Solid / Gas Separation with Fabric Filters

A myriad of filter media are utilized today for separation of particulate matter...
A myriad of filter media are utilized today for separation of particulate matter in industrial gas
filtration applications. These media range from single use (deposable) to semi-permanent media
and include fiber, fabric, ceramic, membrane, metal mesh, and sintered metal media. Semipermanent media are usually cleanable, either on or off-line, and are primarily intended for longterm (up to multi-year) operating life.
Fabric media are available in two basic forms - either woven or nonwoven that are produced
from many different materials using numerous fabrication methods. Materials of construction
range from cotton and wool to a wide variety of synthetic materials including polymeric, glass
and ceramics. Fabric media are customarily manufactured in sheet form and then fabricated into
bags. Woven fabric media utilize yarn or filaments, which are woven into a definite repeated
pattern (much like clothing fabrics), whereas nonwoven media usually consist of a random array
of fiber or filaments, which often receive secondary processing such as needle punching. Some
nonwoven media may consist of a membrane bonded into either a scrim or supporting fabric.
The attached photomicrograph shows an example of a needlefelt media where one can note the
three-dimensional random orientation of the fibers.
Fabric filters are intended from long-term service utilizing on-line (in situ) cleaning. In gas
filtration application, fabric media are primarily fabricated into filter bags for use in baghouse
filters where the cylindrical filter bags are arranged in a vertical orientation. The benefit of fabric
filters is their ability to effectively remove large percentages of particles from high flow effluent
streams using media with modest pressure drop. Furthermore, the fabric filters can be designed
into scalable filter systems to handle a wide range of gas flow ranges. For example, depending on
the volumetric rate of gas flow, a filter housing may contain anywhere from a single bag (for dust
control from a small localized dust source) to thousands of bags (for emission control from a
large coal-fired utility boilers at electric power plant).
The direction of airflow through the bag is usually dependant on the method of cleaning but,
regardless of flow direction, a dust cake forms on the upstream surface of the filter media. The
media type and particle size distribution in the effluent stream affect the selection of media, since
particles must be primarily captured on the media surface and then within the accumulating
particle cake. The increasing pressure drop across this accumulating cake necessitates
periodically removal. Due to the high particle concentration and intended long-term life of the
filter bags, the gas flow rate through each filter bag is intermittently interrupted to allow for online cleaning (removal of the dust cake) by a variety of cleaning methods. The three most
common cleaning methods are mechanical shaking, reverse flow and pulse jet.

The filters are usually employed to control particulate emissions to meet air quality regulations.
Criteria used for media selection include method of on-line cleaning, gas operating temperature,
gas chemical and moisture composition, particle size range and chemical reactivity, and pertinent
emission regulations. Typical applications include process exhaust streams from such operations
as boilers, furnaces, incinerators, metallurgical and chemical processes, and wood processing. In
many of these emission applications, the gas temperatures can be hot (ranging from 100so F to
1600o F for ceramic media) and the particle concentration quite high.