Chemical Engineering October 2014 - 23

Newsfront
Better Filtration
For the Bottom line
Advanced filtration methods reduce
costs and increase productivity
M
any applications in the
chemical process industries
(CPI) require filtration
- from cleaning the
air of dust, to corrosion prevention,
to cleaning up incoming process
water, to recovering proteins downstream.
No matter the application,
filtration providers are working to
improve technology for their chemical
processing customers because
better filtration leads to a higherquality
product, less maintenance
and downtime and other benefits
that result in a better bottom line.
Here, experts in all segments of the
filtration industry weigh in on the
latest advances in their respective
technologies and how these improvements
can help users in the CPI.
Clearing the air
While there are many aspects of air
filtration required in the CPI, dust
collection is a major focus for processors.
" Keeping the air and the
employees in their facilities safe are
pressing issues for our chemical processing
and pharmaceutical customers, "
says Rick Kreczmer, aftermarket
sales manager, with Camfil APC
(Jonesboro, Ark.; www.farrapc.com).
For this reason, Camfil APC was
concerned with how the dust that
comes into the dust collection unit
is handled, especially regarding the
filters that collect the dust and the
discharge area where the dust comes
out. " Too often, a maintenance technician
had to interface with the dust
collector to change the filter, which
is likely coated with dust from a
potent drug or chemical in these
particular industries.
Something
needed to
be done to make
this safer for the
personnel, " he
says. " Further, a
lot of dust goes
into a collector
and comes out
at a discharge
point. Again, we
needed a safer
method of handling this dust in
these applications. "
In response, Camfil devised the
Figure 1. The Farr Gold Series Camtain dust collector offers
bag-in/bag-out filter change out to help keep employees safe
during handling of potent dusts
Farr Gold Series Camtain dust collection
system (Figure 1), which
includes safe-change containment
systems for the filter cartridges
and discharge area. The cartridge
change uses a bag-in/bag-out
(BIBO) method that employs camlock
action so personnel do not come
in contact with the filters, while the
discharge uses continuous liner
technology and a crimp-and-clamp
process so maintenance technicians
can remove the bag without exposing
themselves to the chemicals.
Kreczmer says the dust collector
has been tested by an independent
company and results show that the
occupational exposure level of the
Camtain collector is less than 0.4 µg/
m3. " These results ensure the safety
of the operators because they don't
run the risk of coming in contact with
potent drugs or chemicals, " he says.
In a related issue, any time a processor
is dealing with toxic dust,
exposure limits are obviously a
concern, continues Kreczmer. For
this reason, industry professionals
have been working to improve the
efficiency of nanofiltration technologies,
and in the past few years, the
MERV (minimum efficiency reporting
value) ratings on these filters
have improved dramatically. Camfil
offers the HemiPleat eXtreme
media, which provides a MERV 15
efficiency rating, higher than that
of the base-paper rating of MERV
10 and higher than other nano web
products, which typically offer a
MERV 13 rating.
The better efficiency, he says, is
due to the tri-layered technology
(Figure 2), which allows the use of
standard base material and adds
two additional layers without compromising
the pressure drop. It also
allows the base material to have
larger pore sizes than standard cellulose
products, reducing pressure
drop and improving filtration efficiencies.
HemiPleat eXtreme can
withstand rigorous pulse-cleaning,
which extends filter life and lowers
operating costs. " This technology allows
users to keep the filters in the
dust collector longer, which saves
ChemiCal engineering www.Chemengonline.Com oCtober 2014 23
Camfil APC
http://www.farrapc.com http://www.Chemengonline.Com
Chemical Engineering October 2014

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