Microza Hollow Fiber Filter System

Conventional water treatment upstream of nanofiltration and reverse osmosis systems can include sand filtration, flocculations, ion exchange resins and cartridge filtration. For a more economical and reliable approach, Pall has developed a compact system that uses Microza Hollow Fiber modules for the replacement of most conventional water treatment steps upstream of reverse osmosis or nanofiltration. The modules are available in Microfiltration or Ultrafiltration grades to meet the application requirements.

Since membrane technology provides a positive barrier, the Microza LGV modules provide a much higher security against water-borne contamination than traditional systems. The hollow fiber membranes have low fouling characteristics and are mechanically strong so that they can be backflushed to ensure stable operation. The quality of the filtered water meets requirements and remains stable even if the raw water quality is variable. The hollow fibers remove oxidized iron and manganese and organic contaminants. They provide exceptional security for microbial contaminants such as molds, cysts and viruses.

Critical to the absolute purity of your finished product is filtration at every stage, including prefiltration of raw water as it enters the process. Pall has addressed your need for an economical and reliable particulate filter systems designed for the following applications.

• Removal of resin fines
• Protection of a reverse osmosis (RO) filter
• Removal of carbon fines
• Protection of a final filter
• Particulate removal in bottle washing operations

The filter locations and recommendations are provided below (bottle washing not depicted)

Click Diagram to enlarge

 

Application	Filter medium	Absolute Rating (micron)
Supply water course Prefiltration and final filter protection	Profile® with Ultipleat® configuration	10 20
Supply water fine prefiltration and final filter protection	Ultipor® GF Plus Ultipor® (resin bonded glass fiber) with Ultipleat High Flow configuration	1 2 2
Carbon fines removal	Profile with Ultipleat configuration Profile	10 20 1 5
Resin fines removal	Profile with Ultipleat configuration Profile	4.5 1 5
Protection of RO membrane	Profile with Ultipleat configuration Profile	4.5 1 5

Product Information

• Profile filters
• Ultipor GF Plus Filters
• Filters with Ultipleat configuration
• High Flow filters with Ultipleat Construction

Profile filters

Profile filters are all polypropylene depth filters. The membrane has an absolute-rated downstream section and a continuously graded pore size upstream section, which increases the service life many-fold, resulting in an economical operation. The fibers in the Profile membrane are continuous and no binder resin or glues are used. The fibers are "bonded" by an intertwining technology and as a result of this manufacturing technique, Pall Profile membrane material and trapped contaminants do not migrate to the downstream (filtered) water.

Profile filters are available in a variety of styles to meet the requirements of the application. Filters with absolute micron ratings from 0.5 to 120 micron are available.

Benefits of Pall Profile Products

• Pall Profile depth filters have a constant pore size resulting in reliable filtration with no unloading and no media migration
• Pall Profile depth filters have been designed with a constant density filter medium with a high voids volume, resulting in high dirt loading capacity, maximum throughputs, and long service life
• Pall Profile depth filters contain no resins, binders, surfactants or potting compounds to ensure a continuously clean effluent
• Economic filtration is achieved using Profile filters because they have a longer service life than conventional depth filters and require less frequent change-out
• Absolute removal of fine particles ensures visual clarity
• In carbonated fluids, absolute removal of fine particles maximizes carbonation
• Turbidity specifications can be consistently met by using Pall Profile filters

Ultipor GF Plus filters

Ultipor GF Plus prefilters have a pleated high area construction for long service life. The glass fiber medium has a binder resin, which imparts a positive zeta potential for enhanced particulate removal. The resin also binds the fibers to an inert polyester substrate to produce a rugged composite medium. The Ultipor GF Plus cartridges can efficiently remove submicroscopic haze. Ultipor GF Plus filters with absolute micron ratings from 1 to 40 micron are available.

Benefits of Pall Ultipor GF Plus filters

• Pall Ultipor GF Plus filters have positively charged media that can provide removal efficiency enhanced by retention of particles smaller than the removal rating of the medium
• The Ultipor GF Plus filter can remove negatively charged particles (pyrogens) from water
• A wide range of absolute micron ratings are available to meet specific application requirements
• The Ultipor GF Plus filter often used in this application has a graded pore structure for up to 3X the dirt holding capacity over a uniform pore structure design. In a graded pore structure design the contaminant is captured in the outer 60% of the filter, whereas in a uniform pore structure design the contaminant is captured in the outer 15% of the filter

Filters with Ultipleat configuration

Pall Filters with Ultipleat configuration

Profile filters with Ultipleat configuration use continuous Profile membrane in a proprietary cresent-shaped pleat structure. This design is also available for Pall Ultipor GF Plus filters. A patented spiral wrap is attached to each pleat to allow for uniform flow through each pleat. The benefit of the Ultipleat configuration is a reduced pressure drop (as low as one-fifteenth that of conventional depth filters) and higher flow rate which results in unsurpassed filter service life.

Benefits of Pall Filters with Ultipleat Construction

• Uniform flow distribution with Ultipleat construction, which can provide a longer service life
• Patented spiral wrap bonded to each pleat, maintains a uniform flow through pleats and prevents pleat collapse and bunching.
• Longer life than many pleated polypropylene membrane filters, resulting in lower costs and reduced change-outs
• Higher flow rate and lower differential pressure than pleated and depth media capacity

High Flow filters with Ultipleat Construction

Pall has addressed the need for an economic and reliable particulate filter system designed for high flow applications—a solution that eliminates having to settle for the traditional systems, bag filters or cartridge filter which truly do not meet all process requirements. Pall Profile and Ultipor (resin bonded glass fiber) filters are available in an Ultipleat High Flow filter configuration. These products combine the benefits of the membrane (resin bonded glass fiber or Profile) and the Ultipleat crescent shaped pleat geometry into a design that allows for flows up to 500 GPM per membrane cartridge.

Ultipleat High Flow filters utilize a 6-inch diameter and a 40 - 60 inch length to maximize the ratio between surface area and cross sectional area and to minimize core pressure drop. The flow direction is in to out so that contaminants can be collected inside the filter for easy disposal. The filters are coreless, with an all plastic construction, to minimize waste disposal costs. Micron ratings from 2 to 20 microns are available.

The Ultipleat High Flow filter design allows for a smaller footprint with fewer filters to change-out.

Benefits of Pall Filters with High Flow Ultipleat Construction

• Reduced capital costs
• Reduced element replacement costs
• Reduced maintenance time
• Reduced waste volume
• Lower clean pressure drop
• Ease of service
• Smaller footprint
• Higher fill rates
• Lower product hold-up volume

Coarse particulate filtration can be required to ensure that particles are not added to the mixing tank in the manufacture of soft drinks. Removal of particulate material ensures a product with high visual clarity and maximum carbonation efficiency. Pall Profile filters can be used for particulate removal for flavor additives.

Profile filters are all polypropylene depth filters. The membrane has an absolute-rated downstream section and a continuously graded pore size upstream section, which increases the service life many-fold, resulting in an economical operation. The fibers in the Profile membrane are continuous and no binder resin or glues are used. The fibers are "bonded" by an intertwining technology and as a result of this manufacturing technique, Pall Profile membrane material and trapped contaminants do not migrate to the downstream (filtered) water. Profile filters are available in a variety of styles to meet the requirements of the application. Filters with absolute micron ratings from 0.5 to 120 micron are available.

Benefits of Pall Profile Products

• Pall Profile depth filters have a constant pore size resulting in reliable filtration with no unloading and no media migration
• Pall Profile depth filters have been designed with a constant density filter medium with a high voids volume, resulting in high dirt loading capacity, maximum throughputs, and long service life
• Pall Profile depth filters contain no resins, binders, surfactants or potting compounds to ensure a continuously clean effluent
• Economic filtration is achieved using Profile filters because they have a longer service life than conventional depth filters and require less frequent change-out
• Absolute removal of fine particles ensures visual clarity
• In carbonated fluids, absolute removal of fine particles maximizes carbonation
• Turbidity specifications can be consistently met by using Pall Profile filters

Pall offers a wide range of final filters to ensure microbial stabilization of the make-up water used in soft drink manufacture, including AbsoLife filters, which will remove Cryptosporidium and Giardia cysts from water products. Pall also provides 0.45 micron and 0.65 micron filters for removal of bacteria, molds, or other fine contaminants in water for soft drink manufacturers that desire a higher level of protection for the make-up water.

• Sub-micron filters
• 1 micron AbsoLife for cyst protection

Sub-micron filters

Depending on the quality of the water source available, a final sub-micron filtration step for microbial stabilization may be desired to provide an additional level of contaminant removal security. Final filtration can be used to microbially stabilize the water by removing bacteria and molds and to provide a final polishing filtration.

Pall Ultipor filters with N₆₆ membrane are used routinely to provide biologically stable beverage products. Pall Ultipor filter cartridges with N₆₆ membrane are specifically engineered for microbial stabilization with either 0.45 or 0.65 micron ratings. These integrity testable filters incorporate versatile Nylon 6,6 membranes that are high area pleated into single open-ended cartridges for use in sanitary filter housings and have been designed to provide reliable economical and efficient microbial stabilization. Typical titre reductions for 0.45 and 0.65 micron filters are provided in the table below.

Micron rating	Test organism	Typical titre reduction
0.45	Serratia marcescens	108
0.65	Pediococcus damnosus	106

Pall also offers integrity testable Supor^® filters with a new polyethersulfone (PES) membrane and Fluorodyne^® filters with a polyvinylidiene fluoride (PVDF) membrane for microbial stabilization or sterilization. The variety of membrane types ensures that we can provide a product that will work with the required cleaning regimen.

Additionally for a more economical filtration process, prefilters are often used to remove particulate materials and protect the final filters to ensure a long service life. Pall offers several prefilter options so that the requirements for a specific bottled water operation can be met.

Prefilters include the Profile family of filters and Ultipor GF filter cartridges.

Benefits of Pall final sub-micron filters for microbial stabalization:

• Total filtration systems are provided to meet process economics and product quality requirements
• Integrity testable filters to assure performance
• Inherently tough membranes designed to withstand extreme operating conditions
• High voids volume for low clean differential pressure and long on-stream life
• Fixed pore structure ensures that there is no unloading of trapped contaminants
• Complete line of membrane filters (Nylon, PES or PVDF) to meet specific product and process requirements
• Products available for microbial stabilization or sterilization to meet application requirements
• Intrinsically water-wettable
• Resin and surfactant-free
• Flushed with high purity water before shipment to provide consistent product cleanliness
• Broad solvent compatibility
• High area for long life
• Hot water sanitizable
• Repeatedly steamable in situ
• Individually serialized for traceability
• Manufactured by Pall in a controlled environment
• Integrity tested before release

1 micron AbsoLife™ for cyst protection

Giardia lamblia and Cryptosporidium parvums are waterborne parasites (oocysts) that are capable of causing disease. They are present in 67-95% of all surface water and have been detected in 39% of the drinking water supplies in the US. A low level of contamination can cause serious illness or death in individuals in high-risk categories (immunocompomised, cancer patients, children and elderly people).

Depending on the quality of the water source available, it may be desirable to use a 1 micron AbsoLife filter for protection of the make-up water from cyst contamination.

The 1 micron AbsoLife filter has been Tested and Certified to NSF Standard 53 to Drinking Water Treatment Units by NSF International.

Prior to the 1 micron AbsoLife filter certification, systems, not an individual component, such as a filter, were certified under NSF Standard 53.The 1 micron AbsoLife filter was the first filter listed as components under NSF Standard 53 that had claims associated with it. It was officially listed as meeting NSF Standard 53 as of December 15, 1997.

The AbsoLife filter cartridge has a unique melt-blown media providing high removal efficiency of 99.98 percent and a long-term efficient service life. (Note: the tests used by Pall to give the filter the 1 micron rating are for a removal efficiency of 99.98% and the tests used by NSF are to certify removal efficiency of > 99.95%)

The filter is sanitizable with common chemical sanitization agents and is steam sterilizable.

The 1 micron AbsoLife filter can be used in applications in which there is a risk that cysts are present, such as make-up water from a municipal source.

NSF Standard 53

NSF International is a non-profit organization that has programs and services involving public health safety and environmental quality. Due to consumer interest in bottled water, in 1984 NSF developed a bottled water certification program based on the applicable FDA regulations and began a relationship with the IBWA (International Bottled Water Association). The organizations provide independent inspection and audit of IBWA member facilities as part of a bottled water certification program to ensure the production of safe, high quality bottled water.

NSF Standard 53 is a standard developed for the purpose of establishing reliable methods for determining performance of drinking water treatment units. The standard is accredited by ANSI (The American National Standards Institute). Under the standard there is a turbidity reduction test and a cyst reduction test.

Turbidity reduction test: performed to demonstrate the reduction of organic and inorganic solids

Cyst reduction test: performed to demonstrate the ability of a filter to remove cysts from water using either latex spheres or fine test dust. The test must reduce the 3 - 4 micron particles by at least 99.95% to meet the standard.

NSF Standard 53 has been developed and accepted in the bottled water industry as a valid certification for labeling a filter as Cryptosporidium oocysts and Giardia lamblia cyst reducing, meeting EPA (US Environmental Protection Agency) and CDC (Center for Disease Control) recommendations.

The CDC and EPA recommendation

On June 15, 1995 the CDC issued a press advisory for people with weakened immune systems, which was supported by the EPA.

".....Among the most effective point-of-use filters are those labeled reverse osmosis or "Absolute" one micron filters or those certified by the National Sanitation Foundation* International under Standard 53 for "Cyst Removal."

"The nominal one micron filter may not reliably remove Cryptosporidium."

* - The name "National Sanitation Foundation" was changed to NSF International in 1991.

Pall Emflon Filters

Soft drink bottlers use Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) to maintain carbonation in the filling operation and to blanket the pre-mix tank prior to the filling operation. Microorganisms can be present in the CO₂ piping and can lead to contamination of the product. Sterile filtration can be employed in these applications to prevent the introduction of microbial contaminants, such as molds and bacteria, via the CO₂.

Emflon^® PFR filters, featuring two layers of Pall 0.2 micron polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membrane, are designed to remove bacteria, yeasts, molds, and particles from gas (CO₂) streams, even in the presence of humidity and moisture. All other filter components are made of oxidation resistant polypropylene. Fully manufactured assemblies are validated by stringent liquid challenge with Brevundimonas diminuta at 10⁷/cm² filter area and are 100% integrity tested. Emflon PFR filters are integrity testable by Water Intrusion and Forward Flow tests.

If required, the Emflon PFR filter can be protected by a Pall prefilter to ensure long life of the final filter.

Microbial contaminants can enter the water and product storage tanks if the tank is not properly protected from the environment. This can lead to contamination of the batch. Pall Emflon PFR filters can be used as vent filters to protect the make-up water tanks and holding tanks from contamination by mold, bacteria and other microbial contaminants.

Emflon PFR filters, featuring two layers of Pall 0.2 micron polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membrane, are designed to protect a sterile tank from the ingress of bacteria, yeasts, molds, and particles, even in the presence of humidity and moisture. All other filter components are made of oxidation resistant polypropylene. Fully manufactured assemblies are validated by stringent liquid challenge with Brevundimonas diminuta at 10⁷/cm² filter area and are 100% integrity tested. Emflon PFR filters are integrity testable by Water Intrusion and Forward Flow tests.

If required, the Emflon PFR filter can be protected by a Pall prefilter to ensure long life of the final filter.

Examples include the pressurized gas used in isobaric filling machines, the water used for cleaning the facility and the cans or bottles, as well as for rinsing and sanitizing the filtration system, and the steam used for sterilization. All of these fluids can contain a variety of contaminants, which, if not removed, can cause costly recontamination. Pall’s solutions include Emflon PFR filters for gas sterilization, Ultipor GF Plus and Profile filters for the filtration of cleaning water, and PSS filters for the removal of solid contaminants from the steam used for sterilization.

Complementing Pall’s wide array of filtration systems is the Pall Life Sciences line of disposable and reusable funnels, membrane media and accessories. Environmental and industrial microbiologists can save time and money as well as ensure accurate results with the Pall Life Sciences line which has been optimized for testing drinking water quality for make-up water used in soft drink manufacture. For example, the Pall Life Sciences Envirochek Sampling Capsule is fully validated for use in US EPA method 1622 and 1623 for analysis of water-borne contaminants such as Cryptosporidium and Giardia.

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* - Microza is a trademark of Asahi Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.