The 11th World Filtration Congress Does Not Disappoint

Good things come to those who wait.  And this year’s 11^th WorldFiltration Congress, an event that occurs only once every four years, was the perfect example of this. Taking place this past April 16-20 in Graz, Austria, WFC 11 welcomed more than 1,800 participants and included 340 technical presentations.  50 countries and 100 exhibitors from the worldwide filtration and separation industry were represented, and some fascinating short courses were offered to those in attendance.  

Topics covered included solid-liquid separation by vacuum, pressure and centrifugal filtration, cartridge and depth filter, gravity and centrifugal sedimentation, hydrocyclones, flotation, and absorption.  Everything from the basic fundamentals to purification and the use of surfactants and filter aids was discussed.

On the filtration front, experts spoke about all aspects of aerosol filtration and separation, air filtration, and gas separations, including high temperature separations and emission control.  

The short course offerings were invaluable, including one entitled “The Solid-Liquid Separation Process,” which presented information on membranes, filtration principles, cake filters, computer software, and more.  This was taught by Professor Richard Wakeman and Dr. Steve Tarleton, both of Great Britain.  Experts from the U.S and Taiwan taught a course on “Membrane Filtration and Separation,” while two German authorities presented the “Centrifuges for Solid-Liquid, Liquid-Liquid, and 3-Phase Separation” course.  

The next WFC will occur in Taipei in 2016, and industry professionals are already getting excited. 

Growth and Knowledge at the 25th Annual AFS

This week from June 4-7 the AFS conference will be taking place in Boca Raton, FL, and will be celebrating its 25^th year.  We at Dynamic Filtration are excited to hear about this annual event, which will include an array of interesting topics, many of which are at the core of our focus and our strengths.  

Four days will be jam-packed with informational sessions led by leaders in the industry.  On June 5, Wilson Poon will speak about “Filtration Performance of Clean and Realworld Loaded Filters Under Humid Conditions.” This is an especially noteworthy topic for us, as our filters can be used within all types of environments.  Our range of products, all made of the highest quality, stand up to humidity and other conditions, and we’re certain that Mr. Poon’s talk will prove relevant.  

Also on June 5, Richard Nixdorf will lead a discussion on “Emerging Filtration Media,” a topic we believe is of great importance.  Never ones to rest on past success, we are always looking at the latest advances in technology.  There are new and exciting trends emerging daily, and we believe it’s important to stay on top of them.  

For more information on the 25^th annual AFS conference, visit www.afssociety.org/spring2012/sessions.

Techtextil: North America’s Textile Show

The biggest weekend in the North American textile and nonwoven industry happened this past April, in Atlanta, GA: the Techtextil 2012 trade show, showcasing the manufacturers and industries that keep the textile market one of the strongest in the region. As you know, Dynamic Filtration is focused in one area of this industry: industrial filtration for air and liquid particles, including areas like vacuum trucks, manufacturing filtration, and compressors. Techtextil 2012 covered the widest possible swath of textile uses, from advanced clothing, to building materials, to packaging materials, and of course, filtration. The common thread running through each of these applications? Innovation.

Techtextil’s website features a useful overview of just how extensive the range of exhibitors and attendees ran, in terms of industry, at this page. Looking at that list, Dynamic Filtration’s products reside most strongly in two areas: “Indutech,” and “Geotech.” These two product families cover our industrial filtration products, as well as our extensive work with vacuum truck operators, in waste disposal, municipal work, and environmental cleanup. This last sector places us squarely in one more of Techtextil’s industry designations, “Oekotech,” the branch of textiles dealing with environmental concerns. Our blog readers and Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn followers are well-versed in the work vacuum trucks do to help alleviate environmental catastrophes.

Those are the types of jobs where filtration is most important, to keep machinery running cleanly and effectively. For more information, be sure to visit our site: http://www.dynamicfiltration.ca.

FABTECH Canada 2012 Recap

It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in - Canada’s Society of Manufacturing Engineers is probably relevant to you. The same goes for their annual FABTECH conferences, and FABTECH Canada 2012 was no exception. In the filtration business, there are a lot of fields of interest to us: textiles, woven and nonwoven, metal stamping and forming (for filter housings), and of course, new products and areas where our filters might be used. FABTECH Canada provided a little bit of everything.

What were some of the highlights? We work a lot with the welding industry, on, for instance, fume extractors. As you’ll see if you scroll down this page of new products on display at the, there were some new welding helmets from AntecTrade – another type of product that we supply filters for (though not that specific line). FABTECH also kept their Facebook page up-to-date with pictures throughout the event, and you can see them all here: http://www.facebook.com/FABTECH.Canada. All in all, it was another rousing success for SME and FABTECH!

A “Can-Do” Attitude: Dynamic Filtration and CANDU Reactors

CANDU6 Reactor Face

Ask the average person on the street, and they probably couldn’t tell you much about how a nuclear power plant actually works. They might know that uranium is typically used as fuel, they’ve probably heard terms like “enrichment” (and not necessarily in the best context), and some might even be able to tell you that water is typically used as a cooling agent once the fuel is spent. Even just a simple, passing awareness like that, is enough to lend itself to a discussion of Dynamic Filtration’s work with Canada’s CANDU nuclear reactors.

CANDU is an acronym, short for Canada Deuterium-Uranium: Canada, for the country of origin; deuterium, for the moderating agent (more than that later), and uranium, for the fuel. Deuterium, for the uninitiated, is a “heavy isotope” of hydrogen, meaning it possesses a neutron, while standard hydrogen has none. And that’s about as close as we’ll get to a rehash of your high school physics class (which may have have already been too close, for some people). The purpose of using deuterium, which, when substituted for hydrogen, creates “heavy water,” is to maintain the potency of the uranium fuel, lessening the absorption of neutrons by the water and therefore increasing the amount of time that the fission reaction will occur.

This is where the term “enrichment” comes into play, as well. In a “light water” reactor, the water absorbs too many neutrons, and natural uranium must be enriched to increase its levels of Uranium-235. Enrich it to 5%, and you have useful uranium for fuel. Enrich it to 90%, and you’ve got a nuclear weapon, and lot of new enemies. Of course, enrichment facilities can be used to achieve either of these ends – and are expensive, to boot. Since the CANDU reactor doesn’t require enriched uranium, this whole concern is irrelevant.

Where does Dynamic Filtration enter the picture? As you might imagine, that heavy water needs to be pure to successfully facilitate the nuclear reaction – 99.75% pure, in fact. Dynamic Filtration’s filters keep the incoming water contaminant-free, and the outgoing, used water free of any foreign materials so that it may be disposed of properly.

Be sure to contact us at Dynamic Filtration with any further questions!

Pumper Show 2012

Here at Dynamic Filtration, we’re not just content to call a filter a filter and move forward with a quality, if unchanging, inventory. We know that filters change, but more so, applications change, and it’s important to us and our customers that we keep up-to-date on those changes to maintain the best possible offering. Trade shows are one of the best ways to stay on the cutting edge of who is using filters, and what they’re using them for, and the 2012 Pumper & Cleaner Environmental Expo  (you might know it better as the Pumper Show) suits that need for one of our core industries: vacuum trucks.

Occurring in Indianapolis this week, the Pumper Show will feature a host of fascinating filtration and vacuum truck topics: vacuum trucks used with drilling in the Marcellus Shale Region, and positive displacement blower vacuum equipment, to name a few. There will also be discussion of filter concerns in other wastewater applications beyond vacuum trucks, for instance, effluent filters used to protect drain fields. And, as any good business seminar should include, lots of talk of how to promote and market your services. We’re most looking forward to information on positive displacement blower-equipped trucks, and any other types of new or unconventional vacuum trucks – developments that will play a part in our inventory planning for the next year and beyond. As always, contact us with any questions on all types of filtration!

How Vacuum Trucks Keep the World Clean and Safe

Vacuum trucks play a big role in a number of different industries and Dynamic Filtration plays an even bigger role in making these trucks work properly. Much like your household vacuum, these trucks pick up dust, dirt and liquids, only on a much larger scale.  Both use the same basic filtration systems to get the job done. So why would you need a vacuum truck in the first place?

Safety and Protection

While construction crews rely on backhoes and other heavy-duty equipment to handle most of their digging, there are times when a much lighter touch is needed. When digging around electrical and gas connections, they will use a vacuum excavator truck to carefully remove and loosen dirt and soil. This not only protects the pipes and cables, but also the workers themselves. 

Unclogging the Drain

Working with sewers is always tricky. Before you actually get to the job of cleaning out the sewer itself, you need to get to it. Vacuum trucks are helpful in removing all the debris that clogs the above-ground drains. Once this is accomplished, the vacuum truck will have access to the sewer so it can remove what it needs to remove. Pretty sure there is no need to say more than that!

Emergencies

While vacuum trucks play a role in everyday life, they also play a pivotal role in emergencies like sudden oil spills and unexpected flooding. If there is an accident in a large oil field, you need to be able to quickly access the area to limit both financial and environmental losses. A powerful but mobile vacuum truck is a great way to contain damage and loss, while all necessary repairs are being made.  This is also the case with flooding from rain or snowmelt. These trucks can be used to keep major highways and streets passable for traffic and emergency vehicles.

Overall, vacuum trucks are clearly an invaluable tool. Of course, these trucks wouldn’t be able to do their jobs without the proper filtration systems. You wouldn’t run your household vacuum without a bag or a filter, and the same goes for these trucks. At Dynamic Filtration we supply a wide variety of these trucks with the filters necessary to function perfectly every time they are called upon. If you want to learn more about our industrial filters, visit our website or contact us today.