Skip to Content
Exit
 

Author Archives: Hollingsworth-Vose

  1. Why Lead Batteries Are Important for the Shift to EV Ecosystems

    Leave a Comment

    Electric VehicleAs automobiles evolve, so does the role of the battery. Automakers, regulators, and consumers require more power, safety, and sustainability from automotive batteries, especially electric vehicle (EV) batteries. To meet these growing demands, absorbent glass mat (AGM) advanced lead batteries are ideal for 12-volt systems to facilitate the global shift toward autonomous and electric vehicles.

    Hollingsworth & Vose is a leading manufacturer of advanced materials used in energy, filtration, and industrial applications. Since our origins in 1728, we have continuously evolved, with R&D and manufacturing facilities throughout the Americas, Europe, India, and China. Our product line includes a selection of high-quality lead battery components—key to the global shift to EVs. Learn how lead batteries are driving the electric vehicles and infrastructure of the future.

    Why EVs Need Lead Batteries

    Did you know that there are lead batteries in EVs? High-voltage lithium batteries power the electric powertrain, while lead batteries power the low-voltage (12V) safety and auxiliary systems, such as those that drivers and passengers interact with directly. Here is an overview of the 12V capabilities and benefits of lead batteries that make them important in the shift to EVs.

    12V Capabilities

    Lead batteries perform numerous functions in 12V vehicle applications. These capabilities include:

    • While Driving — Lead batteries can power increasing electrical loads for accessories and supplement power for instances of peak load demand (e.g. power steering, seat heating).
    • Parked/Off — Lead batteries enable fob scanning and theft protection. Additionally, they allow for vehicle connectivity to GPS and to facilitate over-the-air updates.
    • Emergencies — Lead EV batteries power functional safety systems to get the vehicle off the road in the event of high-voltage failure of the propulsion system.

    Advantages of Advanced Lead Batteries

    Advanced lead batteries offer several benefits that make them ideal EV batteries, including:

    • Cost Competitiveness — The total cost of ownership is lower than you would find with other types of batteries.
    • Reliability — Advanced lead batteries offer decades of proven performance.
    • Supports the Shift to EV Ecosystems — AGM batteries, in particular, are invaluable for EV charging infrastructures and supporting the electric grid, with long lifespans, safe handling, high-power output, and increased stability that promote the transition to EV vehicles.
    • Sustainability — With a 98-100% recycling rate, advanced lead batteries are the sustainable option.
    • Safe Chemistry — There is no risk of thermal runaway with advanced lead batteries.

    Why Use Advanced Lead Batteries Like AGM?

    Compared to lithium-ion batteries, lead batteries offer advantages for 12V applications in electric vehicles. AGM and other advanced lead batteries enable the stop-start function that reduces vehicle emissions. AGM batteries are especially popular because of their flexibility for where they are mounted in the vehicle due to their non-spillable design, and there is no thermal runaway risk. Due to their robust design, AGM batteries can continue to function properly after a collision in most cases, whereas lithium batteries would require additional electronics to ensure functionality and safety.

    Lead batteries have well-established supply chains and are cost-effective, reliable, and sustainable. What makes lead batteries sustainable is their use of recycled materials. Disposed or end-of-life batteries can be recycled to produce new batteries, which have a low carbon footprint: around 15 kg CO2 per kWh. Reusing materials reduces costs and makes recycling lead batteries an easy way to support global sustainability efforts. The U.S. currently has a lead battery recycling rate of 98%, while Europe’s recycling rate is 100%.

    H&V’s Advanced Lead Battery Components for EVs 

    Advanced lead batteries are crucial to the global shift to electric vehicles. For ideal EV battery components, H&V provides energy-efficient, cost-effective, and reliable solutions. We manufacture top-quality AGM battery separators and other components to meet or exceed automotive standards for quality and performance. Browse our line of proprietary AGM EnergyGuard®, PowerFill™, PowerLock®, and other energy products. In addition to AGM lead battery separators, we also offer gel lead, flooded lead, and primary battery separators.

    Our goal is to provide customers with reliable advanced materials that create a cleaner, more sustainable world. Contact us today to learn more about the role of lead batteries in EVs.

  2. Microfiltration Matters

    Leave a Comment

    H&V has developed innovative porous materials for over two centuries; microfiltration products for liquid filtration have been used by customers for over two decades:

    • Wetlaid cellulose materials are used for semiconductor process water, electroplating, electrical discharge machining, and many other microfiltration processes.
    • Wetlaid glass products are used in many analytical and test kit activities overseen by the US Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”), as well as in cartridges used in biopharmaceutical, ink and dye production.
    • Meltblown polypropylene (“PP”) products are used by the biopharmaceutical industry because of their low protein binding in upstream and downstream processing. Meltblown polyester (“PBT”) is used in the food and beverage industry for the production of beer and wine.
    • Trupor® Nylon products – available through our distribution partner Superior Felt and Filtration (link) – are used in water filtration and other cartridge applications, including point-of-use (“PoU”) elements.
    • Trupor® PES-PBT and PVDF-PBT products have been incorporated into analytical products by our partner, IW Tremont, including their LabExact® (website, Amazon) brand.

    How does Microfiltration fit into Liquid Filtration?

    There are four filtration mechanisms used in water treatment.  The universe of water treatment methods is very broad – including ultraviolet light, flocculants, and a broad range of chemical, physical, physiochemical, and biological technologies – filtration, defined by the following four mechanisms, is simply one tool available to companies that work with process liquids.

    1. Particle Filtration: Particles larger than 10 micron often separated at one atmosphere of pressure.
    2. Microfiltration: Particles from 10 micron down to 0.1 micron are separated under pressure.
    3. Ultrafiltration (“UF”): Higher pressure is used to separate particles from 0.2 micron down to 0.01 micron.
    4. Nanofiltration and Reverse Osmosis (“RO”): Even smaller particles are removed using even higher pressures to create a concentrated brine waste stream and pure water.

     

    Why focus on microfiltration?

    H&V focuses on microfiltration because it’s the right combination of our expertise in manufacturing high performance microporous materials and markets with a demand for innovation.  H&V’s wetlaid (glass and cellulose), meltblown (polypropylene and polyester) have delivered best in class performance for decades.  With the introduction of Trupor® H&V has continued that tradition of performance down to tighter pore sizes.  Trupor® is available in 0.20 um, 0.45 um, 0.65 um, 0.80 um, 1.2 um, and 5.0 um.

     

    What makes microfiltration exciting?

    Microfiltration is a fundamental tool used in many industries:

    • Biopharmaceuticals and large molecule therapeutics are mostly made with proteins. Microfiltration is used to harvest the proteins and ensure they are safely delivered. The firstwater treatment monoclonal antibody (“mAb”) – a protein – was approved by the FDA for use in 1986, 61 mAbs were in use by 2017.  Nine were authorized for use alone in 2021.  $163 billion was spent on these proteins in 2019.
    • Water filtration. Point-of-Use (“PoU”) filtration helps households and restaurants deliver clean, good tasting water. $16 billion was spent on PoU filtration in 2021. Clean water helps coffee taste better, helps keep our homes clean, and reduces the risk of foodborne illness.
    • $4.5 billion was spent in the High-Performance Liquid Chromatography market in 2020 – just one of many analytical paper and membrane markets that benefits from H&V products. I.W. Tremont makes use of H&V’s Trupor® products – in PES-PBT and PVDF-PBT for use in this application.
    • Over $3 billion was spent in the EDM market in 2019 – one of several industrial markets that depend on high performance microfiltration to improve yields and increase the resolution of advanced manufacturing activities. Industrial markets depend on improved microfiltration to improve the re-use of water, reducing the loads on local water treatment systems, reducing costs, and decreasing the size of their industrial footprint.
    • Food & Beverage. The safety and quality expectations for microfiltration membranes are set by the FDA and biopharmaceutical producers – and they are then adopted by food and beverage makers worldwide.  Improving flow rates of filters allows brands to deliver new tastes with longer shelf lifes – they can reduce dependence on heat and chemicals to maintain and extend shelf life of their products.

    The broad impact of microfiltration improves industries that make the world a better place.  More clean water makes the world better.  H&V’s mission is a cleaner, healthier, more sustainable world – improving microfiltration advances that cause with every customer we support.

    How does Trupor® Help Cartridge Makers Extend Their Microfiltration Business?

     

    TRUPOR

    Cartridge makers face a challenging environment from microfiltration product buyers.  H&V designs products that make it easier to sell to cartridge users by addressing the challenges that cartridge buyers face.

    • Trupor® is designed for multiple markets, lowering the cost of long qualification cycles. It takes a long time for new cartridge buyers to qualify a new product for use in their process streams.  H&V’s Trupor® is the first microfiltration media with a full validation guide that covers what matters to end buyers in demanding markets, making it easy to educate customers on their top concerns about bio-safety, bio-compatibility and product performance.
    • Trupor® fits changing regulatory expectations. Regulatory standards shift.  Regulators increase their scope and increase their expectations of transparency from water, pharmaceutical, food, and beverage supply chains.  H&V’s product teams stay on top of the regulatory expectations of the market and provide customers with up to date information as it becomes available. Cartridge makers want as few SKUs as possible with as broad a reach as possible – the Trupor® product family is designed to provide deep flexibility because of its applicability across multiple applications.
    • New products need to have low risk. Liquid buyers want to purchase Nylon, Polyethersulfone and PVDF – which is why Trupor® is available in Nylon, PES-PBT and PVDF-PBT. The market wants to work with polymers with which it is already familiar.  Cartridge makers need to make use of the same processing equipment.  Media needs to work on the same pleaters they are already familiar with.
    • Trupor® delivers superior flux. It’s costly to deploy new products based on all the reasons we’ve already listed – which means the cartridge maker needs to deliver superior performance to earn new customers.  Trupor® consistently delivers twice the flux as existing microfiltration membranes at the same grade, using the same polymers.  Trupor® makes the cost of new cartridge evaluation worthwhile.

    Trupor® fosters cartridge creativity.  Trupor® can be used as the efficiency layer in a microfiltration application, or as a co-pleated capacity layer.  Trupor®’s higher flux allows for use of smaller form factors, or co-pleating with other liquid filtration components – such as carbon block, or active UV-light when applicable

  3. Celebrate Earth Day With NanoWave® Filter Media

    Leave a Comment

    earth dayWhile Earth Day is an important time to celebrate nature and the beauty of the outdoors, at Hollingsworth & Vose, we are doing our part to make the air quality in buildings safer through filtration solutions that reduce energy consumption and minimize carbon emissions as compared to standard filtration in the market.

    With energy consumption in buildings contributing over 30% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, and HVAC equipment accounting for 40% of commercial building energy usage, our team is motivated to help overcome these energy burdens through the introduction of advanced filter media that achieves better and more sustainable outcomes.

    Air filtration is a critical requirement for healthy indoor air quality, but one that often involves making difficult decisions around higher energy expenditure to achieve the increased levels of filtration needed to keep building occupants safe and productive. That’s because it generally takes more energy to move air through higher-grade filters in HVAC systems (such as MERV 13-16), meaning more energy usage is the trade-off for cleaner air.

    When considering indoor air quality, can we live in a safe and more energy-efficient world, having our cake and eating it too? A recent study conducted by on the carbon handprint of our NanoWave® filter media, an industry game-changer given its low-pressure-drop-to-performance ratio, revealed that building owners don’t have to compromise with higher energy usage for a safer indoor environment.

    After reviewing our manufacturing processes and considering the energy use savings against comparable filter media, the study showed that NanoWave® emits 32 times less carbon and generates a savings of -326 kgs CO2e per filter use from cradle to gate. To put that into perspective, those savings are roughly the same amount of carbon emissions that a car ride from Massachusetts to Michigan would generate using regular gas.

    The filtration industry admittedly has much work to do to continue improving manufacturing practices as responsible contributors to the green economy. At H&V, we are passionate about driving sustainable innovation to fulfill our mission of creating a cleaner, healthier, more sustainable world. If you are interested in learning more about how NanoWave® can help reduce HVAC energy consumption and lead to better outcomes for people, buildings, and the planet, please contact us at info@hovo.com.

     

    Wishing everyone a happy and healthy Earth Day from the team at Hollingsworth & Vose!

  4. Hollingsworth and Vose Continues Its Pursuit of a Cleaner, Healthier, More Sustainable World

    Leave a Comment

    Hollingsworth & Vose has an innovative and insightful outlook that helped to grow the company from a family business established over 200 years ago to a global leader in the advanced filtration industry today. Our company’s primary goal is to develop sustainable filtration solutions for a cleaner, healthier world.

    Josh Ayer is the CEO of Hollingsworth & Vose. He came to the company in 2009 as the Vice President and Managing Director for their Asia Pacific Region. He then became the President and Managing Director of the Americas region, followed by President and Chief Operating Officer.

    Josh Ayer headshot

    International Filtration News (IFN) recently interviewed Ayer for their ”Executive Q&A” article. Ayer spoke about the dedication and commitment that Hollingsworth & Vose has to the research and development of sustainable filtration and energy.  

    How Has Hollingsworth & Vose Grown and Become an Industry-Leading Innovator?

    As a global manufacturer of advanced materials for filtration, battery, and industrial applications, Hollingsworth & Vose always strives to maintain innovation in everything we do. 

    Since our origins in 1728, we’ve expanded our manufacturing and research development into facilities in America, China, Europe, and India. Our greatest strengths are foresight and the ability to meet market needs and create a positive impact as they arise. 

    During Ayer’s interview, he explained the company’s success, ”I think it’s always been key for us as a company to keep innovation at the forefront of what we do. That is what has allowed us to evolve and thrive for so long.”

    Ayer also mentioned the following reasons for H&V’s past and continued growth:

    • An international presence that has contributed significantly to our role as an industry leader.
    • Our 13 worldwide research and development, and manufacturing facilities, allow us to partner economically and efficiently with customers. 

    How Are Hollingsworth & Vose Handling the COVID-19 Pandemic?

    We stepped up when COVID-19 struck the world, and our main focus became providing the filtration media for respirators, ventilators, medical wear, and COVID-19 testing materials.

    In addition to filter media, our battery separators supported medical equipment and backup power sources for overtaxed emergency vehicles, hospitals, and other healthcare facilities.

    According to Ayer, ”Before COVID-19, the industry was in a pretty good place. There was a wide range of interesting markets — lots of demand for increased performance requirements that really kept us not only busy but continually innovating, as well.”

    As Ayer thought back to the start of the pandemic, he talked more about the challenges and adaptations the company faced: 

    • Overcoming capacity constraints 
    • Adapting and shifting focus to “people protection”
    • Providing emergency vehicles, hospitals, and other health facilities with battery separators for backup power sources

    Ayer is also looking ahead to the future of H&V. He believes filtration is going to play a huge part in the future of vaccines, which require the microfiltration of liquids and pharmaceutical cleanrooms to eliminate air contaminants. 

    Further, as government regulations and consumer expectations lean toward improved Indoor Air Quality (IAQ), our global environmental efforts for clean energy, air, and water will intensify. 

    Important Market Segments for Filtration in 2022

    As far as filtration in 2022, Ayer believes the demand for filtration media will continue to increase as the public realizes the importance of sustainability and emission reduction. Government regulations and corporate air quality policies will expedite the demand for green buildings with sustainable, healthy spaces that adhere to LEED standards.

    Additionally, cabin air filtration will play a huge part in the transportation sector as we move toward more energy-efficient vehicles, such as hybrids and EVs. Ayer predicts, ”The demand for filtration in the future may evolve, but it’s not going away.”

    Hollingsworth & Vose Continues Its Innovations Toward Sustainable, Clean Filtration Solutions

    Hollingsworth & Vose is a family-run company and global leader in the development of sustainable filtration media. As Ayer proudly said, ”We won’t stray from our mission of creating a cleaner, healthier, more sustainable world.” 

    Contact us for information on sustainable filtration and ethical energy solutions that meet your sustainable business needs.

    You can also click here or the image below for our latest brochure on Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)!

  5. Hollingsworth & Vose Continues to Expand Their Global Presence in India

    Leave a Comment

    As a trusted supplier of energy and filtration solutions, Hollingsworth & Vose is dedicated to serving customers around the world. With 13 production facilities strategically located in North America, Asia, and Europe, H&V has a global footprint that is positioned to meet the needs of regional customers. H&V’s international presence, and vertically integrated capabilities producing raw materials, greatly improves its ability to supply customers.

    Hollingsworth & Vose Makes a Significant Acquisition

    In 2014, U.S.-based Hollingsworth & Vose acquired Raman FibreScience Pvt Ltd, a technology company based in Mysuru, India. Raman FibreScience specializes in developing innovations in fiber-based, wet-laid filtration media and battery separators and was a natural complement to H&V’s existing business. H&V successfully integrated the India R&D and manufacturing operations extending the company’s reach to supply Mysuru-based battery products to global customers.

    The acquisition has enabled our manufacturing facility in Mysuru to produce battery separator products that expand our offerings into energy storage. For example, our Hi-Sep™ battery separators are produced in Mysuru and are commonly used in both industrial and automotive applications.

    H&V Invests in India and Expands Manufacturing Capacity

    Now in 2022, H&V is expanding its manufacturing capacity in Mysuru, India.  The investment H&V is committing will more than double H&V’s existing capacity to serve the South Asia and Global market. 

    In line with H&V’s vision to provide solutions for “Creating a Cleaner World”, H&V’s investment will expand capacity to manufacture Hi-Sep battery separators and Absorbent Glass Mat (AGM) separators for automotive and industrial applications.  Further, the investment will enable production of HEPA filtration media for regional customers.      

    e-rickshaw

    H&V has invested and grown the technology where Hi-Sep serves a niche requirement in deep cycle flooded and gel battery applications to include Electric rickshaws, back-up power, and industrial forklifts.    

    Premium Energy Solutions From Global Leader Hollingsworth & Vose

    With multiple facilities spread across three continents, Hollingsworth & Vose is committed to providing the world with more innovative energy and filtration solutions. Our strategic acquisition of Raman FibreScience, coupled with the commitment to expand South Asia production capacity, has enabled H&V to further support the global transition to clean and sustainable energy storage solutions. We look forward to expanding our expertise and presence in India as well as the rest of the world.

    To learn more about how working with H&V can streamline your operations, contact us today.

  6. Microfiltration vs. Ultrafiltration: What’s the Difference?

    Leave a Comment

    Microfiltration and ultrafiltration are separation methods that rely on filter media with tiny pores to remove solids from a liquid stream. Factors such as the pore size and contaminants present affect the degree of purification.

    Microfiltration and ultrafiltration strip solids from liquid streams until they are sent to more intensive treatment processes in a variety of industrial applications. This is required to purify streams for the production of potable water, to handle waste to meet effluent regulations, and to perform a variety of other separation processes.

    Microfiltration and ultrafiltration membranes come in various material options and configurations to meet the needs of the intended application.

    What Is Microfiltration?

    Microfiltration is a filtration and separation process that uses porous filter media, often pleated into a cartridge format, to filter particles between 0.1 and 10 micrometers. Microfiltration allows for cleaner water and cleaner processes by relying on physical separation, reducing the need for chemical treatments.

    In industrial applications, microfiltration is an ideal method of removing larger solids prior to other separation methods, including ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis. Various applications rely on microfiltration filter media to remove bacteria and small pollutants.

    Industrial process streams typically integrate microfiltration in the following treatment applications:

    • Food & beverage processes
    • Wastewater treatment
    • Bioprocesses
    • Ink & dye production
    • Oil separation from water
    • Dairy processing where protein molecules are permitted
    • Pharmaceuticals

    Microfiltration is a suitable pre-treatment for streams prior to ultrafiltration. It improves the efficiency of the ultrafiltration filter media by removing large solids.

    trupor-applications-food-beverage

    What Is Ultrafiltration?

    Ultrafiltration, like microfiltration, separates solids from a pressurized liquid stream using membranes of tiny pores. An ultrafiltration membrane’s pores are around 0.01 micron in dimension. An ultrafiltration membrane can isolate the same solids from a liquid stream as microfiltration filter media, but with the right level of strain, it can also separate viruses.

    Various industrial process streams and commercial treatment applications rely on ultrafiltration, including:

    • Beverage clarification processes
    • Removal of pathogens from milk
    • Separating oil from water
    • Chemical separation processes
    • Protein concentration
    • Wastewater treatment

    If your application relies on microfiltration before ultrafiltration, Trupor® microfiltration filters provide optimum reliability and efficiency.

     


    Check out the dedicated Trupor® site for more information:

    Trupor Logo


    Microfiltration with Trupor®

    Microfiltration is a preferred liquid purification solution that various industries use to process liquid streams. Trupor® is a reliable and high-performance filtration solution for microfiltration, using the leading technology in microporous filtration media. You can rely on Trupor® to deliver best-in-class flow rates and remarkable reliability.

    Trupor® is a patented filtration technology from Hollingsworth & Vose. It is sold as a rolled good with a composite structure and superior pore size uniformity. Our microfiltration filter media delivers performance stability, meeting the thinnest efficiency levels possible. They also have a long lifespan and can help you save time and money in a range of filtration applications.

  7. The Importance of Microfiltration Membranes in Water Treatment

    Leave a Comment

    Water cleanliness and filtration standards are rising in many parts of the world. That means municipal water treatment facilities and commercial water purification systems need to be increasingly advanced to keep up. One of the most important tools in an advanced filtration system is a microfiltration membrane.

    Microfiltration membranes use physical separation processes to remove contaminant particles, reducing the need for chemical treatments. Although there are many types of filtration processes that incorporate membranes, one of the most preferred processes is pressure-driven membrane filtration, which forces liquids through a large membrane at high pressure levels.

    There are four subtypes of pressure-driven membrane filtration, each of which handles particles of various sizes. These processes include:

    • Reverse osmosis
    • Nanofiltration
    • Ultrafiltration
    • Microfiltration

    Microfiltration Membrane Uses

    Microfiltration processes feature membranes that can block particles as small as 0.1 microns. This makes microfiltration an important first step to complex and high-purity filtration systems. By removing larger contaminants like bacteria and suspended solids, microfiltration prepares fluid streams for further treatment processes.

    Microfiltration membranes are commonly used in the following applications:

    TruporRoll-image

    • Boiler refeeds
    • Clarifying and sterilizing water for beverage, food, and pharmaceutical industries
    • Cooling towers
    • Providing desalination pretreatments in multi-stage processes
    • Potable water treatment
    • Safer water discharge processes
    • To optimize water re-use filtration systems in industrial and municipal settings
    • Treating water at point-of-use (POU) and point-of-entry (POE) ports
    • Water reuse
    • Wastewater treatment

    Microfiltration systems can be used in a diverse range of applications. Because of this, there are many membrane options to choose from to achieve the intended level of filtration. It’s important to carefully consider the level of water contamination, the housing construction and geometry of the water treatment system, the membrane material, the volume of treated water, and more when selecting the proper microfiltration membrane.

    As municipalities and industrial users pursue new standards and approaches to waste water treatment, Trupor® enables new approaches to water re-use. Learn more here.


    Check out the dedicated Trupor® site for more information:

    Trupor Logo


    Microfiltration Membrane From Hollingsworth & Vose

    At Hollingsworth & Vose, we specialize in designing and manufacturing innovative industrial solutions for filtration processes. We create products for a wide range of industries, and our microfiltration membrane solutions allow facilities to efficiently manage and treat water. If you want to learn more about our microfiltration products and how they can optimize your facility’s processes, we recommend our patented Trupor® product.

    This unique microporous filtration media is sold as a rolled good and provides best-in-class flow rates for efficient water processing. It can be used in dead-end and cross-flow applications to streamline reliable water treatment. Because of its reliability and improved flow rate, industries can optimize their water treatment systems for time and cost savings without compromising the integrity of their water purity. Other benefits of our Trupor® microporous filtration product include:

    • Excellent composite structure that extends the product lifespan
    • Uniform pore sizes for consistent performance
    • Stable performance in the thinnest possible efficiency layer
    • Ability to filter novel fluid streams because of its superior flow rate

    Our Trupor® microfilters are available in nylon and PES/PBT varieties. They can be used as a co-pleated capacity layer to extend the life of your system and reduce change-outs or as an efficiency layer for improved flow. Contact us today to learn more about our microfiltration water treatment solutions.