Among the core themes at IFAT for the exhibiting member companies of the VDMA’s section on air-pollution control is energy-efficiency. "The increasing levels of pollution from fine-particle emissions mean that better and better control of these emissions is necessary. The rising demand for high-performance filters is also increasing energy needs," explains Christine Montigny, spokesperson for the VDMA’s air pollution abatement section. "In order to meet these challenges, products needs to be even more energy-efficient, for example by making use of new methods of heat recovery." Other approaches include energy-saving fans, intelligent control technology and demand-oriented filter cleaning, says the VDMA expert.Within the EU wider implementation of the European directives is giving new impetus to the market. "Increasingly the EU limit values are also being demanded by the customers, for example in projects in Eastern Europe and in Turkey, which has not been the case in the past," says Montigny.In Germany over 150 mainly small and medium-sized companies supply air-pollution abatement solutions for industrial processes. Waste-incineration plants, the waste disposal/recovery sector and power stations make up 24% of the customers, the second largest group after the metal industry (35%).German companies involved in air-pollution abatement have a strongly international business base with exports at around 50%. According to Guntram Preuß, an industry expert in the VDMA’s section on air-pollution abatement technology, in 2011 the strongest signals for growth came from East and Southeast Asia, from the European countries outside the EU and from Germany itself.
