There are several ways of minimising the annual running costs of your filtration system, whether you are in are filtering water (either process, municipal, spring or mineral), wine, beer, soft drinks, chemicals or any other fluids in the process industries.
- Minimise the initial clean differential pressure of your filtration system Ensure that your initial filtration system is sized with a reasonably low initial clean pressure drop, say something like 100 mbar or 1 ½ psi. This gives you the best balance between initial capital cost and annual running costs. You can size at higher clean differential pressures, and you will make a saving in initial capital cost, but this saving is typically spent within the first year on excess running costs due to rapid cartridge change out.
- Fit pressure gauges to your system Secondly, fit pressure gauges either side of your filtration system, so that you can accurately measure the differential pressure of the filter system. The recommended change out differential pressure of cartridge filters is 2.5 bar or 35 psi. Make sure you get as close as possible to this figure to ensure you achieve the maximum service life of the cartridge filter. Do not estimate. Know.
- Consider the use of prefilters Ensure you fit the best prefiltration system possible. In optimum operation you should be using 2 to 3 times the number of prefilters to final filters. If the ratio in your filter system is less than this then you that the current prefiltration is not providing adequate protection of the final filters and needs further optimisation.
- Beware of unique filtration formats Be wary of tying yourself to an exclusive type of filter product that only a single supplier offers. Initially it might look like an excellent choice because it reduces your initial capital expense, however most situations where there is a lack of competition do not lead to the most price competitive markets.
- Speak with more than one supplier Finally work with a supplier who you can single source all your filtration requirements from. Normally the more you spend with one supplier the better pricing you achieve. However, be wary because this might not be your existing filter supplier. Be open to speaking to an alternate supplier because they can help make you existing suppliers more competitive.
Case Study
In the diagram opposite you see the example of a filter that has been doubled in size, which reflects the advice in tip 1 and halves the initial clean differential pressure of the filter. The increase in capital cost for this doubling in size is likely to be no more than the cost of a replacement cartridge for the smaller housing. This low cost simple change will have returned the extra capital investment after the first cartridge changeout, which easily could be within the first month, but even if you only change out once a year your return on investment is within 12 months, which would be more than acceptable to your finance manager.
Summary
Follow these simple tips and you will make your filtration system work harder reducing your annual filtration expenditure. If possible, and we know that budget does not always allow it, try and take a broader life-time cost view of your filtration system, rather than just the initial capital expense being the key factor in your purchasing decision.
PoreFiltration – Making your filtration systems work harder
