High-performance air filters: A technical masterpiece

Normal indoor air contains several million particles – per cubic meter! An unimaginable amount. Many of them are so tiny that it seems impossible to filter them out of the air.

But modern technology makes it possible. A HEPA filter in the most powerful filter class, U17, has a separation efficiency of 99.99999 percent and is therefore capable of removing virtually all particles from the air flowing through it.

However, multi-stage filter systems are usually used in cleanrooms. The filter classes in such systems generally range from coarse filters (pollen, dust, fibers) to fine dust filters (smoke particles, fine dust) to HEPA filters (ultra-fine particles such as bacteria, germs, or aerosols).

The latter include the highly effective HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) and ULPA (Ultra Low Penetration Air) filters. They are capable of retaining even germs and particles in the submicrometer range – a technical masterpiece!

Without high-performance filters, it would be completely impossible to manufacture products such as semiconductors or medicines in large quantities under the required clean environmental conditions.

Did you know?
Incidentally, the first HEPA filter was developed by researchers working on the Manhattan Project, who were actually dedicated to building the atomic bomb in the 1940s – as a by-product, so to speak.

Published: January 2026