Installation of Vokes Air pocket filters on air handling plant at London’s Heathrow Airport could lead to savings of more than £1m and reduce CO2 emissions at the airport by 6000 tonnes per year.
Vokes-Air Group has been working in partnership with Heathrow Airport to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Already contracted to provide a filter supply, fit and disposal service, Vokes-Air has now installed its Synsafe Revo pocket filter after conducting a full review of the airport’s current air handling unit filter arrangements.
Heathrow’s commitment to CO2 reductions through the use of energy efficient equipment and processes, led Vokes-Air to install the filters in a number of air handling units at Heathrow in back-to-back trials against its own and competitor traditional filter arrangements. These installations were jointly monitored for air flow, pressure drop, filtration efficiency and power consumption. Whilst there was variance in energy savings on each unit, in all cases the Synsafe Revo outperformed the comparative filters by between 20 and 50 per cent.
“Savings in energy costs brought about by fitting Synsafe Revo at Heathrow have been impressive," says Heathrow’s Energy Manager James Brittain. "Results from initial tests and subsequent installations are indicating an average of £1500 savings a year for each AHU. We are currently rolling out this technology across the airport and forecast that this will save upwards of £1m and 6000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year if performance is maintained”.
Maintaining efficiency and service life
Simon Hughes, Sales Director for Vokes-Air says: “All air handling units have different operating characteristics and whilst exact savings are significant, they are impossible to calculate. But in every installation, the Revo has reduced the pressure drop whilst maintaining its efficiency and service life. That the Revo performs at such a high level in what is a challenging environment and provides our client with much needed savings is a terrific win-win for us and Heathrow”.
The new air filtration arrangement — which did away with a two-stage system incorporating a pad and bag filter in favour of a single Synsafe Revo pocket filter — has not only produced energy savings but also significantly reduced air handling unit intervention, on-site storage/transportation and lowered maintenance. Disposal to landfill will reduce by 300cu.m a year and further emissions savings are realised by not having to transport the pad filters to Heathrow in the first place.
Synsafe Revo is able to provide such reductions in energy consumption due to an industry-leading low resistance to airflow combined with the ability to remove the need for a pre-filter stage.
