Activated carbon adsorbers clean up air supplies

A new generation of activated carbon adsorbers now promises longer filter lifetimes, improved process reliability and reduced oil residues compared with conventional activated carbon filters.

The permanent and reliable reduction of the residual oil content represents one of the biggest challenges in compressed air treatment.

A new generation of activated carbon adsorbers now promises filter lifetimes up to ten times longer together with much better process reliability and reduced oil residues compared with conventional activated carbon filters.

The filtration system developed and marketed by compressed air specialist Beko Technologies uses activated carbon cartridges instead of the usual filter elements.

In contrast to filter elements with just a few layers of activated carbon cloth, the Clearpoint V cartridge is filled completely with activated carbon.

The amount of activated carbon in the Beko cartridge is twenty times as much as in the normal filter element types.

As the compressed air flows through the cartridge, it continually moves across activated carbon.

The contact time of air and activated carbon is considerably longer than in a filter.

If a super fine filter with an outlet aerosol concentration of 0.01mg/m3 is installed upstream of the Clearpoint V, the total residue oil content (vapour and aerosol) sinks down to 0.001mg/m3 - three times less as with activated carbon filters.

This increase in contact time is also a great gain in terms of process reliability: for instance, during start-up of the compressor with a lower pressure network, when the flow velocities are extremely high and when the necessary contact time can only be guaranteed by a deeper filter bed.

As a result of the generous quantity of activated carbon in the cartridge, the lifetime of the filter is prolonged to an impressive extent.

While the usual filter elements "break through", ie show a marked deterioration in filter performance, after approximately 250 operating hours, this new filter cartridge can have a service life of around 2500 hours, according to the calculations of the Beko engineers.

A tenfold increase of the usual lifetime.

In order to obtain a neutral assessment in accordance with the ISO- standard of these new activated carbon adsorbers, Beko asked the Institute of Energy and Environmental Technology for an independent of the filter lifetime and efficiency.

All the values have been confirmed.

Beko's new activated carbon adsorbers are currently supplied in three sizes, for filtering 50, 100 and 200m3 of compressed air per hour.

An oil check indicator, available as an option, can be mounted on top of the filter to allow easy visual monitoring of the filter efficiency.

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