Textiles in Air Filtration

Textile Progress
ISSN: 0040-5167 (Print) 1754-2278 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ttpr20
Textiles in air filtration
Lebo Maduna & Asis Patnaik
To cite this article: Lebo Maduna & Asis Patnaik (2017) Textiles in air filtration, Textile Progress,
49:4, 173-247, DOI: 10.1080/00405167.2018.1461921
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/00405167.2018.1461921
Published online: 21 May 2018.
Submit your article to this journal
Article views: 34
View related articles
View Crossmark data
Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at

http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=ttpr20
TEXTILE PROGRESS, 2018
VOL. 49, NO. 4, 173–247
https://doi.org/10.1080/00405167.2018.1461921
Textiles in air filtration

Lebo Madunaa,b and Asis Patnaik c
a
CSIR Materials Science and Manufacturing, Polymers and Composites Competence Area, Nonwovens and
Composites Group, Port Elizabeth, South Africa; bDepartment of Textile Science, Faculty of Science, Nelson
Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa; cDepartment of Clothing and Textile Technology, Faculty of
Engineering, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Bellville Campus, Cape Town, South Africa
ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Fossil fuels are a major source of energy although they generate toxic Received 15 April 2017
pollutants that cause harm to human beings and the environment. To Accepted 2 April 2018
control these toxic pollutants, various environmental regulations have KEYWORDS
been imposed and improved filtration technologies have been Air filtration; environmental
developed and adopted in response. Multinational agreements have regulations; filter media; fly
been signed in order to tackle fossil fuel emission as a global ash; nonwovens; pollution;
problem. Whilst efforts to reduce emissions include the switch from nanofilters
fossil fuel to renewables such as solar, rain and wind, renewables like
solar and wind sources and technologies are currently expensive as
compared to fossil-fuel technologies. Nonwoven filter media are
currently the dominant means by which the fly ash particles that are
generated during fossil-fuel combustion are removed; they are widely
used because of their high filtration efficiency and low pressure-drop
properties. This issue of Textile Progress focuses on the filtration
market, the manufacturing techniques used for nonwoven filters, the
filtration of fly ash and the mechanisms used to control emissions to
meet environmental regulations. Important properties of filter fabrics,
their areas of application and disposal issues are discussed and
possible reasons are presented for the failure of filters during
operation. It addresses the problems faced in achieving effective
filtration, not only in fossil fuel power plants but also across a
number of other important industries.
1. Introduction
Air emissions are closely related to the human activities that generate pollutants. Factors
such as high economic activity result in higher energy consumption and pollution emis-
sion levels are significantly affected [1–6]. Some of the most pollution-intensive industries
from developed countries are relocating to developing countries where environmental
regulations and enforcement are less strict; this is done because environmental compli-
ance is regarded as a financial burden that requires investment on emission control devi-
ces [7–13]. Many countries struggle to find a balance between the economic growth and
reduction in emissions while still addressing socio-economic challenges [14,15]. Improved
CONTACT Asis Patnaik patnaika@cput.ac.za, asispatnaik@gmail.com

This article was originally published with errors. This version has been corrected/amended. Please see Erratum ( http://
dx.doi.org/10.1080/00405167.2017.1483127).
© 2018 The Textile Institute
174 L. MADUNA AND A. PATNAIK
environmental regulations and public awareness about the need for clean air are consid-
ered to be the main drivers for the adoption of new filtration devices which in turn drive
the filtration industry forward.
Non-renewable resources such as fossil fuels form the primary source for generating
electricity in many countries across the world. It is suggested that more pollution is going
to be generated as greater numbers of power plants are built to meet the increasing
demand for energy [1,14,15]. In 2015, global coal-energy consumption was 5500 million
tonnes which, following its combustion resulted in millions of tonnes of waste being gen-
erated and dumped in landfills; such toxic waste has a negative impact on the environ-
ment and health, if it is not managed efficiently [1].
Fly ash, sulphur oxides (SOx), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and carbon dioxide (CO2) are the
main pollutants that are produced during the combustion of fossil fuels. Fly ash is associated
with human health problems [8], whereas SOx and NOx are mainly responsible for acid rain.
CO2 which is also generated during fossil fuel combustion is considered to be the main con-
tributor to global warming [9]. CO2 emissions are considered to be responsible for the rise in
global temperature towards the thresholds of 1.5 and 2 C set by scientists for the COP 21
Paris Agreement in 2015 on climate change concerned about levels of greenhouse gas
emissions after 2020 and aiming to keep the global temperature rise below 2 C; some
experts however estimate that by 2050, the global temperature increase may reach 3 C.
Worldwide efforts to minimize and control the emission of toxic pollutants include the
adoption of stricter environmental regulations and best available filtration control devices.
This effort may also include process modification, raw materials substitution, materials
reduction and reduced energy consumption [3–7].
To control dust emissions, various filter media (other similar terms are filter fabrics or
fabric filters) are increasingly being used due to stringent environmental emission legisla-
tion and a requirement for the use of best available technology [4,5,12]. The use of partic-
ular filter media in different industries is driven by the application’s requirements. For
example, the corrosive and higher temperature environment in the power plant baghouse
requires filter media (filter bags) manufactured from fibres that have good thermal, chemi-
cal and mechanical properties. The maximum operating temperature of the filter bags is
dependent on the maximum temperature that can be withstood by the fibres used to
make the filter bags [16,17]. Nonwoven fabrics constitute a major portion of the textile
materials used by the filtration market, hence the focus in this issue of Textile Progress on
nonwoven filter media.
Various methods can be used to produce the nonwoven filter media [18–20]. In the
selection of filter media for a particular application, the cost of raw materials and cost of
production are important factors. Needle-punching is the most widely used manufactur-
ing method for producing nonwoven filter media, and the fabrics it creates are used in
many application areas. Needle-punching uses barbed needles that are driven through
the fibrous webs to entangle the fibres and form a filter fabric that tends to be at the
heavier and thicker end of the range [21]. The disadvantage of this technique is damage
to the fibres caused by the needling; the structural integrity of the filters is affected which
eventually affects their performance properties and durability [22]. These needle-punched
filters have higher pressure-drop properties and more energy is required to clean them
than is necessary for some of the other types. Spunlacing is another common method for
producing filter fabrics but technologies like spun bonding (or spun-laid), melt blowing or
TEXTILE PROGRESS 175
a combination of methods can be used to manufacture filter media [16]. Once the desired
filter is produced, it needs to be tested. The physical, structural, mechanical, thermal,
chemical and performance properties of filter fabrics are tested in order to determine that
they meet the specified filtration requirements [16].
The filtration of dust particles by filter media involves four basic mechanisms namely,
(1) surface filtration,

(2) cake filtration,
(3) depth straining and
(4) depth filtration.
Dust particles are collected on the surface or inside the pores of the filter media [23]. Par-
ticles that are smaller than the pores of the filter are captured on the surface of fibres by
inertial impaction, interception, Brownian diffusion or electrostatic particle-capture mech-
anisms. The capturing of these small particles is dependent on their trajectory and
charge-carrying capacity [24]. As more and more particles are collected, pores become
blocked and the pressure drop across the filter medium increases. To reduce the pressure
drop, filters are cleaned using mechanical shakers, reverse airflow or reverse pulse-jet
cleaning methods. The selection of the most-appropriate cleaning technique is based on
the cost and the amount of cleaning efficiency required [25,26]. Finishing treatments are
applied to the filter fabrics in order to enhance their filtration ability as well as agents to
improve their flame-retardant, anti-static, thermal and chemical resistance properties
[19,20].
Filter media are subjected to mechanical, chemical and thermal damage during their
operation which decreases their lifespan. After a period of time, the media fail and have,
routinely, to be replaced with new filters [27,28]. Waste management has become a grow-
ing concern particularly for fossil-fuel-based plants; not only does it involve the treatment
and safe disposal of fly ash, but also the safe disposal of replaced filter bags as they are
also contaminated with toxic substances [29].
2. Environmental regulations
The impact of pollutants released during the industrial activities is not confined to a single
country or region. In order to address air pollution as a global problem, countries have
come together to sign multinational environmental agreements that aim to reduce their
dependence on fossil fuel. In 1997, the Kyoto Protocol which sets international emission
reduction targets was signed by UN member countries [30]. In 2001, the Kyoto Protocol
implementation details were adopted with the first commitment for the period 2008–
2012 [30,31].
The European Union (EU), Russia and other countries signed the Kyoto Protocol agree-
ment committing themselves to reduce their greenhouse gases by 5% from 2008 to 2012.
The USA and Australia refused to ratify the agreement. The agreement allows countries to
buy and sell their emission credits to meet the agreed targets [31]. There are also opportu-
nities for countries to collaborate to fund research and development in technologies
aimed at reducing emission levels [30,31]. In 2015, the 21st Conference of the Parties
(COP21) took place in Paris and 195 countries agreed to work to limit the rise in the global
average temperature to below 2 C by reducing their CO2 emissions and at the same time
strive to reduce this temperature to 1.5 C [10,11,32]. In this agreement, each country is
required to report regularly on its planned activities to reduce the global warming and
one of the main driving forces behind the adoption of environmental regulations is public
concern over the quality of air that people breathe [5].
Even though there are multinational agreements, the environmental regulations and
the quality of their enforcement generally differ country by country, sometimes city by
city or even region to region within the same city [13]. These regulations can be either
market- or control-based. Market-based mechanisms involve the use of taxes, subsidies
and emission trading to incentivize businesses to lower their emissions [3]. Companies
may willingly adopt these measures to reduce their emissions in order to avoid reputa-
tional damage and gain market share [33]. Command-based regulations use penalties in
the environmental regulations to force companies to reduce their emission levels [14].
2.1. Emission levels in different countries

In 2010, the EU adopted the Industrial Emissions Directive which is aimed at reducing
emission from industrial plants across EU. It came into effect in 2011 [34]. Similarly, in
South Africa, the air emission levels are regulated by the National Environmental Manage-
ment: Air Quality Act No.39 of 2004 [35]. In terms of the Act, companies that generate elec-
tricity are required to record and report their emission levels [35]. In the USA, the 1990
Clean Air Act gives power to the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) to develop stand-
ards for national ambient air quality in order to control emissions that are considered to
be harmful to the human and the environment [8].
China has a national policy on emission concentration which aims to reduce particulate
matter, SOx and NOx to below 10, 35 and 50 mg/Nm3, respectively, from 2014 to 2020. In
2012, Chinese power plants consumed half of China’s coal consumption and they emitted
8% of its particulate matter, 23% of SOx and 33% of NOx, respectively [36]. In 1998, China
released 21 million tonnes of SO2 into the atmosphere [37]. In India, from 2001 to 2007,
an increase in emissions was observed with the annual SO2 emissions increasing from 2.5
to 3.8 million tonnes while NOx emission increased from 1.5 to 2.3 million tonnes [15]. In
Vietnam, in 2006, the contribution made by thermal power plants emissions of SOx and
NOx to the total national emissions were 30% and 19%, respectively [38]. In Australia, 34%
of the country’s total emissions came from coal-fired power plants [39].
In many developing countries, environmental regulations and enforcement are not pri-
oritized as countries prefer to prioritize economic growth; consequently, environmental
protection is neglected. This has encouraged companies to relocate from developed
countries with strict environmental regulations and enforcement to developing countries
with less strict regulations and enforcement. In China, there is also internal relocation hap-
pening as companies move from one part of a province or city with strict emission levels
to another part with more-lax environmental regulations; however, the situation is chang-
ing rapidly because of the multinational environmental agreements that are being signed
at an international level. China, one of the main recipients of foreign investments, is there-
fore, working on a 2030 energy conservation and emission policy to minimize its emis-
sions [13,14].
2.2. Mechanisms to control environmental emissions

Since different countries use different environmental policies, the outcomes on the emis-
sion reduction and technological progress are different. The general historical view is that
environmental regulations increase costs and impose new restrictions on production and
make operational management difficult as resources have to be diverted from
manufacturing to emission control to comply with the regulations. There are two types of
mechanisms used to control environmental emissions [14]:
(1) the traditional methods (command and control) and

(2) economic penalty and incentive regulations (pollution taxes and tradable permits).
Under the economic incentive regulation, the argument is that, if the environment regula-
tions are flexible, then business sustainability and financial performance can be improved
as companies become innovative and come up with new products and processes [40,41]
(the idea being that if regulations are flexible and focus more on the outcome rather than
the input processes, then companies will develop new and cost-effective processes and
products in response to meet the set emission levels). The eventual improvement is then
due to more companies adopting the best manufacturing practices and using more effi-
cient products with the ability to meet the demands of the environment regulations.
Developed countries tend to prefer economic incentives to ensure that companies
comply with environmental regulations [41]. In these mature markets which do not
depend for their effectiveness on traditional regulations, there is heavy reliance on bar-
gaining and lobbying to persuade the polluters to reduce their emissions. In instances
where the polluters ignore the plea of the people, there is lobbying of government or of
enforcement agencies to ensure that both monitoring and enforcement take place [41].
Market-driven regulations are not effective where there is little market effectiveness and
weak monitoring ability, as in many developing countries, so command and control are
irreplaceable [14,41].
Market-driven regulations are credited for having the biggest impact on technological
progress as they promote entrepreneurship, innovation and enterprise. Companies can
take advantage of their internal resources, innovation and skills to take advantage of the
opportunities provided. As such companies become innovative, they come up with new
products to meet their financial and environmental responsibilities [14,41]; as their com-
petitiveness and sustainability increases due to their innovative products or processes, so
does the chance of their business success and the maintenance/enhancement of the
incentivized outcomes.
Flexibility gives companies an opportunity to move to new products and to make use
of efficient production processes which will reduce their energy and material inputs
[14,40,41]. For flexible regulations to be successful, however, there is a dependence on
the willingness and ability of businesses to respond, and enough time must be allowed
for companies to exploit their innovative capabilities before the regulations are fully
adopted. Those companies that are not innovative under these conditions will struggle to
keep their business share without breaking environmental regulations [41].
The EU uses the Emissions Trading System (ETS) which is a market-driven mechanism
which aims to cost-effectively reduce greenhouse emissions by 20% by the year 2020
compared with emissions in 1990 [3]. The ETS is a cap and trade system which sets the
total emission amounts that each company can emit. Within the cap, companies can buy
or sell tradable emission allowances, but the trading of Green House Gas (GHG) increases
the costs for industries that are big producers of GHG. In order to avoid the ETS, such com-
panies might move their production plants to countries with weaker environmental
enforcement which could lead to increasing levels of pollution in those countries [3].
Some companies that produce more emissions might respond in a different way and
decide to reduce their production leaving it to other companies to become cleaner to
increase their market share.
Although regarded as a penalty, taxation types such as carbon tax could result in
higher emissions as they do not set emission limits; however, the aim of the tax is to
increase the abatement cost [3] because, in a decentralized ETS, member states tend to
allocate more allowances in order to protect their companies from losing their competi-
tiveness and this can lead to lower levels of achievement of environmental targets.
In a centralized ETS, the commission and courts will have powers to oversee the alloca-
tion of allowances [42]. China is the largest emitter of carbon, and in 2014, China con-
sumed 23% of global fossil energy. Coal accounts for 60% of China’s energy needs. Since
the Copenhagen summit held in 2009, China committed to reduce its CO2 emission by
40%–45% by the year 2020 compared with what it was in 2005, and in 2013, it established
seven pilot carbon ETS in five cities and two provinces, the second largest to the EU in the
world [43] and by 2017, China planned to have a national ETS market.
In command-and-control regulations, the government enforces the standards on the
industry and the regulations are considered to be inflexible hindrances to innovation that
do not promote creativity; companies have to focus on following strict procedures and
rules as compared to indirect regulations which use economic incentives to force compli-
ance [40]. Such restrictive conditions are not conducive to growth and technical progress
[14]. It is argued however that in order to reduce compliance costs, companies will be indi-
rectly forced to innovate, transform and upgrade their equipment, operational and human
resource management to make them efficient. There is also an argument that the com-
mand and control environmental regulations are driving technical progress even in mar-
ket-driven EU.
In China, the traditional command and control approach is preferred even though
there are market-driven regulations (that are hardly followed) [14]. There is an argument
that the fact that there is technological innovation does not necessarily mean that the reg-
ulations will bring about improvements in efficiency [14]. Because of this, in the UK, where
companies apply to the local authority or the Environment Agency for their environmental
permits, these can have conditions attached to them to make sure that the companies
adhere to the national guidelines [41].
2.3. Challenges to developing countries in managing pollution levels

The main challenges facing many developing countries in the management of pollutants
are lack of technology, market efficiency, human capital, economic development and
research and development [14]. Developed countries have more resources to lessen the
impact of these factors. For example, power plants that use old technology have high
emissions due to the lower efficiency of the old technology. Even when new technologies
are available, developing countries might not have the human expertise to fully take
advantage of those new technologies that can minimize environmental impact [44].
Often, enforcement of new regulations also suffers from lack of expertise; as such contra-
vening companies can too easily get away with violation of the regulations that are there
to protect the environment and humans [14,44].
2.4. Renewables
Non-renewable fossil fuels are slowly depleting as the demand for energy increases and the
use of renewable energy sources as alternative sources of energy is slowly increasing as
advances in renewable energy generation technology are made [8]. Non-renewables are
unsustainable in the long term as their supply is limited and they also generate wastes that
cause an environmental burden. Non-renewables include petroleum, gas and coal whilst
renewables include water, wind, solar energy and biomass [45]. Fossil fuels are expected to
continue to dominate the market for the short and medium terms. The EU aims to supply
35% of its electricity through renewables and by 2050 it will reach 100% [46].
Renewable energy sources such as wind, solar energy, biofuel and hydroelectric power
are increasingly being preferred because of their ability to reduce environmental impact
even though they are currently not always able to be relied upon nor always cost-effective
[47]. There is an argument that total eradication of non-renewables as a source of energy
is not possible as renewables such as solar energy, wind and hydro are highly dependent
on changing conditions of sunlight, wind and rain. Solar energy and wind technologies
cannot be ramped up in order to meet peaks in energy demand and so, as a result, the
non-renewables will always be used to compensate for the disruptions [48]. Another issue
is that the renewable energy source may not be close to the area within which the energy
is being consumed; connecting distant wind farms to power grids is a case in point as the
long distances increase energy loss [46–48].
In a recent study, the authors reported that existing technologies need to be used
along with the renewable technologies not only to control pollution, but also to mitigate
environmental impact [46]. To replace a non-renewable power supply generating 2400
MW with 3 MW wind turbines will require a farm that is 3 km wide and 100 km long [49];
current battery technology is not powerful enough to store energy that can serve as a
baseload. In areas which experience dry seasons, the capacity of hydroelectric plants will
be significantly affected during that period. Another challenge is the cost-effectiveness of
renewables to meet the power load [47]. Because of these challenges, the prospect of us
living in a 100% renewable energy environment is unlikely in the near future. It is said
that the mitigating effects of emissions by non-renewables can only be drastically reduced
if the country’s share of renewables is more than 8.39%; as long as a country’s share of
non-renewables is high, there is only going to be a minor reduction in emissions [47].
Long-term systematic change from non-renewable to renewable energy will be due to
cost and convenience factors; improvements in efficiencies can be regulatory or market
driven, i.e. by energy availability and associated pricing signals [12].
In 2013, coal accounted for 41% of the global electricity generated and its share was
26% but there were variations from country to country. In Germany, for example, coal-
fired plants produced 45% of electricity and the energy industry was responsible for 34%
of the CO2 emitted. In the UK, by contrast, coal-fired plants generated less than 30% of its
electricity requirements and these plants are planned to be decommissioned in 2025. Ger-
many is likely to miss the GHG reduction target for 2020 and in order to meet its obliga-
tions it might have to accelerate the early phasing-out of coal plants [50]. The USA still
generates 85% of its electricity from non-renewables such as coal, nuclear and natural
gases whereas in the EU it is 75% [51]. It is suggested that if the USA was to generate 80%
of its electricity from renewables by 2050, its emission levels would decrease by 82% [47].
2.5. Circular economy

One of the approaches being suggested to tackle economic, social and environmental
problems is the ‘circular economy’ system [52]. In a circular economy, the idea is to try to
preserve and optimize the use of resources by minimizing their negative impacts such as
waste and pollution, so the resources must be regenerated using minimal amounts of
energy and high-quality retention. The circular economy tries its best to use renewable
sources and avoid the use of materials that generate toxic waste and this is to be achieved
by designing products that do not generate waste and avoiding the need to dispose of
and recycle products, an approach that has the potential to yield major economic
improvements as production processes consume energy and give rise to labour costs [52].
The traditional economic model is the ‘take-make-dispose’ approach where companies
acquire materials and use them to make different products that are sold to the public,
and after use, the public dispose of the products. This linear economic model is not very
efficient as it exposes companies to high price volatility and supply risks. It is estimated
that 65 million tonnes of raw materials were harvested to serve the current linear model
in 2010 and that by 2020 it will be 82 million tonnes. As an example, in terms of financial
benefit, if the EU was to move to a preliminary circular economy, it is estimated that it
could save US$340–380 billion on material costs/year and these figures could be as high
as US$520–630 billion/year for an advanced preliminary circular economy [52].
3. Filtration market
Emission regulations are regarded in the filtration industry as the main driving force
behind companies causing them to use new emission-control devices that have the ability
to significantly reduce their emission levels. It is suggested that companies are not likely to
comply with emission regulations unless there is financial incentive for them, as they con-
sider emission regulations as a hindrance that affects their operational and financial per-
formance [53]. Many developing countries have been experiencing rapid industrialization
and urbanization. These developments have raised concerns about environmental prob-
lems due to increases in energy consumption which are generally accompanied by higher
emissions [38]. Also, as mentioned earlier, manufacturing plants are being moved from
developed countries to developing countries to access cheap labour, raw materials and
the relaxed environmental regulations in these countries. China and India have been the
biggest recipients of these investments leading to their rapid industrialization and urbani-
zation [53]. If one takes into consideration the rapid industrialization and demand to bring
the emission levels of developing countries to the same level as that of developed coun-
tries, the future market growth for the filtration industry is going to be high in developing
countries [37].
Most of the information about the filter-media market is not clear as to whether the fil-
ter market refers to the filter fabric or the final product, i.e. the filter bag. The market could
be even broader as it might include all the ancillary filtration equipment like motors or
pumps. If all contributions are taken into consideration, then the filter market size is both
broad and big [54].
The fabric-filter-system market (or filter-fabric-system market) was projected to grow
from US$9.6 billion in 2017 to US$16.34 billion in 2025 [55–57]. It is expected the Com-
pound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of the global filter fabric market will be around 6.18%
during the period 2017–2025 [55], and in some market reports, its value is projected to be
around US$7.1 billion in 2022 [58]. The market has been sub-divided into application areas
such as the cement, power, food, metals and pharmaceuticals industries and by product
categories such as dust collectors, high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters, mist collec-
tors, baghouse filters, cartridge collectors and filters [57].
The main driver of the filter fabric industry is the application of filters in the removal of
fly ash and SO2 adsorbents for coal-fired power plants [55]. The global baghouse-filters
market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 4.79% during the period 2017–2021 [56,57].
Power plants that use older technologies generally have higher emissions because of the
inefficiencies of the older technologies [38]. Many power plants are switching from elec-
trostatic precipitators (ESPs) to filter fabrics because of their need for high collection of
dust particles [55]. In Asia, ESPs are still the preferred choice for new power plants; how-
ever, requirements to further reduce dust emissions are forcing some companies to con-
sider replacing ESP with fabric filter bags. According to the McIlvaine company, in 2016,
the total fabric filter systems market was projected to be worth US$8.831 billion, and Asia
accounts for about 60% of the global fabric filter systems sales with China being the big-
gest consumer in the region [56].
The Chinese filtration industry began to change in the 1990s due to industrialization
[36,37]; in the 1990s, their rapid industrialization created demand for high-quality filter
media made from high-performance fibres such as RytonÒ (Solvay), ProconÒ and P84Ò
(Evonik), and NomexÒ (Du Pont). These fibres have properties that are useful in filter fabric
applications, such as high temperature resistance, strength and high filtration efficiency,
and non-woven fabric structures are the growth area. In 1999, only about 13,000 tonnes
of nonwoven fabric were being used as filter media, whereas in the year 2010, volumes
were 60,000–80,000 tonnes; the needle-punching method accounted for 50% of the
methods used to produce the nonwovens [35]. In a recent (2017) market report, the value
of the Chinese filtration market was projected to be worth around US$6.9 billion by 2027
[59], a figure which includes the air, water and fuel filtration sectors.
3.1. Impact of financial crisis

In market research, future economic growth forecasts often depend on the opinions of
buyers and sellers of goods. Future growth can only be confidently and accurately fore-
casted when there are no unforeseen market shakers such as the global financial crisis
seen in 2008/2009 [60]. Political change also affects the market forecast. During recession,
companies reduce their research and development budget as sales continue to drop. The
future is uncertain as no one knows how long the recession will last. New plant or product
investments are delayed or cancelled. However, even during the financial crisis of 2008/
2009, when the markets of the developed countries were experiencing negative growth,
the filtration industry did not experience negative growth because the demand for
cleaner air, water and high-quality pharmaceuticals did not stop, and this was despite the
fact that during an economic downturn, growth slows down, the demand for energy con-
sumption by companies and the population in general also slows down resulting in a
decrease in emissions [12].
The filtration industry generally grows at 2%–4% above the national gross domestic
product (GDP) in a normal growing market. Filtration companies that were severely
affected by the financial crisis went bankrupt and others were swallowed up by being
bought out by those companies with the financial muscle necessary to weather the storm;
financial equity companies often see such a crisis as an opportunity to buy struggling
companies at a bargain price. Consequent consolidation in the industry has led to fewer
players and putting smaller and medium-sized companies at risk [60].
3.2. Competition
Industrial filtration is a highly concentrated sector and the emergence of new entrants
threatens the profitability of existing companies. New entrants bring in new capacity and
the need to gain market share and this lowers the prices of products as existing producers
lower their prices too in order to retain their customers. The main barrier to entry into this
industry is the high capital investment required to start and sustain a business in this
highly technical industry [55–60].
The global air-filter market is mature with many players. The competition is tough and
with not much difference in terms of products and pricing, some companies look for alter-
natives not only to protect their market share but also to be relevant in the changing
economy [5]. Most filter manufacturers are USA companies, followed by EU [53].
All power plants that use non-renewable energy need to be equipped with some
means for the treatment of the generated pollutants before they can be released to the
atmosphere. However, power plants that use renewables do not require emission-control
devices as they do not generate toxic gases or solid particles [49]. At present, renewables
do not pose a market threat to the filtration industry as they constitute only a very small
percentage of the energy-generating industry. Biomass is the only renewable energy
source that represents a market future for the filtration industry as it does generate pollu-
tants that must be removed from the flue gas [61,62].
Buyers of filter media tend to concentrate strongly on the initial purchasing price, but
this is just one component of the total cost associated with the operation and disposal of
filter media [5]. It is estimated that only 18% of the total cost is associated with the initial
price and maintenance of the filter. The biggest cost component is the energy consumed,
which accounts for about 80% of the total cost, so it is this aspect to which most attention
should be paid as the biggest savings will be made by buying a filter that uses less energy
[5].
4. Raw materials
Filtration technologies have evolved alongside advances in raw materials and different
types of filter media [5]. A wide variety of fibres are available that can be used to make
Table 1. Fibres and their properties (dust collection) [64].

Max operating Resistance to
Fibre type Trade names temperature ( C) Abrasion Acid Akali
Polyester Dacron Trevira 150 Very good Good Poor
Polyacrylonitrile (homopolymer) Dolanit, Ricem Zefran 140 Good Good Fair
Polyacrylonitrile (copolymer) Orlon, Dralon 120 Good Good Fair
Polyaramid Nomex, Conex 200 Very good Poor Very good
Polyimide P84 260 Very good Poor Very good
PPS Ryton, Procon 190 Good Very good Excellent
PTFE Teflon, Rastex, Profilen 260 Fair Excellent Excellent
Glass Fibre glass 260 Poor Fair Excellent
Polypropylene Moplefan 90 Fair–good Excellent Excellent
Trol 125 Fair–good Excellent Excellent
Cellulose Cotton 85 Fair Poor Good
filter media (fabrics). The chosen fibres must be able to withstand the (often harsh) opera-
tional and environmental conditions imposed throughout the service life of the fabric
[63]. Table 1 shows some of the candidate fibres and their properties [63]. The suitability
of a particular fibre is dependent on its compatibility with the web-manufacturing process
and its influence on the fabric properties. Web cohesion, fibre breakage and web weight
are influenced by fibre diameter, length, tensile strength, crimp and finishing treatments.
[16].
The selection of raw materials may influence which manufacturing technique should
be used to manufacture the fabrics [16]. A filter fabric that is to be used to remove very
fine dust may require to be composed of very fine fibres and to produce a fabric filter
with such fine fibres may require the use of specific processes such as melt blowing.
A common problem associated with the use of synthetic fibres is static electricity and
low inter-fibre cohesion. To reduce the development of static electric charges on the
fibres, a finishing treatment must be applied [16]. Also, since synthetic fibres have no natu-
ral crimp, during their production, fibre crimp is introduced in order to improve fibre-to-
fibre cohesion and the fabric strength but fibres with higher crimp are more difficult to
individualize during opening and carding processes and, as a result, the quality of the final
fabric product can be negatively affected [65]. Some of the commonly used fibres are dis-
cussed below.
4.1. Polyacrylonitrile
Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) is an acrylic fibre with a polymer chain backbone consisting of car-
bon atoms linked to one another and a nitrile group projecting as the side-chain from
each repeat unit [66] as shown below:
-(CH2-CH)n -
CN
PAN, after being partially carbonized in an oxidation oven, can be further converted into
carbon or graphite fibre by carbonization in an inert environment at high temperatures
[67]. The glass-transition temperature (Tg) and melting temperature (Tm) are about 80 and
350 C, respectively, but PAN fibres shrink on heating above the Tg because PAN fibres
undergo oxidation under these conditions and this causes both chemical and physical
changes to take place and these result in the fibre shrinkage [68,69]. PAN begins to degrade
before the temperature reaches the melting point [70]; oxidation causes degradation by
chain-scission [69].
PAN fibres were used extensively to make filter media and bags for older models of
power plants as well as for some of the existing designs [69,71–73] and their recom-
mended operational temperature in coal-fired power stations is around 120–130 C [18].
The attraction of PAN fibres for use in filter media is that they have good abrasion and
chemical resistance properties [67]; they do not burn easily and when they do burn they
form a char and are self-extinguishing [66].
4.2. Polyphenylene sulphide

Polyphenylene sulphide (PPS) is a semi-crystalline aromatic fibre with alternating sulphur
and 1,4-phenylene groups [74–76] as shown below:
It is produced by the reaction of p-dichlorobenzene (C6H4Cl2) and sodium sulphide

(Na2S) in a polar solvent [77]. PPS has a Tg of about 88 C and Tm of about 282 C [77].
The most common trade names of PPS fibres are RytonÒ (originally produced by Chev-
ron Phillips Chemical Company LP, and since 2015, by Solvay Specialty Polymers USA),
FortronÒ (Technical Polymers Ticona, Florence, Kentucky, USA) and ProconÒ (Evonik
Fibres GmbH, Schorfling, Austria). PPS is a semi-crystalline fibre showing good heat-
resistance (it has good thermal stability at continuous operating temperatures of up to
190 C) and outstanding chemical resistance. PPS is therefore used in high-tempera-
ture filtration applications because of its good mechanical properties, thermal stability
and chemical resistance against most acid, alkali and organic solvents [78–80]. It is not
dissolved by any solvent at temperatures less than 200 C [78].
Tanthapanichakoon et al. reported in 2006 that nitric acid (HNO3) was more degrading
for PPS than sulphuric (H2SO4) and hydrochloric acids (HCl) when the fibres were exposed
to these acids over a long period of time. However, over a short period of time, around
24 hours, HCl is the most degrading acid [80].
PPS is susceptible to strong oxidizing agents at higher temperatures resulting in oxida-
tion, macromolecular crosslinking, bond breakage and degradation of the polymer chains
[71,74]. When the sulphur in the PPS reacts with oxygen to form SO2, it causes structural
change and as a result the mechanical properties of the filters are affected [79]; as the
fibres deteriorate, they turn yellow and become quite brittle resulting in lower impact
strength [74,81].
4.3. Polyimide
Polyimides are non-melting aromatic fibres that are synthesized from aromatic dianhy-
drides and aromatic diisocyanates. Their Tg is about 315 C [67]. Polyimide fibres are pre-
pared by spinning polyamic acid (PAA) solution into a coagulation bath where it is
converted into polyimide fibres by thermal or chemical imidization. The fibres have good
mechanical performance, good thermal stability and good chemical resistance properties
[72,82]. A high degree of crystallinity and orientation result in fibres with good mechanical
properties. Exposure to flue gas with a temperature above 300 C causes the fibres to
become brittle. A commercially-available polyimide fibre called P84 (Evonik Fibres GmbH,
Schorfling, Austria) has a large surface area for particle capture (almost twice that of fila-
ments with a circular cross section) due to its multilobal filament cross-sectional shapes
[83]. Although, with a limiting oxygen index of 38%, it is regarded as being non-flamma-
ble, since it is an expensive fibre, it is usually blended with other fibres [64].
Polyimide fibres are used to make filter bags for coal-fired power stations in cases
where the operating temperature of the flue gas is very high, about 160–180 C [84,85]
and an indication of their durability is that they can also be used for making protective
clothing, sealing materials and for aircraft interior insulation. The fibres are inherently
flame retardant and release only low amounts of smoke and toxic gases at their decompo-
sition temperatures [85]. Polyimide fibres’ thermal shrinkage at 250 C is less than 1% and
they are also resistant to temperatures up to 480 C when exposed for a very short time.
Although polyimide fibres exhibit good chemical resistance, long-time exposure to alka-
line media at high temperatures should be avoided in order to prevent fibre damage [83].
4.4. Polyester
Polyester (PET) is one of the commonly-used fibres for filtration applications [86]. With a Tg
and Tm of 90 and 250 C, respectively [87,88], PET fibres are flammable if not treated with
flame retardants, so some of the new varieties contain 0.7%–1% organophosphorus which
is sufficient enough to make the polyester flame retardant [67]. These fibres are the most
widely used in air filtration because of their strength and temperature resistance [22,64];
they can withstand a continuous operating temperature of 135 C [18]. They show resis-
tance to some alkalis, while exposure to acid causes fibre damage [86]. They also exhibit
good resistance to abrasion [78].
4.5. Polyamide (Nylon)

Polyamide fibre, often known as Nylon, is a synthetic fibre whose structural repeat units
are linked along the polymer chain by recurring linkages of the type:
NH CO
called amide groups, of which at least 85% of which must be attached to aliphatic or
cyclo-aliphatic groups [89]. Although there are quite a number of nylon polymers pro-
duced, the two most important nylon polymers that have found commercial use in the
textile industry are:
(1) poly(caprolactam)
also known as polyamide 6 or nylon 6 which has a Tg of 47 C and Tm of 220 C and
(2) poly(hexamethylene adipamide)
known as nylon 6.6 which has a slightly higher Tg of 50 C and a Tm of 255 C [64,78]
Some variation does occur in the Tg and Tm values given, depending on the source of the
information. The recommended operational temperature in filtration is 135–149 C [90].
Both types have excellent resistance to abrasion and to acids such as H2SO4 [64] but they
are flammable and do accumulate static electricity [86].
4.6. Nomex
NomexÒ , poly(m-phenylene terephthalamide), is an aromatic polyamide manufactured by
Du Pont. NomexÒ fibres are used to make flame-retardant fabrics for both the filtration
and the protective clothing industries [91] not least because when exposed to a flame
and the flame is then removed, it self-extinguishes. In common with other synthetic poly-
mer fibres, when NomexÒ is heated above its Tg, it shrinks, but at 264 C, the Tg is high
and is well above the required maximum (and useful) operating temperature of about
200 C [71]. The fibres have good resistance to alkalis and can tolerate a harsh chemical
environment, at least when the concentration of SOx is not high. In terms of its robustness,
NomexÒ exhibits excellent abrasion resistance [18,92].
4.7. Polyetherimide
Polyetherimide (or PEI) is a fibre that has both ether links and imide groups acting as con-
nections along the length of its polymer chains [93] as shown below:
UltemÒ 1000 is a polyetherimide fibre originally produced by General Electric Plastics

(now owned by SABIC, based in Riyadh). It can be used for hot gas filtration. It is used to
make automotive, aircraft and electrical components [94]. With a Tg of 217 C [67], PEI has
a continuous operating temperature of 170 C [95]; it possesses excellent strength and
chemical resistance and is inherently flame retardant [67].
4.8. Glass fibre

Glass fibre (fibre glass) is an amorphous inorganic fibre whose main components are silica,
alumina and calcium oxide [18]. Such fibres are inexpensive, have good chemical
resistance and are stable to a wide range of temperatures, so they have found application
in both industrial filtration and insulation. There are several different types of glass fibre
that are available but the two most important in the textile industry are:
(1) C-glass, chemical glass with the preferred composition for applications requiring
corrosion resistance (main components: 65% SiO2; 4% Al2O3; 14% CaO; 8% Na2O;
6% B2O3 and 3% MgO), and
(2) E-glass, a borosilicate type with properties suitable for reinforcement purposes
(main components: 52%–56% SiO2; 16%–25% CaO; 12%–16% Al2O3 and 5%–10%
B2O3)
The density of fibreglass C is about 2.54 g/cm3, whereas that of fibreglass E is about 2.58 g/
cm3. Fibreglass E possesses very good electrical and heat-resistance characteristics
whereas fibreglass C shows excellent chemical resistance to acids and alkalis. Staple glass
fibres are usually made from fibreglass C, whereas the continuous filament form is made
from fibreglass E [86]. Finishes are often applied because of the poor abrasion resistance
of fibreglass alone [18]. In filtration applications, fibreglass products show high tempera-
ture resistance [91] and the continuous operating temperature is 260 C [18]. However,
because of their relatively poor abrasion resistance, they are easily damaged during the
cleaning cycle [18] and they can be damaged by strong alkalis [71].
4.9. Ceramic
Ceramic fibres are refractory fibres composed of metal oxide, metal carbide, metal nitride
or their mixtures [89]. In the case of densities, information is variable; they are said in one
place to lie within the range 120–560 kg/m3 [96] but elsewhere the values given are much
higher with the value given for SiC density as 3000 kg/m3 and that of alumina as 3700 kg/
m3 [97]. Silicon carbide (SiC) and alumina (Al2O3) are the most common ceramics used,
but they are not easy to make into fibres or filaments. They can be produced by melt spin-
ning or by spinning precursor filaments containing the necessary elements/exposed to
the necessary elements, then subjecting them to heat. In the case of SiC, it is produced by
chemical vapour deposition, whereby silane and hydrogen react to produce SiC vapours,
which are deposited on the substrate to form fibres. Alumina is produced by melt spin-
ning and heat-treated to produce the filaments.
As ceramic filter bags are self-supporting with no metal cages for support, they are
used for filtration of very hot gas. They are able to withstand temperatures up to 900 C
and can be coated with a finish so as to reduce the emission of pollutants like NOx.
Ceramic fibres have excellent heat tolerance and chemical resistance properties [23] but
they are very brittle due to their low elongation at break [23]; SiC fibres retain their
strength to 650 C while Al2CO3 fibres retain their strength up to 1370 C.
5. Manufacturing techniques for filter fabrics

Nonwoven filter fabrics are widely used in air filtration because of their higher air perme-
ability, particle collection efficiency, good cleanibility, lower pressure drop and lower
production cost than other common fabric structures [98]. The nonwoven industry is one
of the fastest growing parts of the textile industry [99,100].
Although it is nonwovens that are predominantly used as preferred textile media for air
filtration applications, woven fabrics are also used; woven fabric structures in the form of
plain and twill weaves are used as filter media in different industries [23]. These media use
both natural and synthetic staple fibres and filaments (monofilament and multifilament)
as per the application requirements [23]. Other types of filter media like composite filters
(which are manufactured by combining different manufacturing technologies) are also
used for air filtration applications. The current review focuses on manufacturing technolo-
gies for making nonwoven filter media.
A nonwoven fabric can be prepared by using the dry-laid, wet-laid or spun-laid pro-
cesses [65]. The dry-laid process is classified into carding and air-laid whereas the spun-
laid is classified according to whether it is spunbond, meltblown or created by electrospin-
ning. The dry-laid and wet-laid processes involve four major stages in the manufacturing
of nonwoven fabrics, namely:
(1) fibre preparation,

(2) web formation,
(3) web bonding and
(4) post-treatment of the produced fabrics.
In the spun-laid process, the nonwoven web is formed directly from the melted polymers
to produce the fabric [18]. Fibres in the web are randomly or directionally orientated
depending on the manufacturing method used to produce the web. Web bonding is per-
formed by using the mechanical, thermal or chemical methods [22]. Any one of the web
bonding alone or in combination with other web bonding methods are used to manufac-
ture nonwoven filter media.
Needle-punching and spunlacing are mechanical bonding methods that are capable of
bonding the carded webs to produce filter fabrics with good structural stability. The nee-
dle-punching method using barbed needles passed through the layers of fibre web to
entangle fibres is extensively used. The spunlacing method uses highly-pressurized water
jets to cause similar entanglement of the fibres in the web; it produces fabrics with good
structural integrity at a higher production rate than the needle-punching [19,22,101].
In the design of nonwoven fabrics for a particular end use, the selection of the raw
materials, manufacturing method and finishing treatments are important in order to pro-
duce a fabric with the desired properties. The costs of the raw materials and production
process costs are also considered in the case of the design of the filter fabric. The
manufacturing process parameters are varied in order to produce a fabric with the desired
properties [21]. Reinforcement of the filter fabric is achieved by the incorporation of a
woven fabric scrim into the nonwoven fabric in order to improve its strength particularly
in the case of filter bags [18,102], which is beneficial; however, the disadvantage is that
insertion of the scrim reduces the fabric’s air permeability due to increased flow resistance
between fibres and air [102]. Finishing the fabric by calendering smoothens the surface of
the fabric and a smooth surface assists in the release of dust particles during the filter-bag
cleaning process and such improved cleaning efficiency increases the lifetime of the
filter bag.
5.1. Web formation

All nonwoven fabrics are based on a fibrous web which is randomly or directionally orien-
tated. Web formation involves the distribution of fibres to form a fibrous web by using dif-
ferent manufacturing techniques such as dry-laid, wet-laid and spun-laid, respectively.
The dry-laid technique uses the traditional carding machine or air flows to form a web
whereas the wet-laid method uses water suspension to form a fibrous web (a process
with similarities to paper-making). The spun-laid method forms a web directly from the
molten polymers.
Each of these techniques has its own profound effect on the structure and properties of
the final fabric. The carded web is used to produce filter fabric with good structural integ-
rity for filtration application in coal-fired power plants [16,103]. There is a direct relation-
ship amongst the fibre, web and fabric properties. Fibre properties like fibre strength,
diameter, length and crimp influence the web properties, whereas web properties like
web weight and predominant fibre orientation influence the physical properties of the fil-
ter fabric [104].
5.1.1. Dry-laid
The dry-laid technique uses the carding machine or air flows to produce the nonwoven
fibrous web. Fibres that are used for this technique are mostly supplied in dense press-
packed bales and they need to be opened prior to feeding into the carding machine. The
fibres are opened in an opening line in order to reduce the size of fibre tufts before being
transported to the feed chute. Well-opened fibre tufts reduce the work that has to be
done by the carding machine in order to open and parallelize the fibres into individual
fibres. Smaller fibre tufts promote consistent fibre feeding. Poor opening of the fibre tufts
leads to various processing and quality problems [21].
Carding. Card webs from the carding machine can be combined to yield the desired
weight and thickness by using a cross-lapper to lay the carded web into zigzag form
before it is bonded to produce the fabric [105]. The web is transported by the cross-lapper
on to a transport belt and laid back and forth across the moving conveyor belt. The cross-
lapper is positioned at 90 C to the direction of the transport belt [78]. The ratio of the
feed and delivery speeds determines the angle of cross-lapping and the orientation of
fibres. Increasing the feed and delivery speeds of cross-lapping rather than the speed of
the conveyor belt increases the weight per unit area of the web [71,106].
A fabric that is produced from a web in which the fibres were aligned in the machine
direction is expected to have higher strength in the machine direction than in the trans-
verse direction due to this fibre orientation [103]. Sometimes, in order to improve the
strength of the fabric in the direction in which the fibres are not aligned, the fabric is
stretched in that direction and this causes the fibres to be pulled away from the original
aligned direction and orientated into a new direction. However, to achieve the desired
effect, the stretched fabric must be strong enough to prevent too much fibre slippage
which could otherwise cause the fabric to tear [106].
Once the card webs are overlaid, they are usually bonded by needle-punching or spunlacing
techniques as these methods produce fabrics with good mechanical strength [105]. In the case
of filter fabrics used in power plants, the exposure of the filter bags to various adverse
operating conditions and forces causes the filter bags to deteriorate resulting in early filter bag
failure. In order to provide additional strength to the filter fabrics therefore, and despite its
effect in reducing permeability [102], a woven scrim is usually incorporated into the fabrics by
inserting it between the web layers before bonding by needles or water jets [107].
Air-laid. The air-laid technique initially produces a voluminous web as the fibres are not
tightly packed against each other. The web is therefore bonded by needle-punching,
spunlacing or thermal bonding methods. The fabric produced by the air-laid technique
tends to have lower strength than fabrics produced from carded webs because of lack of
control over fibre alignment, and the strength of textile fabrics is directionally dependent
[78].
5.1.2. Wet-laid
Wet-laid is a manufacturing process that is more extensively used for paper making than
for making textile fabrics. The fibres are suspended in water and then transported into a
moving perforated wire screen. The suction system under the screen sucks the water
from the fibres to form a fabric and it is transported to dryer for drying [108]. The require-
ments for the fibres are that they must absorb water, have low crimp and they need to be
much longer than the fibres used to make paper. The wet-laid technique is generally used
to make single-use filters and other single-use products and disposable nonwovens such
as diapers [109].
5.1.3. Spun-laid
Spun-laid is a nonwoven manufacturing method that produces a fibrous web directly
from the molten polymers. It is subdivided into spunbond, meltblown and electrospinning
processes. It differs from dry-laid and wet-laid processes in that the production of the
polymer, the fibrous web and fabric formation is one single continuous process [104]. The
polymer is melted and extruded on to the moving belt where it forms the web. Fibre ori-
entation is controlled by controlling the spinneret movement, conveyor belt speed or by
electrical charges [18]. Although the spun-laid process has the advantage of producing a
web in a single production process, its disadvantage is that not all fibrous raw materials
can be processed by this method [106].
Spunbond. Spunbonded nonwoven fabrics are also made directly from the raw material
in one continuous process [16,71,110]. In this process, the polymer granules are melted
and extruded by assistance of air streams through the spinnerets as shown in Figure 1
[71]. The fibres are drawn by high-velocity air jets and cooled by the surrounding air to
the desired fineness or diameter and collected on the porous conveyor belt. The web pro-
duced in this manner can be calendered in order to further increase the strength of the
resultant fabric, and by controlling the speed of the conveyor belt and space between the
heated calender rollers, a fabric with the desired weight and thickness can be produced
[100]. The fibres tend to be strongly orientated in the direction of the conveyor belt and if
the temperature of the air used to extrude the polymer is not carefully controlled, the fila-
ments tend to adhere to one another [109]. The integration of fibre formation and web
formation reduces production costs and makes this method the least expensive for non-
woven fabric production [104].
Figure 1. Diagram of a spun-laid (spun bonding) process [71].
Meltblown. Low-viscosity polymers are extruded by a high-velocity air stream upon on

leaving the spinneret. The action of the air stream scatters the melt, solidifies it and breaks
it into a fibrous web composed of very fine fibres [106]. The structure of the web produced
by meltblown is weaker than that of the spunbond process. It is usually bonded with other
types of webs in order to provide improved structural stability [78].
Electrospinning. Electrospinning is a process that uses high electrical voltage to develop

an electrical charge between a reservoir of polymer solution and some form of collector;
the charge draws the solution to the moving grounded collector. As the melted polymer
droplets emerge and then approach the grounded collector, they solidify and form
very fine fibres, nanofibres. The structures formed from these fine fibres have poor
mechanical strength [78] so they require some form of support in order to become useful
filter media.
5.2. Web bonding

Web bonding gives integrity to a web in order to form a durable fabric structure and selec-
tion of the bonding technique is based on the intended end-use of the fabric [21,103]. The
most commonly used web-bonding methods are mechanical, thermal and chemical
bonding, respectively [111]. A combination of different bonding methods can be used in
order to produce a fabric with the desired properties [78].
Mechanical bonding uses needle-punching and spunlacing methods to consolidate the
web while thermal bonding is brought about by heat treatment methods such as calen-
dering and air blowing to consolidate the web. Chemical bonding differs in that it uses
binders which can be applied by coating, spraying or impregnating. Chemical substances
can be applied before and after the bonding [21]. Each of these bonding techniques has a
significant effect on the structure and properties of the final fabric [103].
5.2.1. Mechanical bonding

As discussed previously, needle-punching and spunlacing are mechanical bonding meth-
ods that are widely used to produce fabrics with adequate strength. Needle-punching
uses barbed needles to entangle the fibres while spunlacing uses water jets to entangle
fibres [16]. Needle-punching produces nonwoven fabrics that are generally thick and
heavy while spunlacing generally produces a fabric that is originally light and thin, but
which can be manipulated to produce heavy and thick fabrics [105]. Application of fin-
ishes to the fibres prior to bonding can minimize the amount of fibre damage that can
occur during mechanical separation and bonding of fibres as they reduce friction between
fibres and needles [102].
Needle-punching. Needle-punching, the most extensively-used method of manufactur-

ing nonwoven filter fabrics [78], is a mechanical bonding technique that uses barbed nee-
dles to entangle the fibres on the downward strokes of the needle board as the web
passes through the needle loom as shown in Figure 2 [71]. The carded web decreases in
thickness due to the fibres being thrust down by the needles and the fibres re-orientate
and interlock resulting in the web being compressed [16,71,78].
The strength of the needle-punched fabric can be increased by increasing needle den-
sity and depth penetration due to increase fibre entanglement and fibre to fibre contact
points and the fabric becomes less flexible and forms a fabric structure that is more com-
pact. After it reaches an optimal point, the strength starts to decrease due to fibre break-
ages that occur as a result of increased piercing, twisting and elongation of fibres beyond
their maximum fibre elongation [112–115]. Needle-punching the web from both sides
increases the fabric strength due to improved fibre entanglement by needles [16]. During
Figure 2. Diagram of a needleloom [71].

the production of filter fabrics, fibre damage must be minimized since the damaged bro-
ken fibres can easily slip out of the fabric when subjected to loading during operation, so
needling the web from both sides can prove advantageous [116].
Needle-punched filter fabrics are characterized by higher fabric thicknesses and pore
sizes per unit area [108]. A thin and lightweight filter fabric has higher air permeability
than a thick and heavy one because of decreased air flow resistance in thin and light-
weight fabrics [117]. An added disadvantage of heavy filter fabrics is that they are more
expensive to produce and they do not necessarily have the longer lifetimes than light-
weight filter fabrics that would compensate for their higher production costs.
Spunlacing. Spunlacing is a web bonding technique that uses high-speed water jets to
entangle loose fibres in the web to produce a nonwoven fabric as shown in Figure 3 [20].
In order to entangle the fibres in the web, highly-pressurized water is pumped through
capillary nozzles in the manifolds [16,20,71,78,107]. High-velocity water jets hit the web,
which is supported on a water-permeable support surface, and the turbulence that is
formed causes movement and rearrangement of fibres so that the fibres in the web
become entangled [118,119]. Most of the de-energized water is drawn off by a vacuum sys-
tem underneath each jet head, and through the perforated conveyor belt to be recycled and
used again, but some of the water leaves with the fabric and must be removed later by dry-
ing [16].
There has been a steady growth in production fuelled by the development of dispos-
able medical products, household products and industrial products [119]. The use of the
spunlacing method as a fabric manufacturing process has shown that it is possible to use
it to produce fabrics with good strength at high production speeds thereby reducing pro-
duction costs [22,120,121]. The advantage of the spunlacing method over needle-punch-
ing is that it can be used to bond thin webs together in order to produce thin nonwoven
fabrics [64]. Some of the applications of spunlaced materials extend into high-temperature
protective clothing, surgical gowns and filtration bags [16,122–124].
Fibre selection for spunlacing. By carefully selecting the fibre types to use and by varia-
tion of the spunlacing parameters, it is possible to produce a fabric with the desired
Figure 3. Spunlacing process [20].

properties because the properties of spunlaced fabrics depend on the properties of the
fibres and spunlacing processing parameters. The following fibre properties are consid-
ered when selecting fibres for spunlacing:
(1) fibre stiffness [125,126],

(2) wettability [16] and
(3) fibre dimensions [102,125,126].
Spunlacing process parameters. In order to produce a fabric with good structural integ-
rity and performance properties, the following spunlacing machine parameters are varied
during manufacturing:
(1) water jet pressure [101,107,127],

(2) nozzle geometry [123,128,129],
(3) speed of conveyor belt [107,125] and
(4) feed rate [101,107]
5.3. Finishing of the filter fabrics

Once a fabric has been produced, it is further treated by applying finishing treat-
ments in order to improve its performance, but sometimes, finishing is combined
with the bonding step and its application will have influence on the structure and
properties of the final fabric [103]. Finishing can be classified as dry (mechanical) and
wet (chemical) finishing; chemical finishing includes coating and the application of
chemical such as antistatic agents, flame retardants, ultraviolet (UV) stabilizers, hydro-
phobic and hydrophilic finishes, whereas dry finishing involves the use of thermal
treatments such as calendering and singeing, respectively [130]. Different finishing
treatments are applied depending on the intended application [16,18] often in order
to improve the fabric’s structural stability, its dust release (cleaning efficiency) and
chemical resistance properties [109,130–133].
5.3.1. Thermal finishing (mechanical finishing)

Thermal treatment is divided into calendering and singeing. In the calendering treatment,
the fabric is passed between the two heated rollers, which compress the fabrics. The tem-
perature can be varied. Singeing uses an open flame to shrink fibres protruding from the
surface of the fabrics [18]. Smooth surfaces on the filter media lead to weak adhesion of
cake to the filters and as a result their cleaning efficiency improves and there is a more
gradual change in the extent of pressure drop due to its slower build-up during dust col-
lection [134].
Calendering. Calendering is the most widely used method for the finishing of filter fab-
rics. It uses heated rollers that compress the fabric as it passes between the heated rollers.
The pressure, temperature and speed of the rollers are all adjustable according to the
type of fibre and the desired thickness of the fabric. The thickness of the fabric is con-
trolled by varying the speed of the rollers and the distance between the heated rollers
[102,131,135]. Calendering increases the packing density as the fibres may be caused to
melt, resulting in increased bonding amongst the fibres which enhances the strength of
the fabrics [136]. For operational performance requirements, low thermal shrinkage of the
fabric is required in order to maintain the desired air permeability and pressure drop, since
shrinkage reduces the size of the pores. Because of the reduced pore sizes, the particle
collection increases, especially for that of the finer particles. As would be expected, air per-
meability falls and the pressure drop increases with the degree of the calendering
[102,131,137]; moreover, the reduction in porosity of a fabric that has been heat-treated
on both sides is higher than for one that has been heat-treated on one side only [108].
Singeing. Filter fabrics made from short staple fibres have fibres protruding from their
surfaces and these protruding fibres cling to the dust cake making it difficult to release
during the cleaning cycle [109]. The protruding fibres are therefore melted by passing the
fabric over an open gas flame to yield a smooth surface [64,138], a treatment which
enhances the cleanability of the fabric bags [139]. Immediately after singeing, the fabric
must be handled with care as it deforms easily due to the presence of the hot, melted sur-
face fibres. The rate of passage of the fabric and the gas pressure are adjusted according
to the fibre type and the intensity of singeing required according to the end application
of the fabric [109]. For fabrics that have been subjected to any kind of finishing treatment,
an uneven distribution of moisture in the fabrics leads to uneven singeing because moist
fibres are not so easily melted [140].
5.3.2. Chemical treatments

Chemical treatment is often applied to filter fabrics in order to improve their abrasion
resistance, dust release, protection from degrading chemicals and also to improve their
flame retardancy [109]. Such processes are accomplished either by padding, that is by,
first, passing the fabric through a solution, and, second, removing excess solution by
squeezing it out when the fabric passes between the squeeze rolls, or by coating with a
chemically-active layer or by spraying with a chemical agent. Chemical treatment is very
effective for thin fabrics [78].
Flame retardants. Flame-retardant finishing is necessary to impart an important perfor-

mance characteristic, i.e. flame-retardant properties, to non-inherently flame-retardant
fibres when they are exposed to high temperatures and sources of ignition [141,142]. For
combustion then to take place, it requires oxygen, heat and a suitable fuel and combus-
tion will continue until any of the three is depleted [142]. The application of flame retard-
ants to the filter media is an attempt to interfere with the combustion reaction. When the
fibres decompose due to heat, they release non-flammable gases (CO2, NOx, SOx), carbo-
naceous char, flammable gases (CO, H and many oxidizing organic molecules) and tar,
which also decomposes. When the combustion temperature is reached, the flammable
gases react with oxygen to cause the combustion reaction which is characterized by the
production of heat and light. The heat produced provides additional thermal energy to
perpetuate the reaction [142].
Since dust particles can generate static electric sparks, there is a possibility that they
could ignite the filter medium if it were made from fibres that are flammable [109]. Most
of the fibres used for high-temperature applications, however, are inherently fire- and
heat-resistant, properties which arise from their own chemical composition [143].
Flame retardants are applied in order to improve the retardancy of fabrics by forming a
protective layer between the fibres and the flame [144] and any filter fabrics treated with
flame retardants must demonstrate improved self-extinguishing properties [64]. Flame
retardants can be made from compounds containing elements such as phosphorus, halo-
gens, silicon and boron [67]. In the case of those containing halogens, for example, after
combustion has initiated, halogen free radicals then inhibit further combustion by react-
ing with any reactive free radicals that have been released and rendering them inactive
[145]. Different flame retardants protect fibres at different stages in the ignition/combus-
tion process such as:
(1) absorbing thermal heat before the fibre pyrolysis temperature is reached.
(2) forming an insulating layer that protects the fibres from oxygen or heat; amongst
these types of flame retardant, there are flame retardants that promote char forma-
tion on the surface of the burning material; the char acts as a barrier and as a result
the underlying material is protected from burning [141,145,146].
(3) slowing down the pyrolysis by reacting with any polymer hydroxyl groups to pro-
duce less-flammable products such as water [142].
There are issues which arise as a result of the incorporation of flame retardant; for exam-
ple, it increases the stiffness of material [141]. Also, whilst very efficient and cost-effective,
the use of some flame retardants such as those containing halogens has created concerns
over their toxicological and environmental consequences and, as a consequence, their
use is now restricted [145,146]. (Such compounds have been linked to the development
of cancers, reproductive problems and impaired foetal brain development and as well as
causing increased smoke release and the production of corrosive gases during
combustion.)
Because of the negative effect of halogen-based flame retardants on the environment,
there is a movement towards the use of halogen-free flame retardants. One such halo-
gen-free flame retardant is ammonium polyphosphate (H12N3O4P) whose nitrogen and
phosphate content together give it its flame retardancy properties. When H12N3O4P is
exposed to soil, it releases nitrogen and phosphate which improve the fertility of the soil
[141] but in watercourses, ponds and lakes it can give rise to eutrophication. Mineral flame
retardants, such as aluminium trihydroxide (AlH6O3), are very efficient in decreasing fire
hazard; however, they require the application of large amounts to be effective and they
can cause damage to the materials into which they are incorporated. To overcome con-
cerns of harmful flame retardants, the focus is now on research into bio-based flame
retardants [145].
Antistatic finishes. Electrostatic charges can be generated both during the processing of
the fibres or in the operational use of the fabric; they arise due to fibre-to-fibre friction
and also from friction between fibres and other materials [142,147]. Synthetic fibres are
particularly susceptible to developing electrostatic charges because they are not good
conductors of electricity and the electrical charges accumulate. Antistatic finishing pre-
vents the build-up of static electricity on the fabric by increasing electrical conductivity by
lowering the electrical resistance of the polymer and by reducing frictional effects through
lubrication. Fibre conductivity is increased by the formation of a hygroscopic layer
containing mobile ions that can conduct electricity, hence high humidity lowers electrical
resistance; the moisture-rich layer that forms increases conductivity [142,147].
The antistatic agent can be applied by a spray or as a foam. In order to ensure maxi-
mum penetration of antistatic agent for effective optimal performance, the application of
the agent must be uniform and it must be resistant to abrasion so that it cannot be easily
removed by rubbing during use [142]. Because filter bags are not subjected to laundering,
the so-called non-durable antistatic agents are the type generally used for filter fabrics;
they are less volatile, less flammable and non-corrosive to the metals compared with
those that need also to withstand wet treatments, and they also show good thermal sta-
bility. Quaternary ammonium compounds are widely used as non-durable antistatic
agents because of their good antistatic effectiveness [67,148], even though the finish is
usually removed to below the minimum effective level due to fabric ‘wear and tear’ after
handling or use after one year [126]. Antistatic agents also help in the release of dust par-
ticles by preventing the dust particles from attaching to the fibre surface [109].
Polytetrafluoroethylene coating. A fabric filter can be coated with a membrane layer

made from polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) which has excellent chemical and thermal resis-
tance, and in turn, it enhances both the chemical and thermal resistance of the filter fabric.
The PTFE layer that is created is porous and forms a protective layer that covers the fibres
and it can withstand a continuous operating temperature of about 260 C [18,78,138]. It
has low coefficient of friction which enables the dust particles to penetrate deeper into
woven filter media due to less friction between the dust particles and fibres [18] and the
PTFE coating also enhances the cleaning efficiency of the filter bags as the dust particles
can be easily dislodged during cleaning cycle [78].
Nanoclay. The application of nanoclay as a finishing treatment improves fabric proper-

ties such as abrasion resistance, fire retardancy and chemical resistance by forming a pro-
tective layer on the surface of the fibres. In the case of fire retardancy, the nanoclay layer
protects the fibres by acting as a protective barrier [149]. Patnaik and Anandjiwala [19]
reported that the treatment of spunlaced PAN fabrics with nanoclay significantly
improved their chemical resistance to H2SO4; its effectiveness was attributed to the forma-
tion of a binder/nanoclay layer on the surface fibres as shown in Figure 5 [19]. In terms of
weight loss after exposure to H2SO4, the filter fabrics that were treated with nanoclay
showed a weight loss of less than 1%, whereas for the un-treated fabrics the weight loss
was 3.1% as shown in Table 2 [19], indicating that treatment of filter fabrics with finishing
agents such as nanoclay, that form a barrier between acids and fibre surface, can signifi-
cantly reduce fibre damage.
Anti-oxidants. Antioxidants are added to the polymer during the preparation of fibres;
however, the antioxidants will decompose and gasify due to their characteristically low
decomposition temperature as the polymer is usually spun into filaments at relatively
higher temperatures. For example, for PPS (polyphenylene sulphide), the filament spin-
ning temperature is greater than 310 C and regarding the addition of antioxidants to the
polymer, it has been indicated that they interfere with the spinnability of the fibres during
the processing [74]; the fibres’ mechanical properties are badly affected when they are
oxidized.
Figure 4. SEM image of the H2SO4-treated clean bag at magnification 1000£ [19].
Heat induces auto-oxidation of fibres due to the formation of free radicals that react
with oxygen to form hydro peroxides [126]. The increasing concentration of free radicals
is an indication of polymer degradation [63]. The decomposition of hydro peroxides
causes polymer chain scission, cross-linking and formation of colour due to the creation
of chromophores. The decomposition depends on the type of the fibres and the extent of
their exposure to oxygen. In order to limit the formation of free radicals, antioxidants are
applied to the fibres. There are two types of antioxidants, primary and secondary antioxi-
dants [126]. The primary antioxidants trap any free radicals that are being formed by
donating hydrogen to the free radical, whereas the secondary antioxidants interfere with
the propagation steps of auto-oxidation by decomposing the formed hydro peroxide into
a stable non-radical species. The most common primary antioxidants are aromatic amines
such as diphenylamines, while the common secondary antioxidants are organophosphites
and thioesters such as tris-nonylphenylphosphite and lauryl esters [126].
6. Filtration
Both woven and nonwoven media are used for various types of filtration applications. This
issue of Textile Progress mainly discusses the nonwoven filter media used in power plants
and the automotive, building, health care and chemical industries.
When coal is burned, it generates hazardous substances such as fly ash, and the gases
SOx and NOx. These substances are considered the main toxic pollutants based on their
significant impact on the environment and human health [150] and new environmental
regulations are being adopted by various countries to control their levels of emission
from coal power plants [151]. Coal-fired power plants can reduce their emissions by using
combinations of several different filtration technologies such as baghouse filters, flue gas
desulphurization (FGD), and electrostatic precipitators (ESPs) to capture harmful pollutants
[150–155].
Figure 5. Spunlaced sample coated with a mixture of 9% nanoclay and binder, (a) view at a magnifica-
tion of 150£, (b) view of the sample at 1000£ [19].
Table 2. Weight losses in various bags and spunlaced filter sample after acid dew point test [19].
Weight before acidic Weight after acidic Changes in weight after
Sample treatment (g), X treatment (g), Y acidic treatment (%)
Clean bag (C) 27.351 26.500 3.111
Nanoclay and binder-coated bag 28.562 28.501 0.213
(CB)
Nanoclay and binder-coated 13.252 13.211 0.309
spunlaced fabric 1-PAN 100%
Nanoclay and binder-coated 13.541 13.523 0.132
spunlaced fabric 2-PAN blend
Figure 6. A schematic of a coal power plant filtration process [152].
In Figure 6, a schematic diagram of a coal power plant filtration process is shown

[150]. The simultaneous use of ESPs, FGD and a baghouse greatly reduces the emissions
of toxic gases and particles. In such an arrangement, the ESP is installed just after the
boiler in order to capture dust particles and the baghouse is installed after the FGD to
remove any solid products that were formed in the FGD and the dust that was captured
by the ESP [152,153]. The selection of the desired filtration control devices not only
involves care in the selection of the fibre type to use in filters, but also consideration of
the required collection efficiency, cleaning efficiency, structural stability and flow resis-
tance [154,155]. It estimated that the filtration devices installed in a new power plant
account for 10%–20% of the capital cost and, in addition, there are also the ongoing
operational costs of running and maintaining the filtration system [156]. Currently,
there is no single air filtration device that can remove all of the main pollutants in coal
power plants to the desired levels, and hence a combination of different filtration devi-
ces must be used.
Fly ash is the fine solid by-product that is produced in bulk when coal is burned. Analy-
sis of the fly ash obtained from different types of coal showed that its composition differs
not only because of the type of coal being burned, but also on account of the influence of
boiler-operating conditions such as temperature. The fly ash is captured by the filtering
devices when the flue gas flows through them [157] and small amounts of SOx and NOx
are removed by the fly ash when it reacts with them.
Filter bags and ESPs together are the most widely used methods to capture toxic fly ash
from the flue gas. As the flue gas passes through the filter bags or ESPs, the dust particles
in it are captured by the fibres from which the filter bags are made or by the collecting
electrodes of the ESP. Fibre-based filter bags demonstrate higher filtration efficiencies
than ESPs [158]; whilst the ESP uses electrostatic force to capture the dust particles and
dust particles are charged when they pass through an electric field and are attracted and
collected by the collecting plates, the quantity of the charge that the dust particles pos-
sess is affected not only by the electric field but also by flue gas composition [159].
Historically, needle-punching is the technique that was selected for the manufacture of
the nonwoven filter fabrics used to make filter bags for the coal-fired power industries. As
mentioned in Section 5.2.1, it uses barbed needles to entangle the fibres in the web [21]
but the barbed needles cause damage to the fibres during entanglement and damaged
fibres have negative effect on the structural integrity of the filter fabrics resulting in the
performance and durability of the fabrics being affected [22]. Also since the produced fil-
ter fabrics are heavy and thick, they tend to give a high pressure drop between the out-
side and inside of the filter due to high resistance to air flow [21].
In order to overcome the high pressure drop and fibre damage associated with the
needle-punched fabrics, the spunlacing technique is being explored as an alternative
method for producing nonwoven filter fabrics [19] as they can have high filtration effi-
ciency as well as low pressure drop properties [16,119].
6.1. Fly ash

Fly ash is a toxic fine solid by-product that is produced during the combustion of pulverized
coal. It is composed of fine particles in the range of 1.5–100 mm [160]. The particles and ele-
ments it contains are highly toxic to human beings and environment, and its emission lev-
els are controlled, as mentioned earlier, by using different filtration devices such as ESP and
filter bags [161,162]. It is the fine particles often categorized into two groups:
(1) smaller than 10 mm (PM10) and

(2) less than 2.5 mm diameter (PM2.5),
which are associated with human health problems because they can be drawn deep in to
the lungs, whereas larger particles tend to be trapped in the mouth, nose or throat. Fine
suspended particulate matter has been associated with human respiratory system, immune
function and the central nervous system diseases [139], so the World Health Organization
(WHO) threshold set for PM10 is 20 mg/m3 annual mean, 50 mg/m3 for 24 hours average
and for NO2 is 40 mg/m3 annual mean, and 200 mg/m3 hourly average [163].
Different types of coal give rise to different fly ash compositions and the temperature at
which coal is burned also influences the fly ash composition, but in general, the major
components of fly ash are SiO2 and Al2O3 as well as traces of Hg, As, Mn, Zn, Cd, Pb, Cu, Ni
and Cr [157,161,164]. Table 3 shows the major chemicals found in coal fly ash [161].
Table 3. Major chemicals found in fly ash produced from different coal types [161].
Components (wt.%) Bituminous (wt.%) Sub-bituminous (wt.%) Lignite (wt.%)
SiO2 20–60 40–60 15–45
Al2O3 5–35 20–30 10–25
Fe2O3 10–40 4–10 4–15
CaO 1–12 5–30 15–40
MgO 0–5 1–6 3–10
SO3 0–4 0–2 0–10
Na2O 0–4 0–2 0–6
K2O 0–3 0–4 0–4
LOI 0–15 0–3 0–5
A small percentage of pollutants like SOx, NOx and mercury are adsorbed by the fly ash
and this effect complements the conventional filtration methods used to remove these
gases and the mercury [161]. The adsorbed pollutants and the fly ash are captured by an
ESP or filter bag and form a cake on its surface. Fly ash rich in silica, alumina and iron does
not react easily with SOx as the surface of the fly ash becomes glassy and less absorbent.
To increase the adsorption of fly ash, ammonia is injected to react with SOx and moisture
to form ammonium bisulphate (NH4)HSO4. As (NH4)HSO4 melts, it binds particles together
making them easier to be captured, but excessive amounts of ammonia reduces adsorp-
tion as it leads to the formation of ammonium sulphate (NH4)2SO4 rather than (NH4)HSO4
[17].
The majority of the fly ash produced and collected after coal is burned is held in ash
dams or dumps and this creates a financial burden as this hazardous waste must be man-
aged; most is dumped into landfill sites and only a little finds application in the construc-
tion and cement industry. To reduce the negative environmental impact of fly ash, it is
being explored as a source of rare earth elements (Ce, La, Nd, Dy, Gd, Sm, Yb, Lu, Eu, Tb
and Tm) and there is also the suggestion that fly ash can also be used as a source of ura-
nium [2]. It has been reported that the unburned carbon content in the waste fly ash can
be activated to remove any NOx and mercury that are present [165,166].
6.1.1. Removal of fly ash

The dust particles generated during coal combustion are removed from the flue gas by
using filter bags or ESPs.
Filter bags. Fabric filtration is regarded as the traditional, cost-effective way to capture
and control particles that would otherwise be released into the environment [167], and
fabric bags are widely used because of their higher filtration efficiency. Their disadvantage
is the high pressure drop that results as the collection of dust continues, causing the bags
to become worn out or damaged [168–170]. In the early stages of the filtration industry, it
was woven fabrics that were initially used to capture hazardous dust particles. Advances
in the development of nonwoven technology lead to woven filter fabrics largely being
replaced by nonwoven fabrics which have the ability to lead to higher collection levels of
dust particles and therefore of higher cleaning efficiency than any other dust filtration
method used in coal-fired power stations [98,171,172]. Because of the harsh environment
in the baghouse, very few fibre types prove to be suitable for the manufacture of filter fab-
rics as the environment is harsh due to the presence of acid gases (HCl, SO2 and SO3) and
alkaline compounds (CaOH, CaO and NaOH) and because the fibres must be able to with-
stand operating temperatures in the range of 150–250 C [16,173].
The most widely used fibres to produce filter bags for application in coal power plants
are PAN, PPS and P84 fibres with recommended maximum operating temperatures of
125, 190 and 260 C, respectively [174].
A baghouse may contain tens or thousands of filter bags, depending on its capacity
[175], and in order to reduce cost of building the baghouse, space is saved by using long
filter bags with small-area openings. Bags and cages can be up to seven metres or longer.
A filter bag with good filtration performance must have high particle-collection efficiency
whilst still maintaining high air-permeability and low pressure-drop characteristics
[172,176]. Factors that influence filtration performance are:
(1) the chemical and physical properties of the dust,

(2) the dust particle size distribution,
(3) the flue gas velocity and its properties, and
(4) the filter medium type and its geometry [133].
As mentioned earlier, a woven scrim is incorporated into the nonwoven in order to further
enhance fabric filter tensile and bursting strengths as well as the abrasion resistance but
the incorporation of the scrim decreases air permeability due to the increase fibre entan-
glement of the fibres and scrim and as such the pore sizes decrease and air flow resistance
increases [102].
A filter fabric’s dust collection efficiency and effectiveness involves different mecha-
nisms namely inertial impaction, interception, diffusion and electrostatic mechanisms
[177]. As the flue gas flows through the filter bags, the dust particles are captured by the
fibres by using any of the above-mentioned mechanisms. As more and more particles are
captured, the pores are filled and dust particles start collecting on the surface to form a
dust cake layer. The cake layer also serves as a filtration medium [178]. As the collection
continues, the pressure drop or flow resistance across the filter bag increases and when a
predetermined pressure is reached, the filter bag is cleaned by using reverse pulse jet,
reverse air flow and mechanical methods. The reverse pulse jet is the most widely utilized
method because of its high cleaning efficiency [17,25]. Cleaning breaks the adhesive
bonds between the cake and the fabric, and the cake layer is broken into smaller pieces.
The force required to break the bond increases with the thickness of the cake layer and
the presence of moisture also increases the adhesion between the particles and fibres,
meaning more pressure will be required to clean the bags [178]. Finishing treatments
applied to the filter fabrics in order to enhance their performance properties, such as treat-
ment of the filter fabric with PTFE, increase the pressure drop due to the decreased pore
size because of the coverage of the PTFE on the surface of the filter fabric [19].
As mentioned previously, nonwoven filter bags have high filtration efficiency for the fly
ash and are better at removing fine dust particles than the ESP [171]. According to some
authors, the filtration efficiency of filter bags is about 99.95% [179], while others say it is
around 80%–95% [174]. The bags show high removal efficiency of small particulate mat-
ter; however, due to the high degree of penetration of these small particles, the bags
experience high pressure drop [180]. When the filter bags are used together with ESP in
order to further improve the cleaning efficiency, it provides an added advantage in that it
increases the lifetime of the filter bags as they are subjected to fewer cleaning cycles in a
given period of time and less force [171].
Unlike for ESP, fly ash resistivity does not influence the filtration efficiency of the filter
bags, but the disadvantage of the bags is that they require a large amount of space in
order to minimize the probability of them rubbing against each other. Use of the ESP and
the bags together is dependent on the maximum operating temperature of the fibres
used to make the bags and they cannot be used at extremely high temperatures [17].
Even though the fibres used in making the filter bags may be able to withstand acids and
alkalis, constant exposure to these chemicals will shorten their lifetime. Another disadvan-
tage of the bags is that as more and more dust particles are captured and even though
the contaminated filter bags are cleaned, the pressure drop will continue to increase with
the lifetime of the filter bags; it will eventually reach a stage where cleaning cannot reduce
the pressure drop to an acceptable level and when that stage is reached, they will have to
be replaced with new filter bags [171]. The conventional lifetime of the bags is around 3–
5 years [181]; their replacement with new ones is expensive not least because the com-
partment that houses them has to be taken offline during replacement and this increases
the operational cost of maintenance [171].
Electrostatic precipitator. The ESP is a filtration device that uses electrical force to
remove dust particles from the flue gas. Dust particles are charged and attracted to the
oppositely charged electrodes due to their electrostatic charge [172]. The electrodes are
placed in rows across the width of the ESP as shown in Figure 7 [181]. The ESP filtration
system has two zones, one zone for the charging of particles and the other for the collec-
tion and removal of particles. The zones can be located in the same or different areas.
Where the zones are located in one area, the system is referred to as a single-stage con-
ventional ESP and where they are in different areas, it is called a two-stage conventional
ESP [181,182]. The two mechanisms for particle charging are field and diffusion charging.
Field charging uses ions from an external source to confer charge to the dust particles. In
diffusion charging, particles are charged when they collide with gaseous ions and no
external electrical source is required to charge the particles [183].
The ESP collection efficiency is affected by dust particle size and resistivity. Dust resis-
tivity is influenced by flue gas composition, temperature and moisture. Highly resistive
dust reduces the electric field’s intensity and acts as a discharge [184,185]. Addition of
small amounts of nitrogen oxide (NO) and ammonia into the flue gas reduces the dust
resistivity. NO lowers the dust’s electrical resistivity while ammonia enhances the electrical
charge and cohesiveness of the particles [17,185]. The collection efficiency improves with
dust-particle size [182] and deteriorates with decreasing particle size and as a result the
ESP is not very efficient in the removal of very fine particles [183,184]. In a study to com-
pare the filtration efficiency of filter bags and ESP, it was reported that the bags have a
Figure 7. Electrostatic precipitator [181].

constant collection efficiency of 99.95% for particles in the range 0.5–10 mm whereas the
ESP’s efficiency was lower and varied from 99.8% for particles with diameter of 20 mm to
97% for particles with diameter of 1 mm [179].
Higher temperatures reduce the ESP efficiency by decreasing the density of gases and
increasing the kinetic energy of molecules and this enhances the movement of particles.
In order to ensure that the particles have enough residence time to be collected by the
electrodes, the rate of flue gas flow must be uniform [182,125]. For dry dust, the resistivity
becomes greater with the increase in temperature, and temperature rises of about 20–
50 C are required to bring about a significant change in dust resistivity.
The presence of moisture at lower temperatures increases fly ash electrical resistivity
by forming a conducting layer on the fly ash particles [17,185,186]. At a given moisture
content, the resistivity increases with increase in temperature from 100 to 200 C.
Above these temperatures, the resistivity increases at a rate approaching that of dry
dust. Because higher temperatures increase particle electrical resistivity, the dust is
made less resistive by lowering the temperature; however, there is a price to pay,
because lowering the temperatures increases the possibility of moisture formation and
this will cause dust to harden when it is collected on the collecting electrodes. The
hardened dust is difficult to remove from the collecting electrodes during the cleaning
cycle and it also causes uneven distribution of dust; excessively high humidity leads to
the formation of acids [17,185,186].
Particles are collected on the collecting electrodes and build a cake layer and that is
periodically removed by rapping the plates with pneumatic or electrical hammers
[172,179]. Excessive rapping decreases the cleaning efficiency due to re-entrainment of
particles and re-entrainment is high for highly-resistive fly ash particles as these particles
have a greater tendency to repel each other. Sticky and highly-resistive fly ash is more dif-
ficult to remove than dry and less-resistive fly ash [47,179].
The ESPs have a longer lifetime than filter bags and are able to operate at higher tem-
peratures of up to 850 C while maintaining a low pressure drop loss, and as a result their
maintenance requirements are low [182], but for effective cleaning, particles in the ESP
must be charged but their collection efficiency is affected by dust resistivity. The collection
of particles is also influenced by particle size as particles with different sizes are charged to
differing degrees. The collection efficiency improves with increasing particle size and falls
with decreasing particle size and, as a result, the ESP is not highly efficient in the removal
of very fine particles [183,184]; also, the use of high voltages in ESP systems increases the
risk of fire [186].
6.2. Filtration mechanisms

In terms of the way in which dust particle loading occurs, the four basic mechanisms
describe filtration process by the filter fabrics, and mechanisms which are based on fabric
structure [23] are:
(1) surface filtration,

(2) cake filtration,
(3) depth straining and
(4) depth filtration (retaining).
They have been classified broadly into two sections, surface and depth filtrations [177];
surface and cake filtrations occur on the surface of the filter whereas depth straining and
depth filtration occur inside the filter. Depth straining and depth filtration are very effi-
cient in filtration; however, filters that depend on these mechanisms have higher pressure
drop than filters that use surface filtration, and that high pressure drop increases energy
consumption and therefore the cost of overcoming the higher pressure drop [177,187–
196]. The cost of increases in pressure drop also raises another cost, namely that of devel-
oping the extra pressure required to clean the filter [133].
Some of the smaller particles are trapped inside the pores as the pore size falls over
time and the pore openings become smaller than the particles. On the one hand, apart
from being captured in the pores, the particles that are smaller than the pores are also
captured by the fibre even though they are smaller than the filter pore size. Large par-
ticles, on the other hand, are collected on the surface of the filter and also serve to trap
small particles resulting in the formation of a cake layer, consisting of both large and small
particles. All of these mechanisms are able to take place at the same time as the gas flows
though the filter medium, hence the high filtration efficiency of filter fabrics [177].
6.2.1. Surface filtration

Surface filtration works by the direct interception mechanism. In this mechanism, dust
particles smaller than the pores can be retained over the surface through the formation of
bridges over the pores as shown in Figure 8 [177]. There are two different aspects to this
mechanism, namely, sieving and bridging, both of which happen during the filtration pro-
cess [177], and the majority of the dust-cake formation occurs by a combination of block-
ing and bridging. In the case of the blocking mechanism, the sizes of the dust particles are
bigger than the pore size so they are captured by a sieving type of action [177]. Typically,
particles more than 10mm are captured by this process. In case of the bridging filtration, a
higher concentration of smaller particles forms a bridge over the pores which are even
smaller than them hence a stable cake can grow and filtration will continue further.
Figure 8. Mechanism of surface filtration: (a) complete blocking filtration; (b) bridging filtration [177].
6.2.2. Cake filtration

Cake filtration involves the capture of particles on the surface of the filter fabric [24,71,177];
as more and more particles are trapped on the surface of the fabric filter, they form a layer
which acts as a pre-filtration filter medium. The structure of the cake is complex and its fil-
tration efficiency is influenced by the cake’s permeability, pore size, particle size and com-
pressibility [24]. During the cleaning process, the cake is removed and collected in the
hopper for safe disposal [78,187], but in some filtration processes, the cake is the main com-
ponent of the filtration process and it needs to be recovered so that it can be re-used.
The cake flow resistance is influenced by cake porosity, distribution of cake area load
and distribution of filtration velocity. Increasing the flow velocity accelerates the clogging
of the filter due to faster cake thickness growth, and the cake also becomes more compact
[138,187]. As filtration continues, more particles accumulate on the surface of the filter
fabrics and the filtration efficiency of the filter bags increases with the thickness of the fil-
ter cake [23]; however, this high filtration efficiency is accompanied by high flow resis-
tance and pressure drop as more pores are blocked by particles [191]. The formation of
cake adds an additional pressure drop which increases linearly with cake thickness, pro-
vided that there is no cake compression [132,168].
6.2.3. Depth straining

Particles move within pores that are funnel-shaped until they reach a necking point
[24,71,78,177]. At this point, they cannot move further because the diameter of the pores
is smaller than the particles as shown in Figure 9 [177]. The trapped particles cannot
Figure 9. Depth filtration: (a) depth straining mechanism; (b) depth retaining mechanism [177].
escape and the pores become clogged. Flow resistance and pressure drop increase as
more particles become trapped at various neck points. To lower the flow resistance and
pressure drop, the filter must be cleaned or replaced with a new one [192].
6.2.4. Depth filtration (retaining)

In depth filtration, particles are trapped on the wall of the filter medium even though they
are smaller than the pore diameters of the filters [177,193]. In this process, a particle may
lose some of its velocity and become attached to the pore wall or another particle by van
der Waal’s and other surface forces of attraction.
6.3. Mechanism of particle capture by fibres

Small particles are those which are able to penetrate the cake layer and the fabric filter.
Smaller particles are generally collected inside the filter pores; some even when they are
smaller than the fabric pores, and the capturing of these small particles inside the pores
involves different dust-capturing mechanisms by the fibres namely Brownian diffusion,
inertial impaction, direct interception, gravitational and electrostatic mechanisms as
shown in Figure 10 [177].
Figure 10. (a) Diffusion: (b) inertial impaction; (c) direct interception; (d) gravitational; and (e) electro-
static attraction [177].
6.3.1. Brownian diffusion

As a result of impacts from fast-moving gas molecules, dust particles randomly collide
with each other resulting in them not following the air flow streamlines and, as a result,
they are attracted by the fibres when they collide with them. This method is efficient in
removing very small particles that are smaller even than the size of the pores
[177,190,196]; such particle deposition increases with decreasing particle size at low flow
velocities [195].
6.3.2. Inertial impaction

Inertial impaction occurs when a particle is caught by the fibre once the distance between
the fibre and particle is equal or smaller than the half the particle diameter [24]. When the
particle collides with the fibre, its inertia will work to maintain its direction of travel whilst
the energy in the air flow will work to change its direction and drag it around the fibre.
However, if its inertia is higher than the drag force of the air stream, the particle will devi-
ate from the air flow stream lines and be deposited on the fibre surface. Particle deposi-
tion increases with increasing particle size and air flow velocity [195], and particles larger
than 1mm are generally collected by this method [177,194].
6.3.3. Direct interception

Interception occurs when a particle does not have enough inertia to break away from the
air stream and come close enough to the fibre to be attracted by forces of attraction
between the fibre and the particle such as Van der Waal’s forces. For this capture to occur,
the distance between the particle and the fibre surface must be half its width or less than
the radius of the particle [78,177].
6.3.4. Gravitational
Capture resulting from gravitational forces is mainly applicable for large dust particles.
Generally, dust particles are moving along with the flow stream, but if there are sudden
changes in the velocity of the gas stream, due to reduced speed and inertia, the larger
particles settle at the bottom of the filter [177]. There is no effective interaction between
fibre and particles in this mechanism.
6.3.5. Electrostatic attraction

Electrostatic attraction occurs when opposite electric charges are present between the par-
ticles and the fibres and, as a result, particles are attracted to the wall of the fibres. The
mechanism is efficient in removing very fine particles [78,177]. Particle collection efficiency
for this mechanism is highly dependent on the electrical resistivity of the fly ash [17].
6.4. Filter cleaning mechanisms

The aim of cleaning the filter bags is try to get their shape/structure as close to their origi-
nal condition as possible, even though this cannot be fully achieved because of the pres-
ence of the residual thin layer of dust which cannot be removed during the cleaning
cycle. The residual pressure drop will keep on rising due to the growing quantity of par-
ticles remaining despite the effort being made to bring about their removal; because of
the increasing numbers of particles undergoing continued retention and consequent
build-up of the layer of residual dust, cleaning has to be carried out more frequently and
this will require the use of higher cleaning pressure.
Cleaning the filter bags prevents the overworking of the fans used to drive the air
through the filters [178]. As separated dust particles are collected, the filter pressure-drop
increases and the bags are therefore cleaned in order to reduce the pressure drop either
when a fixed time interval has elapsed, or when a predetermined upper pressure is
reached. This process is repeated continually [138,175]. The three different cleaning tech-
niques that are used to clean filter bags are mechanical shakers, reverse airflow and
reverse pulse jet. Selection of the cleaning technique is based on cost and the level of
cleaning efficiency required [25,139,178]. The selection also depends on the type of the
fabric used (woven or nonwoven) and the nature of the dust cake, depending on whether
it is loosely attached or not. For loosely-attached dust cake, the mechanical shakers and
reverse airflow can be used successfully, while for dust cake which is not loosely attached
and cannot be easily removed, the reverse pulse jet is the preferred method for cleaning
filter fabric bags [23,25,139]. The reverse pulse jet uses highly-pressurized air to clean the
bags [23] and the idea is that the cake will be detached by applying a force that is equal
to the cohesive strength between the cake and the filter medium. For effective cleaning
efficiency, the magnitude of the pressure required to effectively detach the dust particles
must be known [133] and be set to this level, as the force applied must be sufficient
enough to break the adhesive bond but not cause any damage to the filter bags [178].
For those filter bags that are cleaned less frequently, the pressure required to
remove the dust particles tends to be higher than that for frequently-cleaned filters
[133]. This effect may be attributed due to the presence of a residual dust layer of par-
ticles after cleaning, as was mentioned earlier. The adhesiveness of the cake increases
with its thickness due to concurrent increase in the internal tensile strength of the
cake. High humidity increases adhesion due to the exertion of capillary forces of
attraction caused by surface tension between the adsorbed molecular layer of water
vapour, the particles and the fibres, whereas at low humidity, the dominant forces of
attraction are Van der Waal’s and electrostatic forces, respectively. The amount of force
required to break the adhesive bond influences the degree of damage that may be
inflicted on the filter bags during cleaning. It also influences the running cost of the
baghouse as the amount of electrical energy consumed corresponds with the pressure
used to clean the filter bags [178].
Poor selection of cleaning method and filter fabrics can cause premature failure and
inadequate cleaning of the filter bags. Excessive moisture in the bag house increases dust
adhesion and results in poor cleaning efficiency and a high flow-rate of the gas causes the
dust particles to be deposited deeper in the fabric and, as a consequence, they are more
difficult to remove during the cleaning cycle [25]. Dust leakage often occurs during the
brief cleaning cycle as the cake layer serves as a protection layer and there are now not
sufficient dust particles inside the filter bag to trap new dust particles entering the filter
bag. Leaks might also occur due to improperly seated bags or gaskets, bad welds or a
missing bolt in the plenum plate. Dust particle re-entrainment has a small effect on the
emissions levels of fabric filters [175,197].
Each filtration system is designed to operate within a specific range of pressure drop, so
the cleaning frequency must ensure that the maximum pressure drop is not reached/
exceeded. Some cleaning systems are fitted with differential-pressure gauges that
measure the pressure drop across the filter which then triggers the cleaning cycle if a pre-
set pressure drop is reached. All baghouse designs use fans or compressors to provide an
adequate flow of air in the baghouse system and it is common for these units to be
installed on the clean side of the filter bags [198]. When the flue gas flows through the fil-
ters, the fly ash particles in it are trapped and the gas without the dust particles is carried
to the stack to be discharged. The dust collected by the filter bags forms a cake and the
pressure drop increases as more pores are blocked. In order to prevent excessive build-up
of dust and as well as to maintain an acceptable pressure drop across the filter bags, these
bags are cleaned periodically [26].
The bags are replaced when further attempts at cleaning the filter bags are unable to
remove large amounts of residual cake and the pressure drop remains extremely high,
because a high air-to-cloth ratio increases the operating cost as the particles are deposited
deeper inside the filter bags and when the bags are attempted to be cleaned, it is difficult
to remove such particles [181,199]. There are competing requirements: by increasing the
number of times the filter bags are cleaned, the energy costs and susceptibility of the
bags to filter damage increase, but reducing the number of times the filter bags are
cleaned causes a drop in the filtration capacity of the baghouse.
6.4.1. Mechanical shaking

The method operates by mechanically shaking the suspended filter bags to remove the
attached dust cake. Filter bags are suspended from a supporting device that is connected
to an arm of a shaking device as shown in Figure 11 [25]. Cages are not required to sup-
port the filter bags so that the filter bags can be easily shaken [25].
Contaminated air containing dust flows upwards into the filter bags and dust is col-
lected on the outside or inside on the surface of the filter bags. As the dust is captured by
the filter bags, the pressure drop starts to increase until it reaches a predetermined upper
limit. The flow of gas is then stopped and the shaker is operated in order to dislodge the
dust and the dust falls into a hopper [25]. For a continuous-operation filter system, multi-
ple compartments are built into the system so that when one compartment of filters is
stopped for cleaning purposes, the other compartments can continue to operate.
Depending on the condition of service, the filters can be shaken within a few minutes and
if the time between the shaking can be increased, the operating maintenance of the filter
bags is reduced. In some cases, reverse flow is also used together with shakers to further
increase the cleaning efficiency of the filter bags beyond that which can be achieved by
the shaker-cleaning process alone [198,200]. The shaking method causes more fabric
damage than any other cleaning method because the movement causes excessive defor-
mation of the filter bags, so heavy and durable fabrics need to be used to make filter bags
suitable for mechanical shaking [25].
6.4.2. Reverse air flow

Reverse air flow can be used for cleaning of both woven and nonwoven filter bags, as it
only utilizes low pressure, due to which it causes less wear on the filter bags than mechan-
ical shakers and it allows the use of light-weight filter bags [25]. In the cleaning step, after
the contaminated gas flow is stopped, a fan forces the clean air to flow in the opposite
direction to the contaminated gas flow as shown in Figure 12 [25]. The opposing direc-
tional flow of gas causes the filter bags to collapse resulting in the dust particles being
Figure 11. Schematic of mechanical shaking process [25].
detached from the filter bags and they fall into the hopper. Rings are sewn into the filter
bags in order to prevent the complete collapse of the filter bags. The cleaning cycle must
be long enough to allow dust to fall from the filter bags into the hopper, hence the clean-
ing of the filter bags is generally performed off-line [198,200].
6.4.3. Pulse jet cleaning

The pulse-jet cleaning technique is the most widely utilized and effective cleaning
method for nonwoven filter bags, as it allows cleaning of the filter bags without stopping
the filtration flow [139,201]. It utilizes jets of highly-pressurized clean air to clean the filter
bags. Jet-equipment-related factors that influence pulse-jet cleaning are jet distance, noz-
zle diameter, venture tube, pulse duration and tank pressure [202]. Woven filter bags that
are cleaned by pulse-jet cleaning, however, leak lots of dust particles because the high air
velocity results in some of the dust being drawn immediately to other bags and causes the
formation of a very thick layer on the bags as little of this dust falls into the hopper. In
order to avoid this problem, separate compartments are used during the cleaning
[139,201]. The pulse-jet cleaning method is very efficient in removing both coarse and
very fine particles [203]. Surface finishing treatments such as singeing, calendering, mem-
brane-coating or laminating are performed in order to enhance the cleanability of bags
intended to be subjected to pulse-jet cleaning [139].
Reverse pulse-jet cleaning system consists of a compressed air supply, system control
valve and blow tube [178]. The blow tube is connected to the valve. Each filter bag has a
venturi nozzle which is used to guide the air at the top of the bag and the number of noz-
zles is the same as the number of filter bags as shown in Figure 12 [139]. The use of the
venturi has been reported to improve the effectiveness of cleaning. The compressed air
flows at a very high velocity during the cleaning cycle, but the energy consumption used
for air compression increases the cost of the reverse pulse-jet collector system [170,178].
During the cleaning cycle, the valve is released, and a short burst of highly-pressurized
air flows through the tube to the venturi nozzle and is injected into the filter bags and a
sudden increase of the pulse pressure creates shockwaves that spread from the top to the
Figure 12. Schematic of a reverse pulse-jet cleaning process [25].

bottom of the filter bags [203]. The shockwaves push the filter bags away from the filter
cage and the bags snap, causing the dust to dislodge from the filter bags [170]. Each filter
bag is supported on the inside by a cylindrical wire cage to prevent the filter bag from col-
lapsing due to the pressure drop across it. The cage reduces the lifetime of the filter bags
as a result of abrasion between it and the filter fabric during expansion and contraction
actions of the filter bag. The filter bag cages are designed in such a way that they can be
easily installed and removed [204].
In pulse-jet cleaning, the air flow direction is in the opposite direction to the filtration
flow [167], so a short burst of highly-pressurized air must be sufficient enough to dislodge
the dust without stopping the flow of contaminated air through the baghouse. Insufficient
shockwave intensity and uneven flow of the shockwave causes patchy cleaning of the fab-
ric bags; certain parts of the filter are cleaned while other parts still have dust particles
which result in an increase in the pressure drop across the filter and a decrease in the fil-
tration cycle time of the fabric filters [26]. Also, using a pulse-jet pressure that is too low to
completely detach the cake can cause patchy cleaning [138] or it may be due to non-uni-
formity of the void fraction in the filters and the cake, a result of which is that there are
weak points that will assist in crack propagation [133]. Patchy cleaning causes shorter fil-
tration periods and cleaning interval. Smaller filtration velocity leads to less residual dust
[202].
To avoid excessive cleaning of the bags, short-pulse jets are preferred to minimize
mechanical damage to the bags [197], but the dust particles must be moderately heavy or
in clumps in order to drop into the hopper; otherwise if they are light, they will float
around and be deposited back onto the filters after the short duration of pulse-jet clean-
ing [198,200].
Although pulse-jet cleaning can be performed off-line, it is usually performed online
because it utilizes high pressure up to 690 kPa and is of a short duration of less than 0.1
second, which makes it possible to continuously operate without stopping the filtration
operation despite the fact that it has been reported that cleaning the filter bags online
causes some of the dust to be deposited on neighbouring filters instead of falling into the
hopper [198,200]. As a result, there is a growing trend to build baghouses with multiple
compartments, so that when one compartment is closed for cleaning, other compart-
ments will continue to operate, so as not to stop the entire filtration system [198,200].
Pulse-jet cleaning is typically performed more frequently than reverse air flow and
mechanical shaking methods and its frequency allows higher air filtration velocity than
other cleaning methods. The filter bags make less of a movement during the cleaning
step and this allows more filter bags to be packed closer to each other in a small space,
resulting in a significant savings in the building costs of a filtration bag house [25].
7. Filter failure in power plants

Filter bags are subjected to repeating cyclic loading during operation that causes the
deterioration and breakage of the filter bags. Filter-bag failure is dependent on the prop-
erties of the fibres used to make the bags and the operating conditions in the baghouse.
The damage to the filter bag often occurs gradually depending on the rate of thermal,
mechanical stress or chemical attack. This may involve a small area or the whole of the fil-
ter bag. Failure that initially involves a small crack is very difficult to detect by non-
destructive detection techniques and it may propagate quickly under load leading to sud-
den failure of the material [27,205]. Wear in filter bags is closely related to the frequency
of their cleaning. Pulse cleaning leads to the deformation of the filter bags and flexing of
the filter causes shear stress to develop in the cake and as a result cracks develop and the
cake structure weakens [133]; the filter bag fabric needs to continue to be able to with-
stand such stresses throughout its useful life. An increased filtration velocity leads to the
use of higher cleaning pressure and this has an effect on the stability and filter service life
[202].
Degradation of the fibres will affect the mechanical properties of the filter bags [63]
and any damaged filter bags may leak and, as a result, the coal-fired plant may exceed its
daily emissions levels. Damaged filter bags must be replaced and this affects the operat-
ing cost of the baghouse [175,206]. Leakage results in the loss of filtration efficiency. Qin
et al. reported the obvious, in 2006, that a baghouse that has few filter bags with one bro-
ken filter bag has lower filtration efficiency than a baghouse with many filter bags with
one damaged filter bag, and that any increase in emission rate over the baseline for a bag-
house with few bags is higher than that with many filter bags [27]. More interestingly, they
point out that filter failure can be predicted by observing a decrease in pressure drop as a
result of decreasing resistance to the air flow rate, and as more bags fail, changes in flow
rate due to the collection of particles diminish as there will be more flow through the bro-
ken parts of the filter bag [27].
7.1. Thermal failure

Fibres that are exposed to extremely high temperatures, which they cannot withstand,
undergo physical and chemical changes to their structure and, as a result, the filter fabric’s
physical, electrical and mechanical properties are also affected [67]. Most filter fabrics
degrade at high temperature [194]. Higher temperatures cause changes in the molecular
structure of the material which may increase the material’s stiffness and reduction in elon-
gation to break. Strong oscillation of fibres at higher temperatures causes more chain scis-
sion leading to bond breakage in the fibres.
A material that has undergone any of these physical processes may become brittle,
which is an indication of thermal degradation; such physical processes will most likely be
irreversible. High temperatures accelerate the thermo-oxidative degradation of polymers
which cause changes in glass transition temperature, colour or give rise to weight loss.
Reduction in the glass transition temperature is due to chain-scission reactions and weight
loss is due to loss of moisture, residual volatiles and reaction by-products produced during
the chain-scission reactions [63,69]. The flue gas temperature is therefore reduced to a
level below the maximum operating temperature, but kept higher than the acid dew
point, in order to minimize any condensation of acids that can damage the fibres [207].
A higher temperature in the effluent gases passing through the baghouse is the main
cause of filter fabric shrinkage (which follows the initial elongation observed during ther-
mal exposure [208] due to rearrangement of molecular structure), and when the fabric
shrinks, the pore size decreases. It increases filtration efficiency but also the pressure drop
due to decrease in pore size [109]. In order to maintain a lower pressure drop, the cleaning
frequency is increased, but this causes rapid deterioration and early failure of the bags, as
they are subjected to more expansion and contraction. As the bags shrink, the elongation
to break of the fibres in the filter fabric decreases as does their tensile strength. When the
bags are elongated during cleaning, the weakened fibre breaks, leading to the failure of
the bags. Bags made from fibres with good elongation show better resistance to tearing
because they can recover well from elongation-related deformation [209]. Exposure to
heat causes deterioration in mechanical properties due to rearrangements of the mole-
cules and this brings about a reduction in thermal stability of the filter bags; thermal sta-
bility can be assessed by comparing the strength of the fabric before and after exposure
to higher operating temperatures [208].
Filter fabric shrinkage can be minimized by heat-treating the fabric during the finishing
process. To accomplish this, the fabric is passed between heated rollers or through hot air
and the rate of passage must be controlled in order to ensure that the fibres have enough
time to absorb the heat [78,109]. The temperature of the finishing treatment must always
be higher than that of the maximum operational temperature of the constituent fibres of
the filter fabrics.
According to Erofeev et al., the incorporation, by blending, of fibres with higher thermal
and chemical resistance improves the strength of filter fabrics because any decreases in
strength and increases in weight loss of the blended filters are not as rapid as those for
non-blended filter fabrics [210]. The risk of fire in the baghouse can be reduced by incor-
porating small amounts of metal fibres into the blend which will reduce the accumulation
of static charges in the filter fabrics [37]. For filter bags made from acrylic fibres, thermal
attack is detected by the yellowing of the fibres [211].
Tanthapanichakoon et al. reported, in 2007, that as the temperature is raised above
200 C, the strength and elongation of PPS filter fabric fall and its modulus decreases with
increasing temperature. Because higher temperatures cause embrittlement of the PPS fil-
ter bags, the maximum operational temperatures of these bags should not be above
200 C in order to extend the lifetime of the filter bags [209].
7.2. Mechanical failure

Understanding of deformation and failure mechanisms is important to materials that are
subjected to loading. During deformation and failure, fibre breakage is accompanied by a
rapid reduction in fabric strength and stiffness. Once the damage appears, the stress car-
ried by the fibres decreases exponentially due to fibre breaking, or sliding and pulling out
of the fabric after the onset of fibre bond breakage and fracture within the fibres [212].
Filter bags are subjected to deformation due to air and dust particles flowing through
the filter bags. Fly ash particles in the flue gas hit and rub against the surfaces of fibres as
the air passes through, and the particles are further pushed inside the bags. The presence
of moisture makes the particles attach strongly to the fibres and this makes it hard to
remove them during the cleaning cycle. To break the strong bonding, a higher cleaning
pressure is used and this will cause more stress on the bags through more-violent stretch-
ing and contracting of the filter fabric. During the cleaning cycle, the bags are inflated
with highly-pressurized air and rapidly stretch and contract. When the bag snaps back, it
wears in areas where it violently hits the metal cages supporting it on the inside. As the
bags hit the cages, they are abraded and if the abrasion between metal cages and the
bags is so severe, failure of the bags due to abrasion will quickly shorten the lifetime of
the bags [170,175,213].
A badly-designed baghouse has the potential to cause mechanical failure of the filter
bags due to the movement of the bags if the layout is such as to allow them to rub against
each other [199]. Excessive movement of the bags may cause the supporting metal cages
inside the bags to bend and form sharp ends which can puncture the bags [199], but in
general, resistance to abrasion is primarily dependent on the fibres used to produce the
filter fabric [24]. When the bags are damaged, the filter will not have enough tensile and
bursting strength to withstand the force applied by the air flowing through it, but it can
be difficult to determine mechanical damage to the filter bags during operation as such
determination requires that the bags to be removed and tested. High-cleaning pulse jets
often cause more damage at the upper part of the bags as a result of there being the
highly-pressurized air at the top [206]. In order to minimize the extent of mechanical dam-
age and extend the lifetime of the bags, the intensity of the air pressure and frequency of
cleaning must be decreased. This can be achieved by designing filter fabrics with both
good filtration and mechanical properties [199].
The intense cleaning action exerts considerable force on the bags when they are
stretched [175]. As mentioned previously, the filter bag expands from the filter cage and
snaps the metal cage back when it returns to its original position due to its rigidity and
the dust particles are detached from the surface of the filters due to inertia. This causes
mechanical damage to the filter bag [132,170]. The degree of mechanical damage due to
reverse pulse cleaning is influenced by the impact of the pulse-jet flow, especially at the
upper part of the bags as a result of the compressed air used on the filters to ensure maxi-
mum removal of filter cake [206] and a lower pulse pressure is desirable as it reduces the
mechanical damage to the bags [197]. The pulse of the jet also needs to be reduced in
order to avoid excessive cleaning of the bags. However, this shortening of the cleaning
cycle allows the pressure drop across the filter to increase quickly because fewer dust par-
ticles are removed during the cleaning process.
7.3. Chemical failure

Filter bags that are used in coal-fired power plants are exposed to conditions with high
concentrations of SOx which is formed when the sulphur in the coal reacts with oxygen
during combustion. In the presence of moisture, the SOx react with the moisture to form
sulphuric acid, H2SO4 [214] which, because it is a strong acid, attacks and causes rapid
deterioration of the fibres; as a result, the lifetime of the filter bags is reduced and dam-
aged filter bags lead to increasing emissions levels [19,211]. Chemical attack typically
causes the filter fabric to shrink, its extensibility is reduced and it becomes brittle [211].
Chemical damage, which is due to mechanisms such as chain-scission, oxidation, changes
in cross-link density and depolymerization, is irreversible [63].
Exposure of PPS fibres to NO and oxygen at high temperature for a very long period
of time causes the rapid degradation of the fibres and, as a result, the strength of the
fabric decreases [79] but to minimize the formation of acids in the baghouse, the oper-
ating temperature in the baghouse must be above the acid dew point to prevent con-
densation of moisture [207,211], and so often, a dry sorbent is injected into the flue
gas to absorb moisture [171]. Patnaik and Anandjiwala reported, in 2016, that the
treatment of spunlaced PAN fabrics with nano-clay significantly improved their resis-
tance to H2SO4 acid attack [19]. Chemical treatment of the filter bags to protect them
from chemical degradation has a disadvantage in that during operation, the chemical
might itself become degraded [24].
8. Disposal of filter bags

Waste management has become a major concern for coal power plants not only for the
treatment and safe disposal of fly ash, but also for the safe disposal of waste filter bags.
Waste management involves the storage, transport, treatment and disposal of toxic waste.
The energy required to produce, operate and dispose of the used filters is used to deter-
mine the environmental impact of the filter bags [29].
During the operation of the baghouse, resources are not only used to safely dispose
of the toxic fly ash, but also to safely dispose of the waste filter bags. Many countries
have adopted strict environmental regulations that impose restriction on the capture
and disposal of toxic wastes. The filter bags typically degrade poorly in the environ-
ment and the heavy metals in the fly ash are reactive under different physicochemical
and environmental conditions [169, 215]. The rain will solubilize their salts and they
will contaminate ground water and the toxic heavy metals might easily end up in the
food chain.
In China, the amount of waste of filter bags produced in 2010 was about 18 million m2
[215,216]. Historically, waste filter bags were disposed by stacking them together and
then covering them with soil, a method being discontinued in many countries because it
has been shown that disposing of toxic waste materials at landfills contaminates the soil
and/or ground water. To prevent contamination, the waste bags are put in containers and
stored in a secure place until they can be transported to an off-site or internal treatment
facility for incineration. Such incineration is the most widely used method for waste-treat-
ment of toxic waste bags [169,215] and it has the advantage that it reduces the volume of
toxic solids to small quantities; however, the incinerated waste so generated must now
itself be captured and safely disposed of. One environmental benefit is that the energy
released when the bags are burned in the combustion chamber can be used generate
energy to run the treatment facility [7,216]. Incomplete burning of particles during inciner-
ation may cause asthma in humans [45] and compounds such as dioxins and furans that
are captured by unburned carbon particles and released during the incineration of the
bags become the main source of these compounds [215,217].
The disposal cost of a filter bag is considered to constitute half the purchase price of
the bag, and for bags that have been used to capture toxic substances, the disposal price
is much higher than the purchase price. Treatment at off-site disposal facilities further
increases the cost of waste management [29,218].
The main challenges facing in many developing countries in the management of waste
materials are lack of technology, expertise and money [33,44]. If power plants use old
technology to treat waste, it means that efficiency will not be high and the damage to the
environment will continue. Even when new technologies are available, countries might
not have expertise to take advantage of the new technologies that can minimize the envi-
ronmental impact. That may be so, but better economic and environmental outcomes
can be achieved by improving recycling, biodegradation and exploring the use of alterna-
tive raw materials in order to reduce plastic dependency [33], even in developed coun-
tries. According to an Ellen Macarthur Foundation report, most plastic packaging is used
Table 4. Six types of barriers to the implementation of green chemistry [220].

Sr. no. Barrier type Details of barriers
1. Economic and financial Capital costs are high
Future benefits are uncertain
Reluctance to invest in mandated mitigation technologies
2. Regulatory Regulatory emphasis is on exposure reduction, not hazard reduction
Regulatory disincentives (i.e. recertification)
Lack of regulatory incentives (i.e. fast tracking or fee reduction) for greener
alternatives
Lack of funding for research in green chemistry
3. Technical Non-availability of substitutes for problematic reactions and solvent systems
Poor accessibility to the existing technical and scientific knowledge
Difficulty in sharing information across the industry
Lack of trained chemists and engineers
4. Organizational Intra-organizational conflicts that exist between divisions, plants, products, etc.
Lack of support at the executive or technical level
Lack of understanding in sales and marketing
5. Cultural Not enough awareness in the larger chemical community
Not enough awareness on the part of consumers and the general public
Negative connotations associated with ‘green reactions’ that they are more expensive
and less effective
6. Definition and metrics Insufficient knowledge about ‘green chemistry’
Difficulty with optimizing over multiple dimensions
Lack of widely applicable metrics for measuring the level of ‘green’
only once and its economic value is estimated to be US$20–120 billion [33] and the nega-
tive impact of packaging on the environment is estimated at US$40 billion.
Developing countries often do not have enough financial resources to prioritize the
treatment of waste material and these materials are disposed of in such a way that
damages the environment [44]. Often, enforcement of new regulations suffers from
lack of expertise and as such violating companies can get away with infringement of
the environment regulations that are designed to protect the environment and
humans. New approaches to pollution control are waste minimization and treatment,
as some fibres are technically difficult to recycle. Waste is minimized by substituting
with products that are less toxic [45]. To mitigate the effects of waste filter bags and
metals on the environment and health, the treated waste bags can be used in the con-
struction of road embankments, while heavy metals can be recovered to be used to
make other products [1,169]. By recycling, companies can save money, while contribut-
ing to environmental goodwill [45].
In an earlier issue of Textile Progress, the author discussed the application of green
chemistry in the textile industries for controlling environmental pollution and related
problems [45]. Green chemistry mainly aims to solve pollution problems at the molecular
level by focusing on the chemicals used during manufacturing processes [45,219–225].
Even though green chemistry has had several success stories in the last 20 years, there are
some barriers in the implementation of it, as shown in Table 4 [220].
9. Characterization of fabric filters

Technical fabrics are chosen based on their performance properties such as tensile
strength, filtration, tear, abrasion and chemical resistance, while non-technical fabrics are
often selected on the basis of their aesthetic properties such as smoothness, softness,
hardness, drape and brightness [226]. Filter fabrics, of course, fall within the category of
technical fabrics, and some of the properties commonly used for the selection of filter fab-
rics are discussed below [16,78,102,113,226–238].
9.1. Physical and structural properties

A fabric must have sufficient number of fibres in it to yield adequate inter-fibre cohesion
and to produce a fabric with the desired thickness, abrasion and performance properties.
Area weight and thickness. Fabric weight is expressed as its mass per unit area, in grams
per square metre [16]. Thickness is the distance between the two surfaces when the fabric
is subjected to a fixed load [16,113]. Fabric weight per unit area and thickness influence
many other important fabric properties such as flexibility, air permeability and thermal
conductivity. The cost of a fabric can also be influenced by area weight and thickness as a
heavier fabric will cost more than a light-weight fabric made from the same fibres
[78,102,113].
Air permeability falls with an increase in the area weight and thickness of the fabric due
to the greater number of fibres and small pores per unit area which cause an increase in
air flow resistance between the fibres and air [102,108]. Filtration efficiency improves with
the increase in thickness and density of the filters. However, it is accompanied by higher
pressure drop [228]. Spunlaced fabric can be made more dense to take advantage of the
beneficial changes; its thickness can be adjusted by increasing the water jet pressure used
during its manufacture and the structure becomes more compact due to increased entan-
glement of fibres [227]. Fabric stiffness rises with an increase in area weight and thickness
due to increase in cohesion between the fibres [102].
Pore size and its distribution. It is the presence of pores that makes the filter fabric per-
meable. The total volume of pores in a filter fabric is regarded as the porosity of the fabric
and it is defined as the ratio of open air space to the total volume of the filter fabric. The
amount and distribution of open air spaces in the filter fabric influences its filtration effi-
ciency [229,230]. As porosity increases, air permeability also increases accompanied by a
decrease in the pressure drop [64,129].
The number of pores/area and their sizes significantly influence the resistance to air
flow. A filter fabric with high number of pores has lower pressure drop and it allows par-
ticles to be deposited inside the pores rather than on the surface [24,129]. Filters with
smaller pore sizes have high flow resistance with shorter filtration cycles. Filters with larger
pore sizes can be used to remove smaller particles if the dominant filtration mechanism is
cake filtration [187]. The bubble-point test method is widely used to determine the pore
sizes of the filter medium [190,229,230]. The filter medium is wetted with a liquid and the
pressure is increased gradually. The first bubbles to appear indicate the size of the largest
pores in the medium. The ratio of air flows over a range of pressures indicates the distribu-
tion of pores [190,229,230]. The disadvantage of the bubble point is that it does not give a
thorough indication of the distribution of pores [232].
In one study, authors reported on the performance characteristics of filter media devel-
oped for air filtration [229]. They used spunlaced methods to develop the filter media. Fil-
ters were produced at different water-jet pressures and the resulting arrangements of
pores and fibres are shown in Figure 13 [229]. The filter fabric produced at 120 bar
Figure 13. Photograph of high-efficiency particulate absorbing filter material produced at different
water jet pressure: (a) 120 bar and (b) 200 bar; magnification used is 10£. Corresponding images of
the arrangement of pores and fibres in the filters obtained from a microscope: (c) 120 bar and (d) 200
bar; magnification used is 100£ [229].
pressure had an open pore structure with larger pores as compared with the filter fabric
produced at 200 bar pressure [229]. The pore size distributions of the above filter medium
is shown in Figure 14 [229]. In the case of the 120 bar water jet pressure filter fabric sam-
ple, the pore-size distribution follows a wider distribution in comparison to the 200 bar
pressure filter fabric [229].
9.2. Strength
Tensile. Fabric strength is used to determine the performance and durability of the
filter media. It provides a basis for comparison of similar fabrics and assists in damage
assessment that can be caused by chemical and mechanical treatments. Different
Figure 14. Pore size distribution of the filter materials produced at pressure levels of 120 and 200 bar
[229].
tests such as tensile, bursting and tear strengths can be performed depending on the
application of the fabrics [233–237]. Fabric strength is directionally dependent and it
is higher in the direction in which the majority of the fibres are orientated and if they
lie parallel to one another within the yarns. The use of finer and longer fibres
increases fabric strength; however, this also increases fabric compactness and density.
Fabric strength generally rises with compactness, i.e. mass per unit area up to a cer-
tain limit, then it falls [233].
Tensile strength is the maximum force that the fabric can withstand when it is elon-
gated [21,234]. Elongation at break or ultimate elongation is expressed as a percentage at
the point of rupture [234,235]. In another study, authors reported the strength values of
spunlaced nonwoven filter media in the machine direction (MD) and cross-machine direc-
tion (CD) after cyclic compression as shown in Figure 15 [230]. Filter media were produced
at 60 and 120 bar, respectively. Tensile strength increases with the increase in water jet
pressure and this increase in strength was due to higher entanglement and consolidation
of the fibre structure. The authors observed that the increase in CD strength was higher in
comparison with MD strength and there were no significant changes in the strength prop-
erties after compression [230].
Figure 15. Strength values before and after cyclic compression [230].
Bursting. Bursting strength stretches the fabric simultaneously in all the directions at the
same time and the fabric usually fails in the direction in which it has the lowest elongation
[236]. Fabrics that are subjected to external pressures are more likely to rupture from
bursting rather than tensile strength rupture. The bursting strength instrument generally
uses a hydraulic force to inflate an elastic diaphragm; the fabric is placed behind the elas-
tic diaphragm and clamped firmly over the diaphragm which is then inflated until the fab-
ric fails (bursts). [113,236].
In one study, the authors reported various properties including bursting strength for
needle-punched nonwoven filters produced with different needling intensities [238].
These filter fabrics were produced with and without woven reinforcement fabrics. The
results showed that the bursting strength of the filters is raised by the incorporation of
reinforcement fabrics and as needling intensity increases up to a critical level, bursting
strength also increases.
Tearing. Tear strength is the tensile force per unit area of the material required to propa-
gate a defect or crack [237]. The application of finishing treatments such as chemical or
thermal treatments has been reported to decrease the tear strength due to increases in
the stiffness of the fibres resulting in decreases in fibre elongation. Those filter fabrics pro-
duced from fibres with high fibre elongation require more energy to break. The tear resis-
tance of the fabric decreases with the increase in compactness of the fabric due to less
movement of the fibres in the fabric [64]. Dogan [239] investigated the performance of
needle-punched nonwoven filters used in air filtration and it was observed that an
increase of needling intensity up to a critical level and usage of reinforcement materials
raises the tear, breaking and bursting strength of the filters.
9.3. Filtration properties

Filtration properties are characterized by filtration efficiency, dust-holing capacity and
pressure drop, respectively [229]. Generally, a good filter must have high collection effi-
ciency while maintaining a low pressure drop [176,181].
Filtration efficiency. Filtration efficiency measures how efficient a filter medium is in the
removal of dust particles from the air/gas; factors that affect it are air/gas filtration velocity,
cleaning mechanism, particle and fabric characteristics [194]. The collection efficiency
increases with decreasing air filtration velocity and particle size. Each cleaning cycle
removes dust particles and some remain in the filter bag. When the filtration cycle
resumes, the loose particles in the filter are pushed deeper inside the bag and this reduces
collection as the pores are quickly filled. It causes a rapid increase in pressure drop result-
ing in the need to undertake cleaning of the filter bags [194]. Clogging of the filter
medium is undesirable. At the beginning, the air permeability is high but as more particles
are collected, air permeability decreases. Air flow resistance is due to the distribution of
the particles that are deposited on the surface and inside the filter. The structure of the
pores also affects the resistance to air flow. The collection of the particles by the fibres
causes the size of the pores to gradually decrease until they are completely blocked. As
more and more particles are deposited on the surface of the filter, the resistance to air
flow increases with the cake thickness [155].
Table 5. Pore size and filtration parameters of nonwoven materials [229].

Sample Water jet Pore diameter (mm) Efficiency Dust-holding Pressure
codea pressure (bar) Smallest Mean flow Maximum (%) capacity (g/m2) drop (Pa) R2
S1 120 7.56 54.99 104.95 93.71 45.62 37.51 0.86
S2 200 6.91 28.54 65.16 99.43 74.40 25.0 0.80
R2 is the coefficient of determination between the average value of pressure measured from dust filtration device and
average pressure drop in filters obtained from computational fluid dynamics (CFD).
a
Thickness of S1: 1. 36 mm; S2: 1. 13 mm.
In one study, authors related filtration efficiency to the mean pore diameter as shown
in Table 5 for the case of a spunlaced filter medium [229]. The mean pore diameter is
reduced by an increase in water jet pressure from 60 to 120 bar; it raises the filtration effi-
ciency [229]. Authors also observed a good correlation of pressure drop values obtained
from the filtration testing with those predicted from a computational fluid dynamics
(CFD) study.
Dust-holding capacity. Dust-holding capacity is used to determine how much particu-

late dust the filter fabric can hold before it reaches a predetermined pressure [190].
The amount of collected dust can be determined by measuring the weight and tension
of the bags [138]. Filters with greater surface areas show greater dust-holding capacity.
Dust particles are added at regular intervals and the pressure drop is recorded. This is
repeated until a predetermined pressure is reached and the weight of the dust par-
ticles that the filter fabric has captured is regarded as the dust-holding capacity. The
dust efficiency test can be used to determine the lifespan of the filter bag [190]. In one
study, the authors reported that dust-holding capacity was raised by the a lowering of
pore size as greater numbers of dust particles are captured by the filter medium as
shown in Table 5 [229].
Pressure drop. The pressure drop of a filter medium is defined as its resistance to airflow
[138,229,230]. The pressure drop across filter media is influenced by air/gas velocity, cake
thickness and porosity, temperature and air/gas viscosity, intensity and frequency of
cleaning [134]. A high pressure drop indicates resistance to flow due to increased dust
cake concentration [24,64,131]. The baseline pressure drop, which is the pressure after
cleaning the filter, increases with time and is higher than the original pressure drop. As
the baseline pressure drop becomes greater, the cleaning frequency needs to be
increased [132,213].
9.4. Air permeability

Air permeability is the measure of how easy the gas or liquid can pass through the filter
medium under a differential pressure. It gives an indication on how permeable the filter
fabric is. Air permeability is used to assess the performance of the filter media [134] and it
is measured by sucking air through a clamped filter fabric at a fixed pressure whilst a sen-
sor measures the air flow passing through the fabric filter [78]. Finishing treatments
applied to improve the fabric performance bring about a decrease in the sizes of the pores
due to fabric shrinkage, or filling of the pores, and as a result, air permeability decreases
[102]. The collection of particles by the fibres causes the pore sizes to gradually decrease
as more particles are captured inside the pores and on the surface of the filter fabric and
air flow resistance increases.
9.5. Thermal stability

Fibres that are exposed to extremely high temperatures that they cannot tolerate will be
subject to physical and chemical changes. As a result, the filter fabric loses its original set
of physical, electrical and mechanical properties [67,240]. Since most fabrics are suscepti-
ble to thermal shrinkage, heat setting during finishing is used to improve their dimen-
sional stability. Heat setting is performed by exposing the fabric under controlled tension
to a higher temperature than the desired operational temperature. This allows the fibre
molecules to rearrange and the fibres themselves to rearrange and acquire new stability
at the higher temperature. This minimizes further shrinkage when the fibres are exposed
to the actual operating temperature. The structure of a heat-treated fabric will therefore
be different from that of an untreated fabric [113].
9.6. Chemical stability

The ability of filter media to resist degradation from expected levels of acids, alkalis, sol-
vents and oxidizing agents must be assessed at the operational temperatures of the filtra-
tion application [241]. When the temperature of the flue gas is low enough, condensation
occurs. The presence of H2SO4 and SO3 in the flue gas leads to condensation at tempera-
tures considerably above 100 C which will lead to rapid deterioration of the materials. To
minimize condensation, the temperature of the flue gas must be above the dew point
[179].
Condensation of moisture happens if the temperature of the compartment housing fil-
ter bags is lower than the acid dew point. The acid dew point is highly influenced by the
concentration of SO3 and moisture in the flue gas. The concentration of sulphur in the
coal will influence the concentration of SO3 in the flue gas. Most SOx exist in the form of
SO2 rather than SO3 depending on the amount of oxygen present, and while SO3 reacts
easily with moisture to form H2SO4 [18], SO2 does not react directly but it serves as the
feedstock for the formation of more SO3 in the presence of oxygen at higher
temperatures.
9.7. Dimensional stability

Dimensional stability is a fabric property that is used to determine the ability of the fabric
to maintain its original dimensions when subjected to the operating conditions. A change
in fabric dimensions can cause shrinkage or extension [236]. A good filter bag must be
resistant to shrinkage and stretching at the desired operating conditions in the baghouse
[242,243]. In one invention, authors discussed a plate filter element for an air filter com-
prising a zigzag-shaped, folded strip of material made of an activated-carbon nonwoven
material. The aim of the invention was to improve the dimensional stability of the folded
nonwoven strip [242].
10. Application areas

10.1. Air filtration in different industries
Nonwoven filters are increasingly used in many application areas in order to purify air and
remove any unwanted airborne particles that are being generated and extends into vari-
ous fields such as transportation, metalworking, building, food, health care and chemicals
[16,78,109,244]
Because of their good filtration performance and lower production cost, the nonwoven
filters are being preferred over other types of filters [16,244]. A particular advantage of
using nonwoven filters is their flexibility to be used in various industrial filtration areas to
achieve high filtration efficiency [109,244].
Managing industrial emissions is not only important in complying with the environ-
mental regulations, but also for the financial sustainability of the company, as production
targets can be missed, when there are stoppages due to safety concern of the workers
[245]. Unwanted airborne particles can also contaminate products being manufactured.
Not all types of dust generated behave in the same way. Some of the dust particles are
highly explosive if not managed properly and working with such dust increase the risk of
fire and injury to workers. The installation of filters is not only to make the working areas
or homes safer but also to improve the quality of air that people are exposed to [245].
Different types of filters are used depending on the size of the dust particles and the
amount of dust particles that can be captured by the filter. Filter bags are extensively
used in large industrial applications where large amounts of dust are generated. The panel
filters are widely used in small environment where there is light or medium generation of
dust such as air conditioning [78,245]. Bag filters are housed in the baghouse which is
often located outside the main plants where production is taking place. In the automotive
industry, filters have been used for many years to protect the engine and the cabin from
ambient contaminants that will degrade the engine internal components and cause
health problems. The quality of air in the combustion chamber of the engine affects the
performance of the engine.
In health care facilities, management of the quality of air is very important as diseases
can be spread by airborne particles. Filters with high filtration efficiency are installed in
order to minimize the number of particles in important areas such as the operating thea-
tres [64,245,246]. The food industry also uses filters to keep their production areas clean
as food processed in an environment contaminated with dust particles and micro-organ-
isms will affect the quality of the food.
The filtration efficiency of conventional nonwoven filters is very good as it can remove
about 90% of micron-sized particles, but when it comes to particles in the range of 0.1 to
0.5mm, the conventional filters are not effective as these fine particles can penetrate
them. In one study, the authors reported on the collection efficiency of different fibres
[246]. They reported that one of the ways to increase the collection efficiency of the filters
was to increase the number of fibres in the filter by making it thicker and this will decrease
filter pore sizes. However, it will increase the pressure drop and the energy cost will be
higher [246]. Pressure drop is also influenced by the compactness and thickness of the fil-
ter fabric [247,248].
The ever-increasing demand for cleaner environment has driven a demand for high-
efficiency filters and this has brought in the development of nano-filtration to become
an important tool in the filtration industry [247,248]. Nanofibres have been used in fil-
ters for vehicle cabins, military vehicles, automobile air intakes, etc. [247–254], and
HEPA filters are able to remove 99.97% of particles that are equal or greater than 0.3mm
in diameter.
Nano-filtration involves the use of nanofibres (in the form of a web) in the range 100–
500 nm in diameter. The fibres are deposited on the supporting surface to form a thin
layer. Because of very fine small fibres, the layer is able to capture nanoparticles. The most
extensively used method to make nanofibres is the electrospinning method. This method
is slow and such a slow process does not translate to lower production cost [249]. The
durability of the nanofilter during actual operation depends on the chemical, thermal and
mechanical properties of the nanofilter. Nanofibres are increasingly being used in filtration
due to their low basis weight, high specific surface area, small pore size and high pore
inter-connectivity [248].
The nanofibres have been used in commercial, industrial and defence applications
because of their high filtration efficiency accompanied by a decrease in air permeability
[250]. Despite the high pressure drop associated with the use of nanofilters, it is argued
that it is compensated for by high levels of dust collection. Nanofilters can reduce airborne
particles to a greater extent than the conventional filter media [250].
The use of nanofibres to produce nanofilters increases filtration efficiency of very fine
particles accompanied by a slight increase in pressure drop. The large surface area of
nanofibres increases the probability of particles being captured, hence, their high filtration
efficiency. The nanofilters are very efficient in removing submicron particles which are
able to penetrate conventional filters that are made from micro-fibres [251]. The use of
nanofilters enable filters to reach higher filtration efficiency in comparison with conven-
tional filters and it results in dust filtration application where low emission levels are
required [252].
The ultra-thin fibres in a nanofibre web intended for filtration are fragile and not easy to
handle, as such the web deforms easily and must be supported by a rigid medium which
provides stability [253–257]. Properties such as strength, stiffness and pleatability are pro-
vided by the supporting filter medium. The supporting media ensure that the nano layer
does not delaminate during operational use. These disadvantages limit the use of nano-
webs where there is no supporting medium. Nanofilters, were they to be used alone, do
not possess sufficient strength to withstand the cleaning pressure. To overcome this,
nanofilters are inserted between two surfaces of permeable nonwoven fabrics. The struc-
tural stability of a nanofibre layer can be enhanced by stacking together multiple layers of
nanofibres [253–257] and since nanofibres have large surface area/volume, this enables
them to exhibit higher filtration efficiency than conventional fibres due to their larger fibre
surface area and higher packing density [253–257].
Conventional filters show enhanced collection efficiency after the formation of dust
cake layer. By decreasing fibre size, the filtration efficiency is improved [253–257]. Even
though the use of nanofibres leads to increased pressure drop due to cake formation that
raises the resistance to flow, this is balanced to some extent by the reduced thickness of
the nanofilter membrane, which brings about a slight reduction in pressure drop. Also in
order to avoid any high pressure drop associated with the use of nanofibres, the fibres are
distributed in a manner that tries to maintain a balance between higher collection effi-
ciency and lower pressure drop.
Table 6. Changes in filtration parameters before and after cyclic compression [254].
Filtration parameters
Before cyclic compression (BCC) After cyclic compression (ACC)
Sample code Sample type Efficiency (%) Pressure drop (Pa) Efficiency (%) Pressure drop (Pa)
S1 NW 63.11 (10) 12 (10) 55.23 (9) 16 (9)
S2 NW+3NFM 78.02 (11) 28 (8) 69.49 (11) 33 (10)
S3 NW+4.5NFM 88.12 (8) 23 (7) 80.53 (9) 26 (8)
S4 NW+6NFM 99.43 (7) 17 (6) 90.75 (8) 22 (7)
S5 NW+4.5NFM+NW 91.62 (6) 27 (9) 88.29 (7) 29 (10)
S6 NW+6NFM+NW 99.38 (5) 22 (14) 97.15 (6) 25 (15)
NW: nonwoven substrate; 3NFM: nanofibrous membrane made up of 3% (w/v) solution concentration; NW+3NFM:
nanofibrous membrane deposited over nonwoven substrate; NW+4.5NFM+NW: composite filter media consisting of
nanofibrous membrane sandwich between two nonwoven substrate layers.
Values in parentheses are the CV% of the measurement.
In another study, the authors reported on the performance properties of electrospun

nanofibrous membranes for air-filtration applications [254,256]. Different types of polyeth-
ylene oxide (PEO) nanofibrous membranes were prepared by varying the PEO solution
concentrations to three levels (3%, 4.5% and 6% w/v). These nanofibres (nanofibrous
membranes) were then deposited over a nonwoven substrate. Composite filter media
were developed by sandwiching the nanofibre layer in between two nonwoven fabrics
and calendering to complete the composite filter media. The authors evaluated the long-
term performance characteristics of the membranes and media in terms of cyclic com-
pression. The filtration parameters (filtration efficiency and pressure drop) were measured
before cyclic compression (BCC) and compared with the values after cyclic compression
(ACC) as shown in Table 6 [254,256].
The authors reported that certain of their composite filter media (samples S5 and S6)
had good filtration efficiency and acceptable pressure drop properties as compared to the
nonwoven fabric and nanofibrous membrane deposited over nonwoven substrates
[254,256]. Even after cyclic compression, changes in the filtration efficiency and pressure
drop were not significant for the composite media as shown in Table 6 [254,256].
In the case of the nanofibrous membrane deposited over nonwoven substrate and
nonwoven samples, there was not only a significant reduction in filtration efficiency but
also an increase in pressure drop observed for ACC samples as compared to BCC samples
as shown in Table 6 [254,256].
Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of the structural changes in the nanofi-
brous membrane deposited over nonwoven substrates (samples S3 and S4; Table 6) for
BCC and ACC samples showed that broken nanofibre membranes were observed after
cyclic compression as depicted in Figure 16 [254,256]. This may have caused reduced fil-
tration efficiency and increased pressure drop for ACC samples [254,256]. Similarly, SEM
images of the composite filter media do not show any broken nanofibrous membrane
after cyclic compression, which was sandwiched between the top and bottom nonwoven
layers (Figure 17). It shows the presence of the nano-granular part as a major portion as
compared to the minor fibrillary portion [254]. The authors suggested that composite filter
media consisting of a nanofibrous layer is a promising medium for air-filtration
application.
Because of the ability of nanofibres to capture micro-sized and nanoparticles, they are
now used in many fields for air filtration in the energy, health, food, cosmetic and semi-
conductor industries for the removal of nanoparticles. The dominant particle-capture
Figure 16. SEM images of the structural changes in the NFM deposited over nonwoven before and
after cyclic compression: (a) NW+4.5NFM, (BCC), (b) NW+4.5NFM, (ACC), (c) NW+6NFM (BCC) and (d)
NW+6NFM, (ACC) [254].
mechanism for the nanofibre filter is surface filtration while that for the supporting filter
medium is depth filtration [253–257].
10.2. Transportation industry

The use of filters for engine filtration comprises various fields such as air, fuel and lubrica-
tion [78,258]. Air filtration includes engine air filtration, cabin filtration and exhaust filtra-
tion. Air filtration plays a significant role in the performance of the combustion engine
and it affects energy consumption, emission limits and passenger comfort in the cabin.
Table 7 depicts the commonly used engine filtration technologies. Engine filters are
designed to allow sufficient air to flow while removing contaminants that will cause
engine wear, performance loss, and high fuel and oil consumptions [257]. On the one
hand, particles in the range 5–10 mm are considered to be responsible for most of the
engine wear [259] whilst on the other, ultra-fine particles that are generated by combus-
tion engines must, by law in many countries, be captured and not released to the
Figure 17. (a) Cross-sectional SEM image of the composite filter media consisting of a layer of 4.5NFM
sandwich between two nonwoven layers and (b) SEM image of the 4.5NFM after calendering and filtra-
tion testing [254].
atmosphere, because when these particles are inhaled, they can penetrate the respiratory
tract and be trapped deep in the lungs leading to aggravated respiratory problems [260–
266].
To remove ultra-fine particles released by heavy emitters like diesel engines, the
exhaust gases are filtered with ceramic fibre filters; a typical structure is depicted in
Figure 18 [266]. As the gas flows from the engine combustion chamber, it is filtered and
the fine particles it contains are removed [260–266]. The trapped particles agglomerate
on the surface of the filter to form soot.
Soot is composed of particulate matter in the size range 10–100 nm that are formed as
a result of incomplete combustion of fuel in the combustion chamber. Some of the gases
and vapours are absorbed by the soot. Filters are installed in the exhaust system to filter
Table 7. Common engine filtration technology [249].

Filter
application Media type(s) Additive(s) Filter design Purpose
Cabin air Melt blown/melt Activated Pleated filter Protect passengers from
spun combinations carbon outside air pollutants
(odour
control)
Air (Auto) Wet-laid resin- Fire retardants Ranges from radial pleated, Protect engine combustion
bonded cellulose panel pleated, and channel chamber from contaminants
with or without flow filter type (next- such as road dust and soot
synthetic fibre generation
Dry laid 100% Oils for
synthetic increased
lifetime and
efficiency
Melt blown/cellulose
composites
Oil (Auto) Wet-laid resin- Ranges from radial pleated Extends life of motor oil by
bonded cellulose media ‘spin-on’ containing removing contaminants and
with or without high metal content to radial wear particles that can
synthetic fibre pleated media cartridges in prematurely wear on an
a ‘metal free’ designs that engine’s internal parts
can be incinerated
Dry laid 100%
synthetic
Transmission Resin-bonded wet- Ranges from a flat resin- Extends transmission life
laid with synthetic bonded polyester felt through removal of clutch
fibre ‘coarse’ filter to a Beta-rated plate wear particles
high-efficiency radial
pleated cartridge
Resin-bonded dry
laid synthetic
Gasoline fuel Resin-bonded Ranges from ‘in-line’ cartridge Removes particulate fines
cellulose to all synthetic ‘in tank’ filter from fuels that can cause
designs for the lifetime of engine wear
the fuel tank
100% Nylon
synthetic
composites
Diesel fuel Resin-bonded Silicone oils for From radial pleated resin- Removes particulate fines
cellulose with and enhanced bonded cellulose with from fuels that can cause
without synthetic water combined water separation engine wear and removes
fibres separation capabilities to separate water from fuel that can
filtration/coalescence cause injector wear
functionality
Melt blown/cellulose
composites
Emissions- Ceramic filter for Urea Monolithic core for DPF Removes particulate matter
exhaust diesel engines for (Diesel Particulate Filter) such as soot from the
particulate exhaust gas of a diesel
removal engine
Catalytic converter Metal catalyst-coated ceramics Removes NOX from gasoline
for gasoline for gasoline engine exhaust
engines for NOX
removal
the particles from the combustion chamber. To regenerate the filter, the trapped soot is
burned [260–262]; it is removed by increasing the temperature of the incoming gas that
enters the filter media resulting in soot ignition and exhaust gas conversion [261].
The air supplied to an internal combustion engine is sucked from the environment and
filtered through air intake filters before it flows through the air sensors and then to the
Figure 18. Structure of a ceramic filter [266].
engine [262–264]. The intake air filter must allow air to pass through it while preventing
the passage of dust particles and liquid from the ambient atmosphere. Particles that pene-
trate to the cylinder will accelerate engine wear by abrading the internal parts of the
engine resulting in decrease engine compression and the engine lifetime will also be
reduced [262–264]. Components such as air sensors, however, are very sensitive and can
be damaged by particles too small to cause any significant problem to the engine; such
damage could result in wrong air flow detection and increased fuel consumption.
Any particles that penetrate to the cylinder will enter the oil system of the car resulting
in further damage to the car components. As a result, engine oil consumption and emis-
sions will increase. Depending on the type of the filter media used, the engine filter can fil-
ter dust particles in the size range 10–100 mm to an efficiency of between 99.0%–99.8%.
Engine filters must have a high collection efficiency while maintaining high permeability
and low pressure drop. The high filtration efficiency of nonwoven intake filters is attrib-
uted to their depth filtration mechanism which allows particles to penetrate and create a
porous layer. The particles larger than the filter pore sizes are separated onto the surface
of the filter [262–264]. As the dust builds on the surface of the engine filter, its filtration
efficiency increases. The build-up of dust, however, restricts the flow of air and pressure
drop increases [263] and the existence of a high pressure drop must be minimized as it is
associated with higher energy consumption due to increase force required to push air
through the filters [246,256]. The filters can be panel- or cylindrical-shaped depending on
the availability of space [263]. Pleating the filter maximizes the filtration area of the filter
while minimizing the housing area of the filter [265]. The pleated filter is closed, must
have low pressure drop in that restricted space. When the filter has become clogged, the
indication that this has happened is that the pressure drop remains very high even after
cleaning the filter within the regular cleaning cycle [78].
Diesel engines are widely used because of their high power, efficient combustion and
low fuel consumption. Diesel combustion however, produces high amounts of fine par-
ticles and NOx which must be removed because of their negative impact on human
health, the environment and climate change. NOx can be captured by the filter, when it is
treated to enable selective catalytic reduction with an efficiency in the range of 60%–90%
[266].
Construction machinery generates lots of dust and it is important to have filters that
can protect the machine from dust particles. The operator must also be protected from
inhaling contaminated air [78].
In underground transportation systems, particulate matter is generated due to friction
between wheels and rails, wheels and brake pads and between catenaries and panto-
graphs hence the airborne particles have high content of iron about 40% [267]. Other
metals found in tunnel air are copper, zinc, chromium and manganese. Platform screen
doors were introduced as a way of creating a barrier between the contaminated air in the
tunnel and the clean air on the platform; however, the use of screen doors increases the
concentration of particles within the tunnel due to the confined nature of the tunnel [267].
Cabin air filters were introduced in order to protect occupants from automobile/aircraft
emissions [78,252] so cabin air quality is important for health and comfort of the occu-
pants. Even though aircraft fly at very high altitude, the air in the cabin contains dust par-
ticles that must be removed so aircraft use HEPA filters which are highly efficient in the
removal of particulate matter [268].
Cabin air filters are generally pleated and there is a tendency to use a pleated filter
made up of activated carbon, partly because activated carbon has the ability to absorb
odour. But it is intended to protect passengers from outside pollutants as well as internal
cabin odours [249]. Because of the possibility of fire, the fabric used in the cabin filter
must be flame resistant and for non-flame resistant fabrics, the flame retardants are added
during fibre manufacturing or during the finishing stages of the fabric [23,249]. Due to
concerns about the impact of the disposal of filters, there is a trend towards manufactur-
ing filters with longer lifetimes which reduce environmental impact by reducing the vol-
ume of filters disposed of in landfills sites or incineration plants [249].
The lifetime of engine filters is often determined by kilometres travelled, installation
years or an air filter indicator which has a device that detects the limit value set by the fil-
ter manufacturer that compares the used filter to the performance expected of a new fil-
ter. The restriction values for the replacement of car filters for light vehicles are usually
less than that for heavy vehicles. Toma and Fileru [263] reported in 2016 that car filters
were replaced based on kilometres travelled and installation years, even though they had
not reached higher flow restriction. This suggests that the air filtration indicator is a better
method than the other two. The inconsistencies in the kilometres travelled and installa-
tion year criteria are there, due to the flow restriction being influenced by the environ-
mental conditions. In areas where the environment is contaminated, the filters will be
blinded faster than where there are few contaminating particles [263].
Nanofilters with fibre diameters up to 1mm are used in vehicle filtration applica-
tions. Small diameter fibres results in high surface areas per unit volume and capture
more particles than fibres with a larger diameter. Although the nanofilters are consid-
ered to have high flow resistance, it is suggested that because of their small diameter,
the flow around the nanofibre is not zero but infinite and as such the flow resistance
decreases [269].
In order to achieve higher separation of particles from the ambient air, nanofibres are
used as filter media. The nanofilters use surface filtration mechanism to separate particles
on its surface and form a cake layer which consists of very fine and coarse particles [261].
The combined use of nanofilters with conventional filters shows that there is a reduction
to half in the amount of dust that can penetrate it compared to the conventional filters.
Nanofilters are also very efficient in the filtration of soot particles released by diesel com-
bustion. These soot particles are in the size range of 10–100 nm; they agglomerate to
form large structures and over a period of time, and they clog the filter pores. The very
fine diesel particles are able to penetrate the filter and also cause rapid clogging of the
conventional filter and this may necessitate the need to change the filter if the pressure
drop is too high. Kumar et al., reported in 2012 that silicon carbide filters coated with ceric
oxide nanofibres in the exhaust system promotes soot combustion at lower temperature
because of increased contact between the soot and catalyst [261].
Conventional filters are limited in their ability to remove very fine particles hence the
need for the application of nanofilters in the filtration of very fine particles. The small
nanofilter pore sizes enable the capturing of these small particles on the surface of the
nanofilter and the emission levels are reduced. The formation of dust cake layer in nanofil-
ters is quicker than in conventional filters and then there is no change in the way dust
deposition is happening as the dust is deposited on the surface whereas in the case of
conventional media, it is first deposited within the pores and then after the pores are
filled, on the surface [262,264].
10.3. Metal industry

In the metal industry, the processing of metals may generate high or small concentrations
of dust that must be captured [270] as the amount of dust generated depends on the
metallurgical process, its intensity, design of the equipment and physiochemical charac-
teristics of the components of the charge. The dust particles have various shapes and
sizes, and typically have sharp edges. Filter bags are widely used in the metal industry to
capture dust and these bags are cleaned by the pulse-jet method. Because of the high
temperatures involved in the processing of metals, the bags used must be made from
fibres that can tolerate temperatures up to 250 C [270].
The generated dust is sucked from the working area and transported to the dust collec-
tors. Dust particles contain charges and can also be deliberately charged, if required, to
assist with filtration. (Fibres are also susceptible to charging and the accumulation of
charges might be responsible for fires in the baghouse.) Saranchuk et al. reported that the
use of the charging device to charge the neutral dust particles, and recharging of posi-
tively to negatively charge dust particles, slightly improved the dust collection of filter
bags, since the bag elements are negatively charged. The oppositely charged particles are
attracted to the bag due to electrostatic forces of attraction [271].
The generation of dust in the processing of metal creates an occupational health haz-
ard due to the fact that certain dust particles are highly explosive. Dust explosion fre-
quency increases with the decrease in dust particle size [272,273]. The major fire
accidents that happened in the USA and China in factories that generated lots of dust was
caused by the explosion of metal dust particles [272,273], aluminium dust being one of
the most explosive. Between 1980 and 2005, metal dust accounted for 20% of all dust
explosions in the USA [272,273] and in Japan, metal dust explosion accounts for 24%
[272,273]. Such explosions can be prevented by preventing the sources of ignition such as
friction sparks; electrostatic discharges; electrical faults; thermite reactions; and self-heat-
ing in the deposits of metal dust from the working area [272,273] and to avoid the spread
of fire, the baghouse must be separated from the working area.
10.4. Building industry

Air filters are increasingly being incorporated into buildings to control the quality of air
due to concerns about indoor pollutants [274]. The use of air conditioners equipped with
air filters provides occupants with a tool that they can use to improve the quality of the
indoor air they breathe in leading to improved health status [275]. People living inside a
confined space which is contaminated can experience what is known as ‘sick building syn-
drome’ (SBS), a range of illnesses resulting from living in a contaminated confined air
space. Breathing of airborne particles is estimated to cause 5.5 million deaths worldwide
due to increased risk to respiratory complaints, stroke, heart disease and even cancer
[276]. According to the WHO, in 2012, about 7 million deaths were linked to air pollution
exposure [275].
It is not easy to control the quality of indoor air as some of the sources of indoor air pol-
lutants are the materials used to build and finish the building and furnishings [276]; such
sources have the potential to release toxic fumes that will accumulate indoors. When the
indoor air is highly contaminated, the symptoms that are experienced are odour annoy-
ance, irritation of the eyes and headaches. The filters used may be very efficient in reduc-
ing the levels of indoor particles, but their continuous use increases energy consumption
as well as operational cost. It is due to increase in air resistance due to clogging of the fil-
ters by the dust particles. Such filters must be replaced with new filters [276].
In urban areas, atmospheric dust is contaminated by heavy metals produced from vehi-
cle emissions, waste incineration, industrial processes, etc. [274]. Fedel reported, in 2012,
that the indoor air is more contaminated than outside air with the commercial and institu-
tional buildings being highly affected. In the USA, it is estimated that poor indoor air costs
the economy $160 billion due to medical costs and loss of productivity [277]. Household
items and activities like furnishings, building materials, combustion, smoking and air fresh-
eners can volatilize leading to indoor accumulation of pollutants [276].
Because many people spend most of their time indoors, it is indicated that indoor air
pollutants have the same or a higher adverse effect on cardiovascular health than the
ambient air pollutants as the pollutants become concentrated in a confined space
[275,278,279]. Adults spend 86%–87% of their time indoors with children spending 89%–
90% of their time indoors and, as a result, the children are more likely to suffer from ill-
nesses caused by indoor air pollutants due to increasing exposure. The pollutants exacer-
bate respiratory conditions of individuals who are susceptible to asthma and allergy
attacks. In order to control the quality of indoor air, it is essential that there is an exchange
of indoor and outdoor air as the outdoor air contains less particles since it is filtered
through the filters. The use of indoor air filtration systems has shown that it improved the
health of individuals who were exposed to filtered air than non-filtered air, due to filters
reducing the levels of indoor particles such as pet allergen and particulate matter which
can trigger allergic and respiratory diseases [275,278,279].
Living close to major roads and highways is associated with increased cardiovascular
and respiratory diseases due to the toxic particles that are released by combustion
engines [280]. In the short term, studies were conducted to find if there was correlation
between air filtration and cardiovascular health in people living indoors. Findings varied,
as one study might have found an association between air filtration and cardiovascular
health, while another found the opposite [275]. However, Chuang et al. reported, in 2017,
that if the studies were conducted over a long period of time, there will be a significant
association between air filtration and cardiovascular health. This indicates that the use of
air conditioner filters in buildings helps to improve the quality of air and, as a result, the
health of people improves as they are exposed to low levels of airborne particles [275].
Air-conditioning filters are susceptible to bacterial, fungal and mould attacks due to dark,
damp and ambient temperature conditions. As the dust accumulates, the microorganisms
will attach to it and feed on it and multiply [281]. The raised level of these organisms
increases the probability of contracting diseases from them. One of the indications of the
low quality of air in this condition is odour. Antimicrobial agents such as silver, copper and
zinc are being incorporated into the fibres of the filtration fabric in order to eliminate micro-
organisms that adhere to the filter, but there is a concern that the incorporation of antimi-
crobials can result in micro-organisms becoming resistant to antimicrobial agents as micro-
organisms have the ability to develop alternative modes of multiplying that make the
agents ineffective [281].
10.5. Food industry

In the food industry, chemicals intended to reduce food spoilage have been widely
deployed; however, concerns have been raised about their environmental and health
impacts, so air filters are being used in the food industry to reduce the levels of airborne
micro-organisms and particles so as to improve food quality and safety [282]. The pres-
ence of contaminants such as spores severely affects the quality of food products. The air
that flows into milk packaging, meat production, and fruit and vegetable processing
rooms must be filtered to keep it free from airborne contaminants and the circulating air
inside these rooms must also be filtered as production processes generate particles that
can otherwise spread inside the room [283].
A high cost associated with running a food filtration system is a result of the high pres-
sure drop caused by clogging of the filters [283]. Because micro-organisms may possess
electrostatic charges, they tend to stick to the filter causing clogging of the filters; the sur-
face of the filter is therefore coated with nano-biocidal particles such as nano-silver par-
ticles or nano-zinc oxide particles in order to kill the micro-organisms [282].
Nanofibre filters are widely used in the food industry due to the growing need to use
filters that have high removal efficiencies for particles and microbial pollutants from the
air in order to improve food quality and safety [282,283]. The air inside the processing
rooms must be free from contaminants. Although nanofibre filters are increasingly being
used in the food industry because of their good efficiency, the fact that spores trapped on
the surfaces of nanofilters can feed on the trapped organic particles has resulted in having
to incorporate fungicidal or bactericidal components into the nanofibres of the filters
[282,283]. As indicated previously, micro-organisms possess electrostatic charges on their
surfaces and, as a consequence, they stick to the surface of the filter; to eliminate them,
the nanofibres are prepared which incorporate nano-biocidal particles such as nano-silver
particles or nano-zinc oxide particles. The use of nano-biocidal particles has raised con-
cerns as it has been indicated that nanoparticles such as silver can leach out in water and
enter human body resulting in health problems. The concern arises because, due to the
environment inside the food processing rooms, moisture is ever present because of the
processes being carried out to process food [282,283].
If hydrophilic fibres were to be used to make the filters, they would absorb moisture,
their diameters would increase in size and the filter pores would reduce in size resulting
in a drop in the efficiency of the filter over longer periods as the pores are quickly clogged
[282,283]. This is accompanied by an increase in pressure drop. Hygroscopic particles are
heavier and easy to capture than non-hygroscopic particles and, as a result, they grow
faster on the surface of filter because of their ability to stick to one another than non-
hygroscopic particles. The stickiness of the particles makes it difficult to remove them dur-
ing the cleaning cycle [282,283].
10.6. Health care industry

Hospitals are often located in busy urban areas, where there are high levels of pollutants
from various sources. Hospitals install filters to minimize the levels to which such pollu-
tants can enter the indoor hospital environment [284]. In the medical industry, it has long
been recognized that the quality of air inside the hospital environment forms an impor-
tant part of making the hospital environment clean and minimizing the spread of infec-
tious diseases that can be spread by airborne particles [285]. The use of HEPA filters has
provided the health care industry with a tool to reduce the levels of micro-organisms and
airborne particles in hospitals rooms. These filters reduce the spread of infectious micro-
organisms by removing micro-organisms and airborne particles that may transport them
when the air flows through the filters.
The filters are installed in the lines connected to the heating, ventilation and air condi-
tioning filtration (HVAC) system [286]. Regular maintenance of the filters is important in
order to ensure high efficiency as unmaintained filters can act as sources of contamina-
tion. When the clogged filter fails, it will become a source of contaminants in the room. Fil-
ters are replaced at predetermined intervals and through maintenance checks, filter leaks
can be identified [285].
Hospital airborne pollutants not only can originate from within the hospital itself but
also from the environment surrounding the hospital and visitors coming to the hospital
might also be sources of contaminating micro-organisms [287]. In the operating theatre,
the main sources of airborne contamination are micro-organisms, textile fibres, dust par-
ticles, skin fragments, and respiratory aerosols. The micro-organisms adhere to the air-
borne particles. The number of airborne particles and medical personnel in the operating
room influences the number of airborne bacteria. The lower the number of airborne
particles and medical personnel, the lower is the concentration of micro-organisms [281]
which can be attributed to the reduced amount of dust particles serving as a source of
nutrients and supporting their multiplication as indicated by Barhate and Ramakrishna
[281]. Nonwoven surgical drapes which are used to cover the unsterilized surface area
around the sterile area to be operated surgery are considered to be a major source of air-
borne particles in the operating room. This happens when the fabrics are being prepared
on the patient before surgery is carried out and the released fibre particles are dispersed
and come into contact with the contaminated floor, wall or human skin [281]. As the med-
ical personnel perform their duties during surgery, they generate fibre particles from the
garments they are wearing. In the past, surgical drapes and garments were made from
cotton fibres which generate more fibre particles than that of synthetic fibre based surgi-
cal textiles and, as a result, there is a switch to synthetic textiles [281,288]. Minimizing the
number of airborne particles is essential in minimizing the contraction of infections
caused by airborne micro-organisms [281,288].
The use of highly-efficient air filters in hospital rooms helps to reduce levels of airborne
pathogens resulting in reduced levels of infections [289]. Hospital air quality is regularly
tested to determine the levels of airborne pathogens contained in it. This ensures that pre-
ventative measures are working in reducing the spread of airborne diseases. If the air in
the operating theatre is contaminated and there is a patient being operated upon, the
risk of acquiring airborne pathogens increases and this might lead to complications; the
patient will then have more of a struggle to recover from the surgery as they will also
have to fight the new pathogen in their body and, in severe cases, the patient might then
die from complications caused by the pathogens [289].
During construction work at hospitals, it is quite common for levels of the fungus called
Aspergillus to increase due to spread of the dust being generated at the construction site.
The use of HEPA filtration systems help to reduce the levels of the contaminant which can
enter clean rooms in hospitals. Combariza et al. reported, in 2017, that the use of HEPA fil-
ters was very effective in protecting those patients who were admitted to HEPA filtered
rooms, compared with patients who were exposed to un-filtered air during construction
work at the hospital [290]. The use of nanofilters for the filtration of air dust containing
mycobacterium tuberculosis has shown that this bacterium, the one that causes tubercu-
losis, can be captured by nanofilters [291].
10.7. Chemical industry

In the chemical industry, not much dust is generated except when the chemicals are in
powder form. However, because some reactions can result in the formation of particulate
matter, filters are used in this industry [292]. In the petrochemical industries, filter media
are used to capture particulate matter in zones where it is necessary to prevent contami-
nation [293].
11. Conclusion
The combustion of fossil fuels generates toxic pollutants that are harmful to humans and
the environment; as a result, these pollutants must be captured and safely disposed of in
order to minimize their impact on the environment. Mechanisms to control and minimize
the emission of pollutants from fossil fuels involve the application of environmental regu-
lations, the use of filtration devices and undertaking recycling alongside their replacement
by renewable sources of energy that can act as alternatives to fossil fuel sources. Countries
can use market- or control-based regulations to reduce emission levels. Filtration markets
in developed countries are considered mature and it is expected that developing coun-
tries are going to become the future market once these countries adopt stricter emission
regulations that will compel companies to switch to more efficient filtration-control
devices.
For the filtration of dust particles, nonwoven filter media are widely used to capture fly
ash because of their high collection efficiency as compared to the ESP. As the collection of
dust particles continues, the pores are blocked and pressure drop increases. In order to
reduce the pressure, the bags are cleaned by mechanical, reverse flow or reverse pulse-jet
arrangements with the latter being widely used because of its higher cleaning efficiency.
The forces applied during cleaning cause deformation of the filter media and over a
period of time the mechanical properties of filters deteriorate. Adverse thermal and chem-
ical conditions also cause deterioration of the filters, hence the need to use fibres that are
resistant to thermal and chemical attack. When the filter media fail or their pressure drop
becomes very high, they need to be able to be safely removed and treated before disposal
as they contain toxic heavy metals that can solubilize on wetting and contaminate the
groundwater. The treated bags are usually incinerated as the fibres used to produce the
bags degrade poorly. Many developing countries face challenges in effectively managing
their waste pollutants due to the lack of technology, human capital and money.
For effective control of pollutants that are released during fossil-fuel combustion, it is
necessary to use a combination of strategies that involve the appropriate application of
environmental regulations, the use of filtration control devices, development of and
replacement of fossil fuels by renewable energy sources and safe management of the dis-
posal of any trapped pollutants. By implementing these strategies, emission levels can be
reduced. Whilst the main factors affecting the effectiveness and efficiency of filters are the
same across all areas of application, each specific industry poses its own particular
demands which must be addressed on an individual basis.
Acknowledgments
This work is based on the research supported in part by the National Research Foundation of South
Africa (grant-specific unique reference numbers (UID) 96714 and 104840). The authors acknowledge
that opinions, findings, and conclusions expressed in any publication generated by the supported
research are those of the authors, and that the sponsors accept no liability in this regard. Also,
authors and publishers acknowledge the help of following sources for giving permission to repro-
duce figures and tables in this issue of Textile Progress: Elsevier, John Wiley and Sons Inc., Taylor and
Francis Group LLC Books, Taylor and Francis, The Textile Institute, Springer Nature, American Chemi-
cal Society, Chemical Engineering and Technology, Journal of Applied Polymer Science, Journal of Elec-
trostatics, Journal of Membrane Science, Filtration and Separation, Progress in Energy and Combustion
Science, Fuel, Environmental Science & Technology, Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Funding
National Research Foundation of South Africa [grant number 96714], [grant number 104840].
ORCID
Asis Patnaik http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7203-7185
References
[1] J. Pallares, C. Herce, C. Bartolome and B. Pena, Energy 140 (2017) p.58.
[2] C.N. Lange, I.M. Camargo, A.M. Figueiredo, L. Castro, M.A. Vasconcellos and R.B. Ticianelli, J.
Radioanal. Nucl. Chem. 311 (2017) p.1235.
[3] V. Viskovic, Y. Chen and A.S. Siddiqui, Energy Econ. 65 (2017) p.251.
[4] A. Mukhopadhyay and V. Pandit, Environ. Dev. Sustain. 16 (2014) p.35.
[5] L. Edelman, Filtr. Sep. 45 (2008) p.24.
[6] D. Lin, J. Lin and S. Chen, Resour. Conserv. Recycl. 46 (2006) p.281.
[7] J.E. Aubert, B. Husson and A. Vaquie, R. Cem. Con. Res. 34 (2004) p.957.
[8] J. Villeneuve, J.H. Palacios, P. Savaoie and S. Gobbout, Bioresourc. Technol. 111 (2012) p.1.
[9] H. Yi, H. Deng, X. Tang, Q. Yu, X. Zhou and H. Liu, J. Hazard. Mater. 203–204 (2012) p.111.
[10] Z. Zoundi, Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 72 (2017) p.1067.
[11] A. Sakalli, A. Cescatti, A. Dosio and M.U. Gucel, Clim. Serv. 7 (2017) p.64.
[12] P. Rajaf, M. Amann and J.G. Siri, Sci. Total. Environ. 494–495 (2014) p.272.
[13] J. Shen, Y.D. Wei and Z. Yang, J. Clean. Prod. 148 (2017) p.785.
[14] Z. Cheng, L. Li and J. Liu, J. Clean. Prod. 149 (2017) p.191.
[15] M.L. Mittal, C. Sharma and R. Singh, (2007), Available at https://www3.epa.gov/ttnchie1/confer
ence/ei20/session5/mmittal.pdf
[16] S.J. Russell, Handbook of Nonwovens, Woodhead Publishing Limited, Cambridge, 2007.
[17] S. Shanthakumar, D.N. Singh and R.C. Phadke, Prog. Energy Combust. Sci. 34 (2008) p.685.
[18] R.P. Donovan, Fabric Filtration for Combustion Sources: Fundamentals and Basic Technology,
Marcel Derker, Inc., New York, 1985.
[19] A. Patnaik and R.D. Anandjiwala, Chem. Eng. Technol. 39 (2016) p.529.
[20] A. Patnaik, CSIR Report, Port Elizabeth (2009) p.1.
[21] W. Albrecht, H. Fuchs and W. Kittelmann, Nonwoven Fabrics: Raw Materials, Manufacture, Appli-
cations, Characteristics, Testing Processes, Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co, Weiheim, 2003.
[22] M. Acar and J.F. Harper, Comput. Struct. 76 (2000) p.105.
[23] T. Sparks and G. Chase, Filters and Filtration Handbook, 6th ed., Butterworth-Heinemann,
Oxford, 2016.
[24] D.B. Purchas and K. Sutherland, Handbook of Filter Media, 2nd ed., Elsevier Advanced Technol-
ogy, Oxford, 2002.
[25] L.K. Wang, C. Williford and W.-Y. Chen, Fabric filtration, in Air Pollution Control Engineering, 1st
ed., L.K. Wang, N.C. Pereira and Y.T. Hung eds., Springer Science+Business Media, New York,
2004, p.59.
[26] J. Li, F. Zhou and S. Li, Sep. Purif. Technol. 154 (2015) p.89.
[27] W. Qin, M. Dekermenjian and R.J. Martin, J. Air. Waste Manag. Assoc. 56 (2006) p.1177.
[28] B.G. Liptak, Municipal Waste Disposal in the 1990s, Chilton Book Company, Radnor, 1991.
[29] B.-K. Lee, M.J. Ellenbecker and R. Moure-Ersaso, Waste Manag. 24 (2004) p.143.
[30] J.P. Ramirez, Appl. Catal. B 70 (2007) p.31.
[31] United Nations framework convention on climate change. (2012). Available at http://unfccc.
int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php
[32] J.E. Szulejko, P. Kumar, A. Deep and K.-H. Kim, Atmos. Pollut. Res. 8 (2017) p.136.
[33] The new plastics economy, Catalysing the actions (2017). Available at https://www.ellenmacar
thurfoundation.org/assets/downloads/New-PlasticsEconomy_Catalysing-Action_13-1-17.pdf
[34] The industrial emissions directive (2013). Available at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/indus

try/stationary/ied/legislation.htm
[35] Government Gazette, Republic of South Africa, No. 39 of 2004: National environment manage-
ment: Air quality act, 2004 (2004). Available at https://www.environment.gov.za/
[36] Y. Xu, J. Hu, Q. Ying, H. Hao, D. Wang and H. Zhang, Sci. Total Environ. 596 (2017) p.505.
[37] W. Yanxi, Filtr. Sep. 37 (2000) p.24.
[38] L.N. Huy and N.K. Oanh, Atmos. Pollut. Res. 8 (2017) p.503.
[39] R. Pearse, Energy Pol. 99 (2016) p.319.
[40] R. Ramanathan, U. Ramanthan and Y. Bently, Omega (2017) p.1. doi:10.1016/j.
omega.2017.02.006.
[41] M.A. Cole, R.J. Elliot and K. Shimamoto, J. Environ. Econ. Manag. 50 (2005) p.121.
[42] J.B. Skjaerseth and J. Wettestad, Int. Environ. Agree. 8 (2008) p.275.
[43] G. Li, J. Yang, D. Chen and S. Hu, Appl. Energy 195 (2017) p.837.
[44] D. Mmereki, A. Baldwin, B. Li and M. Liu, J. Mater. Cycles Waste. Manage. 19 (2017) p.351.
[45] A.K. Roy Choudhury, Text. Prog. 45 (2013) p.3.
[46] M.A. Gonzalez-Salazar, T. Kirsten and L. Prchlik, Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 82 (2018) p.1497.
[47] J. Squalli, Energy 127 (2017) p.479.
[48] H.J. Kim, B.W. Han, C.G. Woo, Y.J. Kim, R. Ono and T. Oda, J. Aerosol. Sci. 77 (2014) p.116.
[49] K. Sutherland, Filtr. Sep. 44 (2007) p.23.
[50] H.U. Heinrichs, D. Schumann, S. Vogele, K.H. Bib, H. Shamon, P. Markewitz, J. Tobben, B. Gilles-
sen, F. Gotzens and A. Ernst, Energy 126 (2017) p.285.
[51] C.J. Bogmans, G.J. Dykema and M.H. van Vliet, Energy Econ. 62 (2017) p.1.
[52] Towards the circular economy. (2013). Available at https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.
org/assets/downloads/publications/Ellen-MacArthur-Foundation-Towards-the-Circular-Econ
omy-vol.1.pdf
[54] K. Sutherland, Filtr. Ind. Anal. 2006 (2006) p.9.
[55] Fabric filters market to reach US$16.34 billion by 2025 globally: Transparency Market
Research. Available at https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fabric-filters-market-to-
reach-us1634-bn-by-2025-globally-transparency-market-research-654066273.html
[56] Asia will purchase 64% of fabric filter systems next year. (2016). Available at http://home.mcil
vainecompany.com/index.php/7-news/1054-nr2181
[57] New market research report: Global baghouse filters market 2017–2021. Available at http://
www.live-pr.com/en/new-market-research-report-global-baghouse-r1050717184.htm
[58] Industrial air filtration market to exceed $7.1bn by 2022: Global Market Insights, Inc. Available
at https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2017/08/31/1106038/0/en/Industrial-Air-Filtra
tion-Market-to-exceed-7-1bn-by-2022-Global-Market-Insights-Inc.html
[59] Filters in China - Demand and sales forecasts, market share, market size, market leaders.
(2017). Available at https://www.freedoniagroup.com/Filters-In-China.html
[60] K. Sutherland, Filtr. Ind. Anal. 2009 (2009) p.6.
[62] A. Williams, J.M. Jones, L. Ma and M. Pourkashanian, Prog. Energy. Combust. Sci. 38 (2012)
p.113.
[63] A.C. Barbosa, A.P. Fulco, E.S. Guerra, F.K. Arakaki, M. Tosatto, M.C. Costa and J.D. Melo, Compos.
Part B 110 (2017) p.298.
[64] E. Hardman. (Chapter 7) High performance textiles for industrial filtration, in High Performance
Textiles and their Applications, C. Lawrence eds., Woodhead Publishing Limited, Cambridge,
2014, p.223.
[65] P.K. Banerjee, Principles of Fabric Formation, CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2015.
[66] V.P. Aleksandrov, R.B. Baranova and A.Y. Valdberg, Chem. Petrol. Eng. 46 (2010) p.33.
[67] N. Pan and G. Sun, Functional Textiles for Improved Performance, Protection and Health, Wood-
head Publishing Limited, Cambridge, 2011.
[68] H. Ogawa and K. Saito, Carbon 33 (1995) p.783.
[69] D. Flore, K. Wegener, D. Seel, C.C. Oetting and T. Bublat, Compos. Part A 90 (2016) p.359.
[70] D.D. Chung, Carbon Fiber Composites, Butterworth-Heinemann, Newton, 1994.

[71] R.A. Horrocks and S.C. Anand, Handbook of Technical Textiles, Woodhead Publishing, Cam-
bridge, 2000.
[72] J. Chang, M. He, H. Niu, G. Sui and D. Wu, Polymer 89 (2016) p.102.
[73] S. Dalton, F. Heatley and P.M. Budd, Polymer 40 (1999) p.5531.
[74] D. Lian, J. Dai, R. Zhang, M. Niu and Y. Huang, Polym. Degrad. Stab. 129 (2016) p.77.
[75] J.P. Jog, N. Bulakh and V.M. Nadkarni, Bull. Mater. Sci. 17 (1994) p.1079.
[76] J.D. Nam, J. Kim, S. Lee, Y. Lee and C. Park, J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 87 (2003) p.661.
[77] C.A. Harper and E.M. Petrie, Plastics Materials and Processes: A Concise Encyclopedia, John Wiley
and Sons, Inc., Hoboken, 2003.
[78] I.M. Hutten, Handbook of Nonwoven Filter Media, 2nd ed., Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford,
2016.
[79] W. Tanthapanichakoon, M. Furuuchi, K.-H. Nitta, M. Hata, S. Endoh and Y. Otani, Polym.
Degrad. Stab. 91 (2006) p.1637.
[80] W. Tanthapanichakoon, M. Hata, K.-H. Nitta, M. Furuuchi and M. Otani, Polym. Degrad. Stab. 91
(2006) p.2614.
[81] T. Sinmazcelik, Mater. Des. 27 (2006) p.270.
[82] J. Dong, C. Yin, X. Zhao, Y. Li and Q. Zhang, Polymer 54 (2013) p.6415.
[83] M. Lewin and J. Preston, Handbook of Fiber Science and Technology Volume III: High Technology
Fibers Part C, Marcel Dkker, Inc., New York, 1993.
[84] G.S. Bhat and R. Schwanke R, J. Therm. Anal. 49 (1997) p.399.
[85] H.B. Xiang, Z. Huang, L.Q. Liu, L. Chen, J. Zhu, Z.M. Hu and J.R. Yu, Macromol. Res. 19 (2011)
p.645.
[86] G.J. Cook, Handbook of Textile Fibres, Merrow Publishing Co. Ltd., Durham, 1993.
[87] C.K. Pastore and P. Kiekens, Surface Characteristics of Fibers and Textiles, Marcel Dekker Inc.,
New York, 2001.
[88] K.E. Perepelkin, I.Y. Morgoeva, I.V. Andreeva and G.P. Meshcheryakova, Fibre Chem. 33 (2001)
p.53.
[89] M.J. Denton and P.N. Daniels (Eds.), Textile Terms and Definitions, 11th ed. The Textile Institute,
Manchester, 2002.
[90] N. Starbard, Beverage Industry Microfiltration, 1st ed., Wiley-Blackwell, Ames, 2008.
[91] J.W. Hearle, High-Performance Fibres, Woodhead Publishing Limited, Cambridge, 2000.
[92] D.H. Liu and B.G. Liptak, Environmental Engineers’ Handbook, CRC Press LLC, Boca Raton, 1999.
[93] S.-J. Park, Carbon Fibers, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht, London, 2015.
[94] A. Whelan and G.P. Goff, Developments in Plastic Technology - 4, Elsevier Science Publishers
Ltd., Essex, 1989.
[95] P. Morgan, Carbon Fibers and their Composites, CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2005.
[96] R. Sinclair, Textiles and Fashion: Materials, Design and Technology, Woodhead Publishing Lim-
ited, Cambridge, 2015.
[97] V.B. Gupta and V.K. Kothari, Manufactured Fibre Technology, Chapman and Hall, London, 1997.
[98] V.K. Kothari, A. Das and S. Singh, Ind. J. Fibre Text. Res. 32 (2006) p.214.
[99] C. Cherif, Textile Materials for Lightweight Construction: Technologies-Methods-Materials-Proper-
ties, Springer-Verlag, London, 2016.
[100] S. Zobel, B. Maze, V.H. Tafreshi, B. Wang and B. Pourdeyhimi, Chem. Eng. Sci. 62 (2007) p.6285.
[101] A. Rawal, R. Anandjiwala, V. Soukupova and D. Moyo, J. Ind. Text. 36 (2007) p.207.
[102] V.K. Midha and A. Mukhopadyay, Ind. J. Fibre Text. Res. 30 (2005) p.218.
[103] S.K. Batra and B. Pourdeyhimi, Introduction to Nonwovens Technology, DEStech Publications
Inc., Lancaster, 2012.
[104] R. Nandagopal, A. Venkatachalam, A.R. Padmanabhan, R. Ramachandran, A.K. Roy and V. Srivi-
dya, Textile Clothing and Management, Allied Publishers PVT. Ltd, Mumbai, 2004.
[105] N. Martin, P. Davies and C. Baley, Ind. Crops Prod. 83 (2016) p.194.
[106] P. Schwartz, Structure and Mechanics of Textile Fibre Assemblies, Woodhead Publishing Limited,
Cambridge, 2008.
[107] D. Moyo, A. Patnaik and R.D. Anandjiwala, Process control in nonwovens production, in Process
Control in Textile Manufacturing, A. Majumdar, A. Das, R. Alagirusamy and V.K. Kothari, eds.,
Woodhead Publishing Limited, Cambridge, 2013. p.279.
[108] S.R. Kumar, Textiles for Industrial Applications, CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2014.
[109] R.A. Horrocks and S.C. Anand, Handbook of Technical Textiles Volume 2: Technical Textiles Appli-
cations, 2nd ed., Woodhead Publishing Limited, Kidlington, 2016.
[110] Z.K. Walczak, Processes of Fiber Formation, Elsevier Science Ltd., Oxford, 2002.
[111] G. Kellie, Advances in Technical Nonwovens, Woodhead Publishing Limited, Kidlington, 2016.
[112] M. Amiot, M. Lewandowski, P. Leite, T. Marc and A. Perwuelz, J. Mater. Sci. 49 (2014) p.52.
[113] A. Majumdar, A. Das, R. Alagirusamy and V.K. Kothari, Process Control in Textile Manufacturing,
Woodhead Publishing Limited, Cambridge, 2013.
[114] C.-F.J. Kuo, T.-L. Su and C.-P. Tsai, Fiber Polym. 8 (2007) p.654.
[115] T.-T. Li, R. Wang, C.-W. Lou, J.-Y. Lin and J.-H. Lin, Fiber Polym. 15 (2014) p.315.
[116] E.S. Bokova and A.V. Dedov, Fibre Chem. 43 (2012) p.438.
[117] S.Y. Yeo, D.Y. Lim, S.W. Byun, J.H. Kim and S.H. Jeong, J. Mater. Sci. 42 (2007) p.8040.
[118] A.M. Seyam, P. Xiang and A.V. Kuznetsov, J. Eng. Fiber Fabr. 1 (2006) p.1.
[119] V.H. Tafreshi, N. Anantharamaiah and B. Pourdeyhimi, Chem. Eng. Sci. 61 (2006) p.4582.
[120] A. Begenir, V.H. Tafreshi and B. Pourdeyhimi, Text. Res. J. 74 (2004) p.178.
[121] E. Ghassemieh, M. Acar and H.K. Versteeg, Compos. Sci. Technol. 61 (2001) p.1681.
[122] D. Das and B. Pourdeyhimi, Composite Nonwoven Materials: Structure, Properties and Applica-
tions, Woodhead Publishing Limited, Cambridge, 2014.
[123] N. Anantharamaiah, K. Rompert, H.V. Tafreshi and B. Pourdeyhimi, J. Mater. Sci. 42 (2007)
p.6161.
[124] M.-O. Kim and T.Y. Park, Fiber Polym. 17 (2016) p.932.
[125] B. Pourdeyhimi and A. Minton, Int. Nonwovens J. (2004) p.15.
[126] Processing and Finishing of Polymeric Materials, Vol. 1, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, 2011.
[127] N. Mao and S.J. Russell, Compos. Sci. Technol. 66 (2006) p.80.
[128] N. Anantharamaiah, H.V. Tafreshi and B. Pourdeyhimi, J. Micromech. Microeng. 17 (2007) p.31.
[129] O.B. Berkalp, Fibres Text. East. Eur. 14 (2006) p.81.
[130] G.K. Stylios and I. Jones, Joining Textiles Principles and Applications, Woodhead Publishing Lim-
ited, Cambridge, 2013.
[131] K.-L. Tung, Y.-L. Li, K.-T. Lu and W.-M. Lu, Sep. Purif. Technol. 48 (2006) p.1.
[132] S. Calle, P. Contal, D. Thomas, D. Bemer and D. Leclerc, Powder Technol. 128 (2002) p.213.
[133] D. Koch, J. Seville and R. Clift, Powder Technol. 86 (1996) p.21.
[134] A. Ergudenler, W. Tang, C.M. Brereton, C.J. Lim, J.R. Grace and T.J. Gennrich, Sep. Purif. Technol.
11 (1997) p.1.
[135] A.V. Dedov and I.B. Esmurziev, Fibre Chem. 41 (2009) p.246.
[136] A.V. Dedov and V.G. Nazarov, Fibre Chem. 43 (2011) p.259.
[137] A.V. Dedov, Fibre Chem. 41 (2009) p.43.
[138] M. Saleem, R.U. Khan, S.M. Tahir and G. Krammer, Powder Technol. 214 (2011) p.388.
[139] S.S. Cirqueira, E.H. Tanabe and M.L. Aguiar, Process. Saf. Environ. Prot. 105 (2017) p.69.
[140] K. Mahall, Quality Assessment of Textiles: Damage Detection by Microscopy, 2nd ed., Springer-
Verlag, Berlin, 2003.
[141] M.N. Prabhakar, A.R. Shah and J.-I. Song, Carbohydr. Polym. 168 (2017) p.201.
[142] W.D. Schindler and P.J. Hauser, Chemical Finishing of Textiles, Woodhead Publishing Limited,
Cambridge, 2004.
[143] A.R. Horrocks, Polym. Degrad. Stab. 96 (2011) p.377.
[144] S.F. Kilinc, Handbook of Fire Resistant Textiles, Woodhead Publishing Limited, Oxford, 2013.
[145] L. Costes, F. Laoutid, S. Brohez and P. Dubois, Mater. Sci. Eng. R-Rep. 117 (2017) p.1.
[146] A.R. Horrocks, B.K. Kandola, P.J. Davies, S. Zhang and S.A. Padbury, Polym. Degrad. Stab. 88
(2005) p.3.
[147] G. Pohl, Textiles, Polymers and Composites for Buildings, Woodhead Publishing Limited, Cam-
bridge, 2010.
[148] S.B. Sello and M. Lewin, Handbook of Fibre Science and Technology: Vol, II Chemical Processing
of Fibers and Fabrics Functional Finishes B, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, 1984.
[149] Z.-Y. Wang, E.-H. Han and W. Ke, J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 103 (2007) p.1681.
[150] E.-S. Cho and S.H. Chung, J. Mech. Sci. Technol. 19 (2005) p.1358.
[151] L. Xu, J. Guo, F. Jin and H. Zeng, Chemosphere 62 (2006) p.823.
[152] R.C. Carr and W.B. Smith, J. Air Pollut. Control Assoc. 34 (1984) p.79.
[153] A. Mehra, M.E. Farago and D.K. Banerjee, Environ. Monit. Assess. 50 (1998) p.15.
[154] X. Guan, B. Gardner, R.A. Martin and J. Spain, Powder Technol. 180 (2008) p.122.
[155] M.E. Laska, R.P. Brooks, M. Gayt and N.S. Pujar, Biotechnol. Bioeng. 92 (2005) p.308.
[156] Advances in wet flue gas desulphurisation, Filtr. Sep. 42 (2005) p.32. Available at https://doi.
org/10.1016/S0015-1882(05)70559-0
[157] N. Hintsho, A. Shaikjee, H. Masend, D. Naidoo, D. Billing, P. Franklyn and S. Durbach, Nanoscale
Res. Lett. 9 (2014) p.1.
[158] A. Wang, Q. Song, G. Tu, H. Wang, Y. Yue and Q. Yao, Int. J. Coal Sci. Technol. 1 (2014) p.4.
[159] H. Wei, L. Hong and and Z. Kuizhao, The R&D and application of electrostatic-fabric organic inte-
grated precipitator in China, in Electrostatic Precipitation: 11th International Conference on Elec-
trostatic Precipitation, Hangzhou, 2008, K. Yan, ed., Zhejiang University Press, Hangzhou, 2009.
p.464.
[160] R. Sharma and S. Pervez, Environ. Geochem. Health 26 (2004) p.373.
[161] M. Ahmaruzzaman, Prog. Energ. Combust. Sci. 36 (2010) p.327.
[162] J.R. Sanchez, J.M. Rodrıguez, A. Alvaro and A.M. Estevez, Environ. Prog. 26 (2007) p.50.
[163] F. Ferreira, P. Gomes, H. Tente, A.C. Carvalho, P. Pereira and J. Monjardino, Atmos. Environ. 122
(2015) p.373.
[164] X. Zhou, H. Yi, X. Tang, H. Deng and H. Liu, Chem. Eng. J. 200–202 (2012) p.399.
[165] Y. Zhao, J. Zhang, J. Liu, M. Diaz-Somoano, P. Abad-Valle, M.R. Martinez-Tarazona and C.
Zheng, Sci. China Technol. Sc. 53 (2010) p.976.
[166] S. Iyer and J.A. Scott, Resour. Conserv. Recycl. 31 (2001) p.217.
[167] C. Yan, G. Liu and H. Chen, Powder Technol. 249 (2013) p.424.
[168] T.W. Pereira, F.B. Marques, F.R. Pereira, D.C. Ribeiro and S.M. Rocha, J. Clean. Prod. 111 (2016)
p.117.
[169] Y. Zhou, X.-A. Ning, X. Liao, M. Lin, J. Liu and J. Wang, Ecotoxicol. Environ. Saf. 95 (2013) p.130.
[170] N. Findanisa and M. Southama, Proc. Eng. 49 (2012) p.228.
[171] P.V. Roslyakov, Therm. Eng. 63 (2016) p.495.
[172] C. Wallin, Environmentalist 6 (1986) p.111.
[173] http://ec.europa.eu/environment/air/pdf/final_report_05app.pdf
[174] A. Mukhopadhyay, Text. Prog. 41 (2009) p.195.
[175] O. Kurtz, J. Meyer and G. Kasper, Particuology 30 (2017) p.40.
[176] S.Y. Yeo, O.S. Kim, D.Y. Lim and S.W. Byun, J. Mater. Sci. 40 (2005) p.5393.
[177] A. Mukhopadhyay, Text. Prog. 42 (2010) p.1.
[178] K. Morris and R.W. Allen, Filtr. Sep. 33 (1996) p.339.
[179] W.R. Niessen, Combustion and Incineration Processes: Applications in Environmental Engineering,
4th ed., Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, Boca Raton, 2010.
[180] K. Yan (ed.), Electrostatic Precipitation: 11th International Conference on Electrostatic Precipita-
tion, Hangzhou, 2008, Zhejiang University Press, Hangzhou, 2009.
[181] A. Jaworek, A. Krupa and T. Czech, J. Electrost. 65 (2007) p.133.
[182] K. Parker, Electrical Operation of Electrostatic Precipitators, The Institution of Engineering and
Technology, London, 2007.
[183] X. Liu, M. Xu, H. Yao, D. Yu, Z. Zhan and D. Lu, Sci. China Ser. E 52 (2009) p.1521.
[184] C. Wang, X. Liu, D. Li, J. Si, B. Zhao and M. Xu, Proc. Combust. Inst. 35 (2015) p.2793.
[185] D.D. Reible, Fundamentals of Environmental Engineering, Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, USA,
1999.
[186] P.N. Cheremisinoff, Air Pollution Control and Design for Industry, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York,
1993.
[187] H. Shemer, A. Sagiv, M. Holenberg and A.Z. Maor, Desalination 431 (2018) p.80.

[189] M.D. Holloway, C. Nwaoha and O.A. Onyewuenyi, Process Plant Equipment: Operation, Control
and Reliability, John Wiley and Sons, Hoboken, 2012.
[190] C.T. Dickenson, Filters and Filtration Handbook, 4th ed., Elsevier Advanced Technology, Oxford,
1997.
[191] A. Rushton, R.G. Holdich and A.S. Ward, Solid–Liquid Filtration and Separation Technology, 2nd
ed., Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH, Weinheim, 2000.
[192] K.S. Sutherland and G. Chase, Filters and Filtration Handbook, 5th ed., Butterworth-Heinemann,
Oxford, 2008.
[193] R.J. Wakeman and S.E. Tarleton, Solid/Liquid Separation: Principles of Industrial Filtration, 1st ed.,
Elsevier Advanced Technology, Oxford, 2005.
[194] J.D. McKenna, J.H. Turner and J.P. McKenna, Fine Particle (2.5microns) Emissions: Regulations,
Measurement and Control, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., Hoboken, 2008.
[195] M.J. Jackson (ed.), Surface Engineering: Proceedings of the 5th International Surface Engineering
Congress, ASM International, Materials Park, 2006.
[196] D.H. Liu and B.G. Liptak, Air Pollution, Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, 2000.
[197] O. Kurtz, J. Meyer and G. Kasper, Chem. Eng. Technol. 39 (2016) p.435.
[198] K.R. Mobley, Root Cause Failure Analysis, Butterworth-Heinemann, Woburn, 1999.
[199] J.R. Gabites, J. Abrahamson and J.A. Winchester, Powder Technol. 187 (2008) p.46.
[200] K.C. Schifftner, Air Pollution Control Equipment Selection Guide, 2nd ed., CRC Press, Boca Raton,
2014.
[201] J. Rezaiyan and N.P. Cheremisinoff, Gasification Technologies A Primer for Engineers and Scien-
tist, CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2005.
[202] Q. Li, M. Zhang, Y. Qian, F. Geng, J. Song and H. Chen, Powder Technol. 283 (2015) p.302.
[203] Y. Qian, Y. Bi, M. Zhang, H. Chen and G. Xu, Powder Technol. 277 (2015) p.82.
[204] L. Shi, X. Zhuang, X. Tao, B. Cheng and W. Kang, Fiber. Polym. 14 (2013) p.1485.
[205] A.T. Beyene and G. Belingardi, Compos. Struct. 122 (2015) p.250.
[206] R. Zhou, H. Shen and M. Zhao, Energy Procedia. 16 (2012) p.426.
[207] M.J. Matteson and C. Orr, Filtration Principles and Practices, 2nd ed., Marcel Dekker Inc., New
York, 1987.
[208] K.E. Perepelkin, I.V. Andreeva, G.P. Meshcheryakova and I.Y. Morgoeva, Fibre. Chem. 38 (2006)
p.400.
[209] W. Tanthapanichakoon, W. Furuuchi, K.-H. Nitta, M. Hata and Y. Otani, Adv. Powder Technol. 18
(2007) p.349.
[210] O.O. Erofeev, T.E. Voloshchik, Y.K. Naganovskii and Z.Y. Kozi, Fibre Chem. 45 (2013) p.94.
[211] F. Loffler, H. Dietrich and W. Flatt, Dust Collection with Bag Filters and Envelope Filters, Springer
Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, Braunschweig, 1988.
[212] A. Ridruejo, C. Gonzalez and J. Llorca, Cr. Mecanique. 340 (2012) p.307.
[213] M. Lupion, B. Navarrete, B. Alonso-Farinas and M. Rodriguez-Galan, Fuel 108 (2013) p.24.
[214] Y. Zhao, T. Guo and Z. Zang, Front. Environ. Sci. Eng. 9 (2015) p.222.
[215] M.J. Castaldi and S. Foster, Available at http://www.seas.columbia.edu/earth/wtert/sofos/Fab
ric_filter_bag_whitepaper_final.pdf
[216] M.-Y. Wey, W.-Y. Ou, Z.-S. Liu, H.-H. Tseng, W.-Y. Yang and B.-C. Chiang, J. Hazard. Mater. 82
(2001) p.247.
[217] Y. Watanabe, H. Sato, Y. Hirai, I.-S. Kim, S. Hinata and J. Kim, J. Hazard. Mater. 161 (2009) p.775.
[218] C. Rau, Filtr. Sep. 52 (2015) p.34.
[219] G.J. Hutchings, Green Chemistry Has a Golden Future, Europacat 7, Cardiff University, UK,
August 2005.
[220] K.J.M. Matus, W.C. Clark, P.T. Anastas and J.B. Zimmerman, Environ. Sci. Technol. 46 (2012)
p.10892.
[221] B. Koltuniewicz and E. Drioli, Membranes in Clean Technologies: Theory and Practice, Wiley-VCH,
Weinheim, Germany, 2008.
[222] R.S. Blissett and N.A. Rowson, Fuel 97 (2012) p.1.
[223] R.S. Blissett, N. Smalley and N.A. Rowson, Fuel 119 (2014) p.236.
[224] W. Franus, M.M. Wiatros-Motyka and M. Wdowin, Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. 22 (2015) p.9464.
[225] R. Sommerville, R.S. Blissett, N.A. Rowson and S. Blackburn, Int. J. Miner. Process. 124 (2013)
p.20.
[226] N.A. Kalebek and O. Babaarslan, Fiber. Polym. 11 (2010) p.277.
[227] F. Hajiani, S.M. Hosseini, N. Ansari and A.A. Jeddi, Fiber. Polym. 11 (2010) p.798.
[228] R.A. Chapman, Application of Nonwovens in Technical Textiles, Woodhead Publishing Limited,
Cambridge, 2010.
[229] A. Patanaik, R.D. Anandjiwala and L. Boguslavsky, J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 114 (2009) p.275.
[230] A. Patanaik and R.D. Anandjiwala, J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 117 (2010) p.1325.
[231] T. Lucke and H. Fissan, Chem. Eng. Sci. 51 (1996) p.1199.
[232] H.H. Epps and K.K. Leonas, Int. Nonwovens J. 9 (2000) p.18.
[233] J. Fan and L. Hunter, Engineering Apparel Fabrics and Garments, Woodhead Publishing Limited,
Cambridge, 2009.
[234] J.E. Booth, Principles of Textile Testing, 3rd ed., CBS Publishers & Distributors Pvt. Ltd., Delhi,
1996.
[235] I.R. Clemitson, Castable Polyurethane Elastomers, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC, Boca Raton, 2010.
[236] B.P. Saville, Physical Testing Textiles, Woodhead Publishing Limited, Cambridge, 1999.
[237] J.E. Mark, Physical Properties of Polymers Handbook, 2nd ed., Springer Science+Business Media,
LLC, New York, 2007.
[238] M.E. Yuksekkaya, M. Tercan and G. Dogan, J. Text. Inst. 101 (2010) p.950.
[239] G. Dogan, A Study on the Performances of Filters Used in Dry Air Filtration. Master of Science
Thesis, Afyon Kocatepe University, Usak-Turkey (2006).
[240] H.D. Grobbelaar, ICESP X - Australia 2006, Paper 8C1, p.1.
[241] Filtr. Sep., 42 (2005), p.22. doi:10.1016/S0015-1882(05)00479-9
[242] H. Schneider and H. Waibel, US Patent Publication No. US6379438 B1, 30 April 2002.
[243] R. Malhotra, Fossils Energy: Selected Entries from the Encyclopaedia of Sustainability Science and
Technology, Springer Science+Business Media, New York, 2012.
[244] S.S. Saleh, J. Am. Sci. 8 (2012) p.110.
[245] A. Bennett, Filtr. Sep. 49 (2010) p.20.
[246] D. Cho, A. Naydich, M.W. Frey and Y. L Joo, Polymer 54 (2013) p.2364.
[247] G.T. Kim, Y.C. Ahn and J.K. Lee, Korean J. Chem. Eng. 25 (2008) p.368.
[248] O. Agboola, J. Maree and R. Mbaya, Environ. Chem. Lett. 12 (2014) p.241.
[249] D. von Loesecke and B. Murphey, Filtr. Sep. 45 (2008) p.17.
[250] K. Graham, M. Ouyang, T. Raether, T. Grafe, B. McDonald and P. Knauf, Polymeric nanofibers in
air filtration applications, in 15th Annual Technical Conference & Expo of the American Filtration
& Separations Society, Galveston, TX, April 9–12, 2002.
[251] A. Podgorski, A. Balazy and L. Gradon, Chem. Eng. Sci. 61 (2006) p.6804.
[252] R.S. Barhate, S. Sundarrajan, D. Pliszka and S. Ramakrishna, Filtr. Sep. 45 (2008) p.32.
[253] J.H. Lim, G. Tumenulzii and Y. Huh, Fiber Polym. 16 (2015) p.1378.
[254] A. Patanaik, V. Jacobs and R.D. Anandjiwala, J. Membr. Sci. 352 (2010) p.136.
[255] S. Sundarrajan, K.L. Tan, S.H. Lim and S. Ramakrishna, Proc. Eng. 75 (2014) p.159.
[256] A. Patnaik, CSIR report on membrane filters, 2009, p.1.
[257] W.W.-F. Leung, C.-H. Hung and P.-T. Yuen, Purif. Technol. 71 (2010) p.30.
[258] Freudenberg Filtration Technologies (2017). Available at https://www.freudenberg-filter.com/
en/download-center/automotive-filters/
[259] A.K. Maddineni, D. Das and R.M. Damodaran, Powder Technol. 322 (2017) p.369.
[260] T. Tang, J. Zhang, D. Cao, S. Shuai and Y. Zhao, J. Environ. Sci. 26 (2014) p.2434.
[261] P.A. Kumar, M.D. Tanwar, S. Bensaid, N. Russo and D. Fino, Chem. Eng. J. 207–208 (2012) p.258.
[262] R. Sanders, A. Buhler, M, Durst, N. Moser and A. Pelz, MTZ Worldwide 68 (2007) p.16.
[263] M. Toma and I. Fileru, Procedia. Technol. 22 (2016) p.969.
[264] S. Fleck, M. Heim, A. Beck, N. Moser and M. Durst, MTZ Worldwide. 70 (2009) p.50.
[266] S. Heidenreich, Fuel 104 (2013) p.83.
[267] J.-B. Kim, S. Kim, G.-J. Lee, G.-N. Bae, Y. Cho, D. Park, D.-H. Lee and S.-B. Kwon, Clean. Technol.
Environ. Policy 16 (2014) p.1193.
[268] Z. Li, J. Guan, X. Yang and C.-H. Lin, Atmos. Environ. 89 (2014) p.119.
[269] B. Schmid, A. Kreiner, I. Poljak and G.-M. Klein, MTZ Worldwide 73 (2012) p.46.
[270] D.A. Asanov, V.V. Zapasnyi, N.A. Kulenova, B.Z. Medikhanov and A.T. Ermekova, Metallurgist 57
(2014) p.1076.
[271] V.I. Saranchuk, A.E. Maslov and V.V. Rekun, (1986) p.436, Available at https://link.springer.com/
content/pdf/10.1007%2FBF01399785.pdf
[272] L. Marmo, D. Riccio and E. Danzi, Process. Saf. Environ. Prot. 107 (2017) p.69.
[273] G. Li, H.-X. Yang, C.-M. Yuan and R.K. Eckhoff, J. Loss. Prev. Process. Ind. 39 (2016) p.121.
[274] Tang and G. Han, J. Geochem. Explor. 176 (2017) p.114.
[275] H.-C. Chuang, K.-F. Ho, L.-Y. Lin, T.-Y. Chang, G.-B. Hong, C.-M. Ma, I.-J. Liu and K.-J. Chuang,
Environ. Int. 106 (2017) p.91.
[276] G. Liu, M. Xiao, X. Zhang, C. Gal, X. Chen, L. Liu, S. Pan, J. Wu, L. Tang and D. Clements-Croome,
Sustain. Cities Soc. 32 (2017) p.375.
[277] T. Fedel, Filtr. Sep. 49 (2012) p.25.
[278] L. Morawska, G.A. Ayoko, G.N. Bae, G. Buonanno, C.Y. Chao, S. Clifford, S.C. Fu, O. Hanninen, C.
He, C. Isaxon, M. Mazaheri, T. Salthammer, M.S. Waring and A. Wierzbicka, Environ. Int. 108
(2017) p.75.
[279] M.L. McNamara, J. Thornburg, E.O. Semmens, T.J. Ward and C.W. Noonan, Sci. Total. Environ.
592 (2017) p.488.
[280] D. Brugge, M.C. Simon, N. Hudda, M. Zellmer, L. Corlin, S. Cleland, E.Y. Lu, S. Rivera, M. Byrne, M.
Chung and J.L. Durant, Build. Environ. 126 (2017) p.266.
[281] R.S. Barhate and S. Ramakrishna, J. Membr. Sci. 296 (2007) p.1.
[282] C. Pokhum, V. Intasanta, W. Yaipimai, N. Subjalearndee, C. Srisitthiratkul, V. Pongsorrarith, N.
Phanomkate and C. Chawengkijwanich, Atmos. Pollut. Res. 9 (2018) p.172.
[283] J.-P. Brincat, D. Sardella, A. Muscat, S. Decelis, J.N. Grima, V. Valdramidis and R. Gatt, Trends.
Food. Sci. Technol. 50 (2016) p.175.
[284] M.T. Corporation, Filtr. Sep. 46 (2009) p.42.
[285] J.L. Sublett, Curr. Allergy Asthma Rep. 11 (2011) p.395.
[286] H. Qian, Y. Li, H. Sun, P.V. Nielsen, X. Huang and X. Zheng, Build. Simul. 3 (2010) p.215.
[287] S.C. Verde, S.M. Almeida, J. Matos, D. Guerreiro, M. Meneses, T. Faria, D. Botelho, M. Santos and
C. Viegas, Res. Microbiol. 166 (2015) p.557.
[288] C. Noguchi, H. Koseki, H. Horiuchi, A. Yonekura, M. Tomita, T. Higuchi, S. Sunagawa and M.
Osaki, BMC Surg. 17(78) (2017) p.1.
[289] R. Araujo, J.P. Cabral and A.G. Rodrigues, Am. J. Infect. Control. 36 (2008) p.129.
[290] J.F. Combariza, L.F. Toro and J.J. Orozco, J. Hosp. Infect. 96 (2017) p.336.
[291] M.A. Vladimirsky, L.K. Shipina, E.S. Makeeva, Y.S. Alyapkina, A.Y. Mikheev and V.N. Morozov, J.
Hosp. Infect. 93 (2016) p.100.
[292] A. Vanangamudi, S. Hamzah and G. Singh, Chem. Eng. J. 260 (2015) p.801.
[293] P. Moridi, F. Atabi, J. Nouri and R. Yarahmadi, J. Environ. Manage. 197 (2017) p.456.

Textiles in Air Filtration

Caricato da

Informazioni sul documento

Titolo originale

Copyright

Formati disponibili

Condividi questo documento

Condividi o incorpora il documento

Opzioni di condivisione

Hai trovato utile questo documento?

Questo contenuto è inappropriato?

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

Textiles in Air Filtration

Caricato da

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

Textile Progress

ISSN: 0040-5167 (Print) 1754-2278 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ttpr20

Textiles in air filtration

Lebo Maduna & Asis Patnaik

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/00405167.2018.1461921

Published online: 21 May 2018.

Submit your article to this journal

View related articles

View Crossmark data

Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at

Textiles in air ﬁltration

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

CONTACT Asis Patnaik patnaika@cput.ac.za, asispatnaik@gmail.com

(1) surface ﬁltration,

2.1. Emission levels in different countries

2.2. Mechanisms to control environmental emissions

(1) the traditional methods (command and control) and

2.3. Challenges to developing countries in managing pollution levels

2.5. Circular economy

3.1. Impact of ﬁnancial crisis

Table 1. Fibres and their properties (dust collection) [64].

4.2. Polyphenylene sulphide

It is produced by the reaction of p-dichlorobenzene (C6H4Cl2) and sodium sulphide

4.5. Polyamide (Nylon)

UltemÒ 1000 is a polyetherimide ﬁbre originally produced by General Electric Plastics

4.8. Glass ﬁbre

5. Manufacturing techniques for ﬁlter fabrics

(1) ﬁbre preparation,

5.1. Web formation

Figure 1. Diagram of a spun-laid (spun bonding) process [71].

Meltblown. Low-viscosity polymers are extruded by a high-velocity air stream upon on

Electrospinning. Electrospinning is a process that uses high electrical voltage to develop

5.2. Web bonding

5.2.1. Mechanical bonding

Needle-punching. Needle-punching, the most extensively-used method of manufactur-

Figure 2. Diagram of a needleloom [71].

Figure 3. Spunlacing process [20].

(1) ﬁbre stiffness [125,126],

(1) water jet pressure [101,107,127],

5.3. Finishing of the ﬁlter fabrics

5.3.1. Thermal ﬁnishing (mechanical ﬁnishing)

5.3.2. Chemical treatments

Flame retardants. Flame-retardant ﬁnishing is necessary to impart an important perfor-

Polytetraﬂuoroethylene coating. A fabric ﬁlter can be coated with a membrane layer

Nanoclay. The application of nanoclay as a ﬁnishing treatment improves fabric proper-

Figure 6. A schematic of a coal power plant ﬁltration process [152].

In Figure 6, a schematic diagram of a coal power plant ﬁltration process is shown

6.1. Fly ash

(1) smaller than 10 mm (PM10) and

6.1.1. Removal of ﬂy ash

(1) the chemical and physical properties of the dust,

Figure 7. Electrostatic precipitator [181].

6.2. Filtration mechanisms

(1) surface ﬁltration,

6.2.1. Surface ﬁltration

6.2.2. Cake ﬁltration

6.2.3. Depth straining

6.2.4. Depth ﬁltration (retaining)

6.3. Mechanism of particle capture by ﬁbres

6.3.1. Brownian diffusion

6.3.2. Inertial impaction

6.3.3. Direct interception

6.3.5. Electrostatic attraction