IS016890 Vs. ASHRAE 52.2 Vs. EN779:2012

In the air filtration industry, there are numerous standards for classifying, identifying and evaluating the various performance characteristics of air filters.

In the United States, the organization that develops relevant standards is ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers). Since 1968, ASHRAE has released a series of test standards for air filters, which have been recognized by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as the benchmark for filter performance classification.

In Europe, referring to the ASHRAE standard, the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) officially released the EU filter standard EN779. In 2012, EN779 was revised for the second time. The new standard defines the minimum filtration efficiency (ME) for medium efficiency filters of F7-F9 level, thereby ensuring better air quality at the AHU outlet.

At the same time, in order to support the selection of energy-saving air filters, EUROVENT, the European HVAC industry trade association, developed the "Eurovent4/11" guidelines in 2012 and upgraded them in 2015. The specification is based on the EN779:2012 standard for energy consumption calculation and classification according to energy consumption. This tool enables us to provide users with the best solution based on the selection of high-efficiency filters and guarantee the lowest energy consumption.

In 2016, the IS0 International Organization for Standardization passed the landmark air filtration industry standard IS016890. This standard defines the test procedures and classification methods for air filters used in general ventilation equipment, and for the first time, it provides the possibility of global unification of air filtration industry standards. It will replace the two existing regional standards: ASHRAE 52.2, which is dominant in the United States, and EN779:2012, which is dominant in Europe.

It should be noted that:

●ISOePM1.ISOePM2.5 efficiency grouping requires the filter to undergo mandatory anti-static testing, and the initial efficiency and the efficiency after anti-static testing of the filter are not less than 50%;

●For the ePM1, ePM2.5, and ePM10 efficiency groups, the filter report efficiency value starts from 50%, with an increment of 5%, for a total of 30 efficiency levels.

ISO16890 will bring direct benefits to HVAC system designers and equipment users, including:

●Global unified standards to eliminate the confusion caused by the grade differences between ASHRAE52.2 and EN779;
●The new grading method for PM1, PM2.5, and PM10 performance results can better reflect the performance of filters in real application environments;
●Upgrade the test method, the test efficiency results must be at least more than 50%, and the filter performance requirements are improved.