GEA Air Treatment GmbH, of Herne, Germany, has brought onto the market a filter product based on the lotus effect. LoTex^® is especially effective in separating droplets of moisture from air flow, by virtue of the fact that this especially processed filter fleece features greatly reduced wettability. Water, oils, and emulsions easily pearl off, instead of evaporating in the filter or resinifying there. These characteristics mean that relatively large amounts of liquids can be separated and – if desired – can be effectively re-used. A further benefit: since the pressure drops with Delbag LoTex^® filters are appreciably less than those experienced in conventional demisters, power consumption for air filtration is halved. The advantages are double: cost reduction and protection of the environment.

Normally, knitted material made of artificial fibers or stainless steel is used for separation of oil and emulsion mists. Unlike these demisters, Delbag LoTex® filter fleece is characterized by initial pressure drops that are lower than conventional systems by a factor of 2 to 3. The filtered liquids flow off faster, with the result that evaporation or resinification (which can clog knitted filter material) do not take place. Low operating costs result from reduced initial and final pressure drops. With air flow of 10,000 m³/h, annual operating periods of 5,000 hours, and fan efficiency of 0.6, the following values result:

                                       Demister filter     Delbag LoTex^® Filter

Initial pressure
drop at 1.5 m/s                          550 Pa                          250 Pa

Final pressure drop               1,250 Pa                          700 Pa

Power consumption/year   19,190 kWh                     9,675 kWh

CO2 emission for power
generation in a modern
anthracite power plant
(730 g/kWh)                                   14 t                                  7 t

Readers with questions can address their queries to:
info@gea-airtreatment.com

Picture: GEA_LoTex_Filter.jpg
Self-cleaning learned from nature: thanks to the lotus effect, oils and emulsions simply pearl off Delbag LoTex® filter mats, and can be further used.

The PR and image material provided by GEA Air Treatment GmbH are provided exclusively for journalistic purposes in conjunction with GEA products and services. It is not allowed to use this material in conjunction with products and/or services of other companies, or in collages. If you wish to use the image material, we ask that you provide the source of the photos as GEA Air Treatment.

Press Relations and Public Affairs:

GEA Air Treatment GmbH – Ms. Carola Wolters
Suedstrasse 48 – 44625 Herne, Germany
Phone.:  +49 (0)2325 468 419 – Fax:  +49 (0)2325 468 401
www.gea-airtreatment.com

Press’n’Relations II GmbH – Uwe Taeger
Guntherstrasse 19 – 80639 Munich, Germany
Phone.:  +49 (0)89 17 99 92 77 – Fax:  +49 (0)89 17 99 92 89
www.press-n-relations.de

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About GEA

GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft is one of the largest systems providers in the food and beverages industries and in energy production. Group sales in 2010 were more than 4.4 billion euros. As an internationally active technological enterprise, GEA Group has concentrated on process engineering and components for demanding production processes in a wide range of end-user markets. The Group generates around 70 % of its sales in long-term growth industries for food, beverages, and energy. As of 31 December 2010 the Group internationally employed more than 20,000 staff. In its business areas, GEA Group is among the leading companies on the market and in technological developments. GEA Group is listed on the German MDAX stock index (G1A, WKN 660200).

Dateien:

GEA_LoTex_final_TEXT_ENG.doc - 96 KByte

GEA_LoTex_final_ENG.pdf - 77 KByte