Filtration without filter aids with the help of metal foams and electric fields
Filtration is relevant in almost every part of todays industry with high
demands regarding the purity of the filtrated media. Usage of regenerative
filter cartridges is often accompanied by different filter aids of which
some are under the suspicion of being carcinogenic. This project aims
at developing a filtration method which operates at the same high quality level
as other regenerative filters, but without the help of any filter aids.
Electrical fields are investigated as an additional component in order
to manipulate the particle trajectories in favour of higher deposition values.
Experimental measurements with different particle distributions are carried
out to describe the filtration efficiency of several metal foams.
The measurements are accompanied by numerical simulations in the opensource toolbox OpenFOAM® with some added modifications to the available solvers. To represent the metal foam correctly CT-scans have been made and the geometry has been imported into OpenFOAM®. Additionally first investigations of particle behaviour under an external electrical field have been made.
Simulation of particle filtration in a metal foam.
The goal is to find an optimized metal foam structure with an appropriate electric field that maximizes the filtration efficiency while keeping the perks of regenerative filter cartridges.
This research project was funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) under the grant number KF2168637US4 within the Central Innovation Programme (ZIM) on the basis of a decision by the German Bundestag.
