Sep 17 2007
Argonide Corporation, a Sanford, Florida company that manufactures water purification filters, has recently announced the development of its high performance activated carbon filter, NanoCeram® which has a high capacity for particles as large as tens of microns or as small as a few nanometers. Each filter exhibits a rating of 0.2µ, a rating typically associated with ultraporous membranes. Yet flow rates are hundreds of times greater than such membranes.
End-users in the food & beverage, chemical, pharmaceutical, metals, power generation, automotive and printing industries require the level of filtration provided by NanoCeram filters with the higher volume requirements.
“This will be another exciting exhibit,” said Richard Mason, general manager of nanoTX’07, the most comprehensive nanotechnology conference and trade expo outside of Tokyo. “NanoCeram® filters have been performing exceptionally well as prefilters for protecting RO membranes. This is particularly evident when incorporated into HyFlo™ housings as their performance exceeds that of hollow fiber membranes.”
Their use in protecting RO is the subject of a forthcoming joint paper between Argonide and Toyota, where major reductions in water consumption and O&M costs will be reported.
“Activated carbon filter media is not new,” says Mason, what sets this development apart is that Argonide has successfully grafted fine powder activated carbon into their media without the use of binders or adhesives.”
Conventional filter media uses granular carbon, but it is recognized that powdered activated carbon with its much higher area exposed to the fluid, would be far more efficient in adsorption of contaminants from a moving stream. Unfortunately, the powdered form is readily washed out from the structure, or if held by an adhesive, is readily deactivated by it. The very act of “gluing” the carbon particles to the media acts to cover a large percentage of the adsorptive surface area of the carbon itself, minimizing or destroying its function.
Test data shows that the benefits of NanoCeram® extend to air filters. “The addition of powdered activated carbon to the NanoCeram® substrate would create an advanced air purification media, suitable for improving indoor air quality, for cabin air filtration and for chemical-biological filters being sought by the military and for homeland security” says Fred Tepper, President of Argonide.