Hengst Filtration has introduced a filter designed for industrial wet and dry vacuums that conforms to the latest requirements for HEPA filters by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in the US.
In 2016, the USintroduced stricter limits on the protection of persons handling silicate dusts. The OSHA standards mandate that filters must provide a separation performance of 99.97 % at 0.3 µm. The vacuum which is used must also be equipped with a cyclone pre-separator or a filter insert that is cleanable.
Fiberglass media has, until now, been used in HEPA filter technology but this media means hazardous substances are retained on the interior of the medium, where they cannot be cleaned off effectively.
The newly developed Hengst filter can be cleaned and has a filtering level of 99.97 % for a particle size of 0.3 µm, meeting the new OSHA requirements. Hengst has selected a combination of a special PTFE membrane and a matching backing material for its new cleanable filter. Filtration is provided by the filtered dust settling on the surface of the filter medium in the form of a filter cake, which can then be removed easily using, for instance, a pressure pulse.
