Overview Electropositive Media
- Electropositive fibrous filter media with high particle removal efficiency and dirt holding capacity.
- In pleated form, flow rate matches or exceeds 1-2 micron rated filters, despite 0.2 micron nominal rating.
- Acts as a "broad spectrum" particle magnet, removing both coarse and fine particulates.
Comparison to Other Filters
- Most filters (membranes, fibrous depth filters) use sieving, inertial impaction, interception, and diffusion.
- Electropositive filters rely on adsorption (electro-adhesion).
- Unlike electropositive membranes, this filter avoids low dirt holding, quick fouling, low reliability, and high costs for materials, maintenance, and operation.
Benefits
- Enhanced Operations: Removes fines and coarse particulates, improving performance in various industries.
- Dirt Holding Capacity (DHC): Hundreds of times greater than conventional filters.
- Fewer replacement elements.
- Lower maintenance costs.
- Less system downtime.
- Pressure Drop (ΔP): Lower than tight filters.
- Reduced energy use for fluid flow.
- Less wear on system components.
- Reduced Operational Costs: Avoids membrane-related expenses.
- No capital-intensive backflush systems or chemicals.
- No energy for backflush cycles.
- Minimal water waste.
- Lower labor for cleaning.
- No hazardous waste disposal from backflushing.
Technical Explanation
- Electroadhesion exploits charge differences via the double-layer effect in aqueous solutions.
- Most bacteria and particles (especially smaller ones) are electronegative in water.
- Electropositive surfaces attract and retain particles more effectively than electronegative ones.
Advantages
- Uses nano alumina fibers with 350-500 m²/g surface area, mostly external and exposed to particulates.
- Surface area unattainable in membranes or standard fibrous filters (even with nanofibers, which are hard to produce below 100nm vs. 2nm for nano alumina).
- Prevents agglomeration (which reduces surface area) by grafting submicron alumina fibers to a scaffold, keeping them separate for optimal particle capture.
Applications and Certifications
- Reduces or removes bacteria, viruses, and cysts.
- For drinking water: Certified to NSF/ANSI Std. 53 for material safety.
- IAPMO testing: Reduces cysts by at least 99.98%.