5 Common Types of Industrial Filters and Their Applications
Fluid purity is crucial for industrial processes and the resulting products. What’s more, the overall health of factory workers can be severely affected, as the air inside factories tends to be three to five times more polluted than the air outside. This is why the industrial application of filtration is a must, especially for air that carries significant levels of impurities.
If you are setting up a processing or manufacturing plant, there are many filtration options available to you. However, not all of them can meet the quality and quantity you are after.
In this article, we list five of the best types for industrial application of filtration and why they are ideal for specific use cases.
Air Filters
Free-flowing and contaminant-free air is crucial for many industrial processes and ensures a working environment that doesn’t result in the workers falling ill due to the contaminants in a factory.
Air filtration creates a safe working environment and reduces your plants’ environmental pollution. Air filtration is imperative to operating within the EPA allowable limits of air contaminants.
Cyclone Filters
These are a primary type of air filter and are dust collectors. Cyclone filters, also known as cyclone separators, are regularly employed as a pre-filter to remove large contaminants from the air before the stream moves to other filter types.
Cyclone separators are loved for their cost-effectiveness when dealing with significant particulate matters and because they require very little maintenance. As they are often used as the first stage of air treatment, their construction quality and materials vary depending on the operating environment. It’s not uncommon to come across some equipped to deal with corrosive or extremely humid air streams.
Electrostatic Precipitators
Another step in purifying air streams is the removal of electrically charged particles, and that’s where the ESP comes in. These particles are typically unburnt carbon due to the combustion of hydrocarbons. These can often be found on chimney stacks, helping to catch soot and from the exhaust fumes as the stream exits.
ESPs are great at what they do. They can filter out 99% of the particulate matter that exits in smokestacks. Carbon leaks can trigger severe consequences such as irreparable harm to human health and can also cause damage to the surrounding buildings.
HEPA Filters
If you are dealing with nanoparticles in your airstream and the above methods can’t handle them, then it’s time to try the HEPA filter. This filter is powerful enough to sift micro and nanoparticles such as chemical compounds, viruses, bacteria, and other particulates from the air that passes through it.
A typical HEPA filter is made using tiny meshes of fibers in random alignment. These fibers can be cellulose, glass fibers, or synthetic fibers. The filters tend to be highly efficient, to the point of clearing pathogens and contaminants down to 0.3 microns. They lean towards having 99.99% filtration capabilities and are the most effective form of air treatment.
HEPA filters are applied for the removal of the following contaminants:
- VOCs: These are volatile organic compounds that are airborne chemicals when building materials off-gas. VOCs are found in cleaning products and beauty products as well.
- Mold: The enemy of many homes, industries, and warehouses is efficiently dealt with by adding HEPA filters to the air filtration cycle.
- Viruses and Bacteria: Dying bacteria release chemicals known as endotoxins. In concentrated form, the endotoxins can end up causing inflammatory and endotopic responses both in asthmatic and non-asthmatic participants.
Liquid Filters
Air isn’t the only substantial fluid that needs industrial application of filtration. Water is a crucial component of the manufacturing process. As such, it’s essential to remove natural and collected impurities from the water before putting it to use. If left untreated, these contaminants are likely to interfere with the quality of the processes and the ensuing products.
There are two primary methods for water filtration in use today. Let’s take a look at both.
Reverse Osmosis
This process is growing in popularity worldwide, mainly because the associated equipment is almost maintenance-free. Reverse osmosis works to produce pure water from raw water. The process works by forcing water through a semipermeable membrane, which removes various impurities as the water passes through the membrane.
Reverse osmosis is a green solution for companies intending to take that direction. Various benefits associated with it include;
- Reduced cost: As acid and caustic water purification solutions rise in cost, the reverse osmosis membrane fees have been falling rapidly. Better still, energy charges are significantly lowered as RO systems are typically energy sufficient. The system can also be installed directly into the production line and employed as a wastewater reuse system.
- Decreased maintenance: Once installed, RO systems need little to no care as they are self-contained. Your staff will only need to monitor it daily to ensure unobstructed operations. The membranes typically have a lifetime lasting 2 to 3 years, depending on the usage and quality of the raw water. In addition, replacing the membranes in the system is a matter of hours rather than days, as is familiarity with resin-based systems.
UV Light Systems
Suppose you look at chemically and biologically important production processes such as pharmaceuticals, food, beverage, or horticulture. In that case, you’ll need to have an excellent system for bacteria control. UV light filtration systems are notable for rendering organisms unable to replicate and still leave the PH, taste, and color of the water untouched.
UV treatment is necessary to remove various impurities such as ozone, bromine, chlorine, and chloramines, among many organic pollutants from water. The UV light treatment systems are vital for several reasons that include:
- Ease of use: A UV light filtration system is non-intrusive but still has powerful capabilities to manage organisms. The level of pathogen deactivation depends on the dose applied and the susceptibility of those present in the water. The systems can also be used to de-ozonate and dechlorinate water. This technique is helpful in cases where conventional chlorine disinfection methods cannot be applied, such as aquaculture, horticulture, breweries, pharmaceutical facilities, and soft drinks plants.
- Removal of organic chemicals: For cases where you’ll have to remove organic chemicals such as phenols, urea, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, and more from water, employing UV light treatment systems is of significant help in such circumstances.
Are You In Need Of Specialized Filters?
Filters go beyond anything this article has listed. They range from high-temperature air streams and chemically reactive agents to felted and woven fabrics and high-temperature fabrics. Besides, there are a variety of finishes and treatments that can enhance your filtration capabilities. You can find all these and more at Filter Holdings, the specialists in high-performance filters. If you’d like to learn more about our products, get in touch with us today.