| Plenary Lecture Presented by Prof. Richard J. Wakeman, Head of Dept. of Chemical Engineering at Loughborough University - Great Britain. Professor Richard Wakeman is Professor and Head of Chemical Engineering at Loughborough University, and holds Visiting appointments at the Universities of Pardubice (Czech) and Mumbai (India). He is the Honorary Secretary of The Filtration Society and was previously Chairman. He has been Chairman of the European Federation of Chemical Engineers Working Party on Filtration and Separation and in 1996 was elected a Fellow of The Royal Academy of Engineering. His widely published work has been recognised by awards from the Institution of Chemical Engineers, The Filtration Society, and the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers. He is a consultant chemical engineer providing to industry worldwide impartial specialised technical assistance related to particle/fluid separation technologies. |
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| Filtration in the Framework of Globalisation and Technical Innovation | |
| Filtration technology has responded to the changing needs of society by providing practical solutions to the problems that challenge industry, the environment, and people. A result of this is that filtration has moved from a Cinderella technology to a high-technology enterprise over the past 30 years or so. Filtration is applications driven and the techniques employed in the utilisation of filters are ultimately closely linked to manufacturing capabilities. Although filter manufacturing companies have a stake in research and development outcomes and so might be expected to provide an intellectual guidance that would influence university research, most of the product developments have come from industrial organisations.
The processing industries remain one of the largest and most diverse users of filtration; here the drivers for better filtration techniques are the requirements of higher purity in the specification of and during the manufacture of commodity and specialist products, tighter legislation applying to discharge consents to the atmospheric environment or waterways, increasing competition between companies to produce better quality products most economically, and the globalisation of the process industry sector that allows manufacturing to be undertaken in countries where greater economies of production can be found. Modern filtration technology requires a multidisciplinary approach based on knowledge from materials science, chemistry, mathematical modelling, process and mechanical engineering, and manufacturing technologies. Often other knowledge is needed to fully understand the purpose and possible performance of a filter, such as in biotechnical or other specialist applications, or to design a properly automated and controlled filter system. This knowledge frequently affects the choice of filter medium and often the selection of the correct filter configuration. In most of these areas the problems are global, and a global filtration industry has grown to meet the challenges. Examples of global challenges are varied and include sustainable processes and products, energy, health and safety, exploitation of minerals, environmental protection, food and drink, water supply, and national security and counteracting terrorism. Filtration, although rarely providing the whole solution, contributes to technical solutions in all of these areas. At the heart of the solution is the filter medium – a permeable material upon or within which the contaminant is deposited during filtration – which is also the kernel of any filtration process. Filter media have many varied forms. Traditional forms are woven or nonwoven fabrics, but even these are now often given specific surface properties by surface treatments such as plasma coating in various chemical environments, controlled structural properties through modern weaving processes (e.g. double weaves) or hydroentaglement of nanofibres, or being laminated or used in composite structures. Many modern filter media a bifunctional, and are given reactive (e.g. by the inclusion of catalysts in their structure) or adsorptive (e.g. by surface treatment or by the inclusion of adsorbents) properties. A few years ago filtration would have been a process with limited technical alternatives compared with today when a particular type of filter may be designed with a specific application in mind. The choice offered today is bewildering, making it almost impossible for the non-specialist to choose the ‘best' media for his/her process - this is a small penalty to pay for there being a good choice available for so many differing problems. This presentation discusses recent and emerging technologies that provide filtration-based solutions to a diverse range of modern issues. Illustrations are drawn from modern innovations in gas and liquid filtration technologies, with examples taken from process engineering, water and wastewater treatment, clean fuel production, healthcare, aeronautics, clean air, chemical defence, and high temperature gas filtration. |  |
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