Aquatech Amsterdam 2006
September 26 - 29th
The Amsterdam RAI Exhibition
and Conference Centre. 
See you there!

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Filtration

Pleated Filters

Super Home Defense System - Beyond Government Specs In Conjunction with Argonide and NASA

NanoCeram® Pleated Filter Cartridges provide unusually high flow rates, yet provide extremely efficient filtration solutions for a myriad of applications. Whether used in the field, in a prefiltration mode for ultra-pure water systems, to produce laboratory or process water, in commercial/industrial water treatment, as a microbiological sampler, or as a stand-alone filtration device, a NanoCeram® filter performs at a level never before believed possible.

The NanoCeram® electropositive technology accomplishes this by delivering the low pressure-drop (∆P) associated with a 2 5 35 filter, yet achieving a removal efficiency of 99.9% for 0.25 particles. When this patented technology is incorporated into a pleated cartridge, the additional surface area which pleating affords results in a dirt-holding capacity far exceeding other filter medias up to 25 times greater*. In fact, the filter media in a standard NanoCeram® cartridge can capture and retain an amount of particulate which is 3.5 times its own weight.

When assembled into a robust family of standard-size filter cartridges, NanoCeram®. delivers results that conventional separation technologies simply can't. Utilizing our patented electropositive filter technology, this cutting-edge purification process makes conventional treatment products obsolete by delivering a sustained, precise, consistent, cost-effective and highly efficient filtration process in a simple and easy to handle filter cartridge.

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NanoCeram®, whose active component is an alumina (AlOOH) fiber two nanometers in diameter. The nano alumina fiber is highly electropositive, and will attract and retain particles, no matter how small. The nano fibers are dispersed throughout a microglass fiber matrix resulting in a media with 2 micron average pore size and with water flux typically of that pore size. However, the media functions as if it were a 0.03 micron pore size filter. A single layer 0.8 mm thick retains greater than 99% of 0.03 µm monodisperse latex spheres or 0.025 µm size MS2 virus, justifying an Absolute rating of 0.03 µm. It can be pleated to produce a high surface area cartridge (“Superfilter”) with a high filtration efficiency, and with a dirt holding capacity tens or twenty times greater than microglass, meltblown or membrane filters. 

Collection and Removal of Biological Warfare Agents
Argonide's new bio-active sorbent, NanoCeram® is an alumina fiber only 2 nanometers in diameter, that attracts and retains bacteria, virus and other biological hazards. Ceramic materials such as alumina are ordinarily presumed to be bio inert, but these fibers have been found to absorb polio and several other virus with high efficiency.  Filters fabricated from such fibers are capable of removing greater than 99.999% (5 logs) of bacteria and Cryptosporidium protozoa and greater than 99.99999% of virus.  These filters are capable of providing a continuous flow of sterilized drinking water without using excessive pressure.

Terrorists can contaminate public water supplies and some biological agents including anthrax spores are resistant to the chlorine in municipal water supplies. Although they are intended primarily for aerosol application, many of the bacterial agents also have strong potential as waterborne threats. With few exceptions, it is impractical for terrorists to develop sufficient doses in reservoirs, but it is feasible for injurious or fatal BW agent contamination to be developed in the water supplies closest to the consumer such as finished water storage facilities, vulnerable points in the distribution system, or even bottled water.  A NanoCeram® filter has been shown to be effective for a bacillus and is expected to remove anthrax cells and spores as well as other biological agents that terrorists might add to the water supply. 

Key Industries:

• Prefiltration

• Wastewater Treatment

• Portable Water

• Environmental Protection

• Process Water

Safe drinking water

Safe drinking water is a public priority. Although methods for removing bacteria are well-advanced, methods for sanitizing water from virus are not. The EPA has ranked pathogens in drinking water as one of the highest health risks because of the exposure of large populations to water of uncertain quality insofar as disease-causing organisms.  While there is considerable research by EPA and others, currently there are no EPA regulations for filtering virus from the public water supply nor for monitoring it.   In some instances, the ingestion of a single virus particle can lead to infection in a certain proportion of susceptible humans. 

Good Enough For NASA

The NanoCeram®  filter is in advanced development under a NASA small business contract to purify recycled water for long duration space flight.  In Phase I of the contract, awarded in October 2001, we developed the filter and showed it was feasible for sterilizing water.  In September 2002 we were awarded Phase II where we are focusing on a number of issues, including increasing the size of the filter and determining methods for renewing the filter.