The influence of conditioning and regeneration on the separation behaviour of rigid surface filters for the separation of particles from gases

Rigid ceramic filter media can be used for the separation of particles from gas streams at elevated temperatures. In order to characterize comparatively the separation behaviour of differently structured filter media over a multitude of filtration cycles, experiments were performed in a filter test rig. The filter test rig used is built in accordance with VDI guideline 3926 and equipped with a special type of optical particle counter, which has the advantage of measuring both the particle size and the particle concentration simultaneously and in situ on the clean gas side.

It is demonstrated that by far largest share of the particles reaches the clean gas as a result of the filter regeneration process. During the subsequent formation of the dust cake, the particle penetration is almost zero. The regeneration parameters, actually in essence only the tank pressure, possess the decisive influence on the separation behaviour. In the course of a filtration experiment, the number of particles reaching the clean gas reduces with the increasing number of filtration cycles due to the filter conditioning. The particles arriving in the clean gas during regeneration are extremely fine. The mean particle size is almost entirely independent of the regeneration conditions and the filter cycle number. The fine particulate emissions measured here are an anthropogenic source of particulate matter in ambient air. They have to be considered as relevant with respect to the new standards of ambient air quality (PM 10 and PM 2.5).

It is shown that membrane-coated ceramic filter media at identical operating conditions exhibit, as expected, a better separation and regeneration behaviour than fibrous ceramic, open-pored filter media. However, the advantages are at the expense of a 10 times higher pressure loss, which is essentially attributed to the membrane layer.