Industrial air filters protect workers from harmful dust, chemicals and fumes. They also reduce fire risks from combustible dust and maintain the quality of compressed air for production equipment.
The most effective industrial air filtration system consists of several components that must be correctly sized and applied for efficient performance. These include: source capture hoods, extraction arms, downdraft tables and benches, and environmental control booths.
Particulate Filtration
Air quality is a huge issue in many industrial settings. The pollutants produced during manufacturing, such as dust, fumes and oil mist aerosols can build up in equipment or the surrounding work area and cause issues with process efficiency and employee health. This makes industrial filtration vital to protect equipment, increase productivity and reduce worker sick days and downtime.
Particulate filters remove solid particulates from liquids or gases using a honeycomb-shaped filter that traps the contaminants and allows clean product to pass through. They are used in hospitals for aspergillus prevention works, food and beverage facilities for reducing nuisance dust and warehouse environments to protect automated scanning lines from particulate build-up.
They are also ideal for welding smoke extraction, removing water impurities from compressed air systems and removing oil aerosols from air streams. Industrial air cleaners recirculate the clean air to avoid exhausting it outside and are rated from 2,000 to 7,500 CFM. Depending on the application an ambient or portable air cleaner may be used.
Biological Filtration
Biological filtration (BAF) offers several benefits including improved organic matter removal, reduced disinfection byproduct formation, control of tastes and odors, and biologically stable finished water. However, the process is not without its challenges. Among these are excessive head loss development during short filter runs, difficulty controlling manganese, and poor nutrient balance.
Biofilters consist of non-corroding material that has a lot of surface area for nitrifying bacteria to colonize. The material is often made of fiberglass, ceramic or rock. The more surface area a material has per volume, the larger the nitrification capacity.
The process of starting a biofilter involves seeding it with the correct bacterial cells. Nitrifying bacteria follow a cycle of growth and reproduction, dying and sloughing off the media, and being replaced by new cells. During this process, the bacterium will consume ammonia and nitrite and convert them to less toxic forms of nitrogen such as nitrate and nitrite. It is important that these cells are added to the system under optimum conditions.
Molecular Filtration
Air filtration systems that use molecular gas phase filters remove unwanted gases from an air stream. These gases include volatile organic compounds (VOCs), odors and nitrous oxides. Molecular phase filters are designed to trap or sequester these gaseous contaminants, ensuring that they do not reach a product, process or artefact.
Molecular phase filters are made of activated carbon or a similar type of material that has been physically or chemically activated. The filters can be used to eliminate odors, reduce VOC levels, and protect products, processes or artefacts from corrosion.
Air quality in an industrial environment is critical to ensure that manufacturing processes produce safe and clean products. The need for air filtration has grown in recent years due to the increasing incidence of allergies and asthma. Several different types of filters are available to meet the needs of specific applications. They can be categorized as mechanical, biological or gaseous. The most effective filters combine aspects of all three categories, and provide the highest level of contamination control.
Chemical Filtration
Air quality is often a key consideration for industrial facilities, especially those that produce and handle chemicals. Airborne pollutants can negatively affect a facility’s equipment and contaminate output products if not properly filtered.
Chemical filters trap gaseous pollutants to improve indoor air quality. They can be passive, such as carbon filters, which trap odors and VOCs through a process of adsorption. They can also be active, such as photocatalytic oxidizers that use UV excitement to activate metal salts that absorb and neutralize contaminants.
Air pollution can damage lungs, increase the risk of diseases and exacerbate pre-existing conditions such as asthma. Industrial air cleaners are designed to filter out pollutants to reduce the risk of health-related diseases and improve productivity. These systems can be installed as ambient air cleaners to create planned air circulation patterns or in conjunction with portable (source capture) air cleaners to target specific applications. The filtration media used in these systems can be made from cotton, polyester films, paper, woven fabrics, and synthetic organic material.