks will exceed $14 billion this year.  Only modest growth is anticipated if suppliers do not change their scope of supply; but those who supply “Total Solutions” will be participating in a much larger more profitable market.  These are the conclusions reached by the McIlvaine Company in N021 World Fabric Filter and Element Market.

Fabric Filter Revenues   $ Billions
Product 2015 2019
Bags 2.9 3.6
Minimal   systems 9.3 10
Additional   Total Solutions 2 10
Total 14.2 23.6

CECO and Nederman are companies who understand the Total Solutions opportunity and are pursuing it. They provide complete ventilation systems.  With better designed hoods and ductwork, smaller dust collectors can be utilized. Knowledge of applications and how to avoid interference with operations while placing the dirty air intake as close as possible to the source are essential for success. Manufacturers of steel, automobiles, machinery and castings around the world realize that they must provide healthy working conditions for workers while meeting emission requirements. They are willing to pay a premium for special expertise to ensure realization of these goals.

GEA, KC Cottrell and others have developed niche application knowledge in mining, steel and other industries which allows them to service manufacturers in every country.

Clarcor and Nederman have purchased bag suppliers to allow them to supply all the system repair parts.  The Total Solutions opportunity includes yearly contracts with end users to help them manage their bag replacement programs. Clarcor has gone a step further and offers this service not only for dust collectors but for all the filters in a plant.

The major driving force behind Total Solutions is the knowledge explosion.  The engineer replacing the retiree has ten times the knowledge available to him. There is no way he can do justice to this knowledge by himself. He will, therefore, be willing to pay a premium to the knowledgeable supplier.

These forecasts are only for dust filtration.  A new hybrid dust filter with embedded catalyst also removes volatile organic (VOC) compounds and NOx.  This is an ideal Total Solutions opportunity, but is not included in the above forecasts.

The latest developments and changing revenue forecasts are supplied in the following McIlvaine publication. N021 World Fabric Filter and Element Market