F+S: What does Lenzing Filtration offer the filtration sector?
WW: Lenzing Filtration has been on the market since the 1970s when we developed our first backwash filter. Over the years, we have gathered a lot of knowledge and expertise in many different types of filters, including simple disposable filters, but today we are still very focused on high performance backwash filtration and cake building filter technologies.
F+S: Tell us more about the solutions you are showcasing at FILTECH.
WW: We are showcasing the Lenzing OptiFil backwash filter, which has been developed using our experience gained in this area from the past 50+ years. We are also showcasing our CakeFil filter, which is our newest development and is a fully automatic self-cleaning tubular pressure filtration system, otherwise known as a candle filter. And, we have the BeerFil solution, which uses the smallest backwash filter have – the OptiFil 50 – which has been adapted with a beer tap especially for exhibitions!
F+S: What makes your OptiFil backwash filter unique?
WW: This backwash filter offers the highest cleaning power, making it suitable for very fine filtration and for filtering sticky material or materials that are difficult to clean off the filter. One good example of how the OptiFil is used is in the automotive sector. Before a car body is painted, the bare metal is typically prepared by dipping it into baths. These treatment baths are kept clean using side stream filtration. OptiFil is often used for this.
In this side stream filtration, there are many sticky impurities from things like the adhesives used to glue car bodies together. These pose a great challenge for backwash filtration as you need a lot of power to get them off the surface. If you don’t remove them, you will have to change the filter material very often. With its high power, OptiFil provides the ideal solution here.
OptiFil can also be used in the water, chemical and sugar industries, among others.
F+S: How does OptiFil improve efficiency?
WW: The OptiFil not only offers cleaning efficiency, but it also provides backwash efficiency. The latter is a big advantage of this filter. Compared to other conventional backwash filters our solution reduces the liquid reject amount by about 10%, meaning customers can achieve about 10 times less losses with this filter.
F+S: Tell us more about the cake filter.
WW: The CakeFil filter is our latest development. This kind of filter has been on the market for decades, but our recent improvements have enabled us to improve the service lifetime of the tubular candle filters and the filter cloths. To achieve this, we changed a number of things in the process and adapted the structure of the filter candle to improve the service life.
If you think about the cake filters on the market that have huge vessels with 500 candles inside and then think about doubling the lifetime of these filters – you can imagine what can be saved in terms of both labor and operational costs. It also means that downtime is reduced, which is a big win for our customers.
F+S: How are you working to improve your solutions further?
WW: We are continuously improving our solutions, including enhancing the machine itself, the filter materials, the materials used in the assembly, etc. We also seek to improve our offerings to meet the needs of specific or new applications. Each filter is fine tuned every single time a new application comes along.
