Issues in air filtration

This paper comments on the divergent interests between academic researchers engaged in fundamental filtration research and industrial workers involved in commercial product development and testing. The gap that has developed between these groups has prevented university researchers from applying their considerable skills and talent to study real world problems of importance to industry. The Center for Filtration Research was established at the University of Minnesota to attempt to bridge this gap. Some of the issues in air filtration research being examined by the Center include bimodal aerosol loading studies, commercial filter media characterization, particle capture in electret media, particle re-entrainment from fiber surfaces, and a host of theoretical and experimental problems and techniques development that will help to advance the state of art in filtration technology and filter testing. The importance of some of these issues are discussed in this paper, with the goal to arouse industry interest and solicite input to our research programs at the University of Minnesota.