Inlet air filtration

Protect the compressor. Protect the output.

Inlet filtration sized to your site — not pulled from a catalog. Housings, filter stages, and weather protection matched to the air your turbine actually breathes.

2
OEM filter partners
Site-specific
Ambient data drives selection
Staged
Weather · prefilter · final
Field-proven
Utility & pipeline installs

Where inlet filtration breaks down

Most problems trace back to the same root causes.

Fouling, corrosion, and erosion start at the air inlet. Wrong media, incorrect staging, or a housing that doesn't match the site — any one of those quietly degrades output, accelerates hot-section wear, and drives unplanned washes.

We work with Donaldson and Camfil engineering to match filter type, stage count, and housing geometry to your environment. Coastal salt, agricultural dust, high humidity, industrial particulate — the contaminant profile dictates the configuration.

If your inlet system was spec'd at commissioning and hasn't been re-evaluated, there's performance left on the table.

Compressor fouling Particulate and hydrocarbon carryover reaching blades. Lower output, higher heat rate, more frequent offline washes.
Corrosion & erosion Salt and moisture attacking vanes — shortening hot-section intervals and driving early overhauls.
Excessive pressure drop Undersized or degraded media restricting airflow. Lost megawatts and higher fuel burn hiding in plain sight.
Weather ingestion Rain, snow, and fog bypassing protection — reaching the compressor inlet or saturating filter media.
Premature changeouts Wrong media or staging for the load profile. Unnecessary cost and maintenance hours on a preventable cycle.

Filtration stages

Each stage targets a specific threat. We configure the combination that fits your site and duty cycle.

Gas turbine clean air inlet filtration system
Stage 1 — Weather protection
Louvers · hoods · mist eliminators · anti-icing
Stage 2 — Prefilter
Coarse particulate removal — extends final filter life
Stage 3 — Final filter
High-efficiency cartridge or panel — F7 through HEPA
Optional
Coalescers
Moisture and hydrocarbon removal for humid or coastal environments
Optional
Pulse systems
Self-cleaning for high-dust or limited-access sites
Optional
Evap cooling
Inlet chilling to recover MW on high-ambient days

No catalog defaults. Every recommendation starts with ambient data, duty cycle, and maintenance constraints.

How we work

Clear process. No guessing on your end.

Site review. We start with the operating environment — ambient conditions, contaminant profile, duty cycle, existing housing. No assumptions.

OEM engineering. Donaldson and Camfil engineering teams size and select based on your data. We coordinate — you get a recommendation, not a spec sheet to decode.

Lifecycle cost. Element price is one line item. Stage configuration, changeout intervals, pressure drop trajectory, and disposal cost all factor in.

Field support. Installation coordination, startup verification, and follow-up to confirm performance. We stay involved after the PO.

Donaldson gas turbine inlet air housing

Inlet air filtration partners

Donaldson Camfil

Where we work

Turbine types and environments we've specified and supported.

Simple cycle peakers Frequent starts, rapid fouling between washes, wide ambient swings.
Combined cycle baseload Tight heat rate targets, extended intervals, continuous run.
Pipeline compression Remote stations, limited crew access, high dust and temperature extremes.
Cogeneration & CHP Process heat demands paired with strict uptime requirements.
Marine & offshore Salt-laden air, high humidity, space-constrained installations.
Industrial & mechanical drive Variable loads, mixed contaminants, process-driven turbines.

Have an inlet system to evaluate?

Turbine model, site location, and any known issues — send us the details and we'll get it to the right engineering team.