High efficiency media filtration for water sources

IPS introduces the latest and most reliable high efficiency media filtration technology, getting a balance between cost efficiency, performance and the environment

Industry worldwide will have to account more and more for its use of energy and other resources as a global carbon reduction policy is developed.

Steve Cupples, managing director of water filtration specialists Industrial Purification Systems, talks about the latest technology that is set to revolutionise the water filtration process.

Called the CrossFlowMF1.0 this technology bridges the gap between conventional water filter systems and the more advanced membrane technology, or ultra filtration, at a fraction of the capital cost.

Now any organisation can keep control of its energy consumption whilst enhancing profitability.

"With the need to be more cost efficient, and global warming now a real issue, many companies are increasingly looking at ways to enhance both performance and their 'green image' but many find difficulty in reducing their carbon footprint.

Having the capability to re-use process water or municipal waste water, or being able to draw on alternative water sources such as borehole and rainwater harvesting, we all know will go along way to provide a sustainable environmental solution and save on energy consumption.

There are a number of strategies that can be implemented to make this happen yet there are also a number of reasons why this has not yet taken place.

For example, for years it has been believed that the filtration of heating or cooling water in open or closed systems is not such a big issue.

However the costly damage caused by a build up of contamination, often not even picked up on by the human eye, shows this is not the case.

Additionally, big energy gains of up to 30% can be achieved by cleaning up "dirty" process water used in heating or cooling applications.

Most industrial and commercial water sources tested to date show an expected contamination above 20 micron.

However, the distribution and population of particulates is consistently higher at less than 20 micron, much of which is biological.

Significantly this is even more pronounced below 10 micron which is the traditional cut-off point for main stream filtration technologies and is the key reason why a business can lose this 30% in energy performance on heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems.

As a further example, for industry to have the ability to re-use process water for secondary or even primary applications will go along way to help reduce a global reliance on valuable potable water resources.

Such a strategy can give a significant return on investment when you take into account the cost to purchase and dispose of water in its many applications.

However, there has not been a reliable method of filtering out fine contamination to make the introduction of such a strategy workable - until now.

New self cleaning filtration technology is set to provide a very real solution because is will effectively remove contamination to less than 1.0 micron, without the prohibitively high capital/revenue costs normally associated with water polishing applications.

The CrossFlowMF1.0 has been developed to filter below 1.0 micron - reliably - even achieving down to 0.45 micron to ensure cleaner process water which in turn can reduce a businesses carbon footprint.

The reuse of process water just once can reduce the carbon footprint on potable water by a staggering 50%! Plus, it is not only direct energy costs that will be affected, but also secondary costs including: the ability to produce and distribute potable water for non potable application; the reduction in the use of water treatment chemicals; the reduction in electricity bills by improving heating and cooling systems efficiencies.

Operationally, the CrossFlowMF1.0 filter system utilises a unique patented vortex bed stabiliser which maintains flat bed filtration with high surface turbulence.

This ensures that no bio-fouling can be seeded whilst holding filtered contamination in suspension above the media bed.

This gives lower pressure drops, longer filtration and shorter backwash cycles making direct savings on operational costs.

The high interstitial void volume of the media allows for greater dirt holding capacity and contamination interaction for the Zeta potential of the media to remove the finer particulates down to 0.45 micron.

Compared with conventional media filtration, the inlet configuration allows for high flowrates, these being 5 times higher than the normal accepted flux rates of conventional filters.

Backwash volume used is also significantly lower, especially when the longer operational period is taken into consideration.

It is also more effective with backwash times per unit being as low as 2 minutes.

This new technology has been shown to provide a high efficiency removal rate of over 86% at 1.0 micron in one single pass whereas conventional filters have to undertake multiple passes to get anywhere such efficiency.

So, by reducing the load on the filter in this way you are increasing the cycle between cleaning and reducing the amount of times the process has to stop for the membranes to be cleaned.

In addition, the need for chemical filtration is reduced which therefore reduces the impact on the environment.

It also solves the problem of bacteria build up when using sand filtration.

In Australia, government departments are currently testing this new technology to pre-filter tertiary sewage for reprocessing back into drinking water.

Here in the UK, the effects on industry will be huge.

For example, in their bid to meet quality standards set by major supermarket chains, food growers are using mains water for crop spraying, which is extremely expensive and environmentally not sound practice.

This new technology means that mains water can be re-processed by cleaning it to meet these quality standards and re-used again and again.

Corporations will be able to reap the benefits.

The life of a membrane filtration system could be extended considerably, this being anything from 20% - 30%.

There will be less backwashing, less chemical use and longer membrane life span.

And most importantly, for a relatively small cost the improvements in efficiency and reduction on environmental impact will be too significant to be ignored.

IPS has over 25 years experience in the water filtration business.

Its expertise is utilised to eradicate problems in the drinking water and process industries, helping companies to find solutions to some of the most complex production process requirements.

Its systems are used in a variety of industries, ranging from food and chemicals processing and manufacturing, to the painting of motor vehicle bodies".

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