DETROIT — Kuss Filtration, a unit of Fleetguard Co. of Columbus, Ind., plans by the end of summer to begin producing a heavy-duty, laminated automotive fuel line filter.
The StratoPore Laminate filter is designed as a substitute for existing filters, which have to be replaced several times during a vehicle's lifetime.
Kuss claims its filters have captured 75 percent of the market. The new product combines three layers of melt-blown nylon with a cellulose paper to produce a filter with greater holding capacity for contaminants, according to David Sylvester, director of marketing, sales and customer engineering.
At 98 percent of their capacity, the filters can remove particulates as small as 8-9 microns. Present filters remove particulates of 20 microns at 98 percent of their capacity, Sylvester said.
He said Kuss will produce the filters for field tests, and he is hoping the new filters will debut on 1999 model-year cars and light trucks.
Separately, after recently doubling its production capacity, Kuss decided to expand its European production capacity again.
Kuss built a facility in Quimper, France, in early 1996 to produce the filters. The company doubled capacity at Quimper in early February. He did not provide details on plastics processing capacity at the Columbus or Quimper plants.