Compressed Air & Gas Filters

Particulate Filter

Stop dryer dust, rust and scale at the source, so only clean, dry air travels on through your plant.

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Two flanged aluminium particulate filter housings with differential pressure gauges

Product overview

Clean, dry air with a particle class you can specify

Our particulate filter takes the solid particles out of dry compressed air and technical gases: desiccant dust, carbon fines, rust, pipe scale and wear debris. It sits where the water and oil have already gone, most often straight after a desiccant dryer, after an activated carbon adsorber, and at the point of use ahead of sensitive equipment.

The general-purpose 1 µm grade removes desiccant dust, rust and scale to protect your valves, cylinders and instruments. The high-efficiency 0.01 µm grade removes sub-micron particles for air that touches product, enters a cleanroom or feeds an analyser. Coarse grades of 5–25 µm collect pipe scale and weld debris in older or newly built networks.

The captured solids stay in the medium, so the filter needs no condensate drain in normal service. It sets the first digit of your ISO 8573-1:2010 purity class, the particle class.

Cutaway of a filter head showing the pleated element, its seal and the pressure gauge
  • 0.01 µmHigh-efficiency grade
  • 1 µmGeneral-purpose grade
  • No drainNeeded in dry service
  • 12 monthsElement change interval

Benefits

The problems it solves

Drying the air stops new corrosion, but it does not remove the particles already there, and a desiccant dryer adds dust of its own. Here is what those particles do, and how the filter stops them.

  • Scored valves and cylinders

    The problem

    Hard particles such as alumina and iron oxide score cylinder bores, valve spools and air motor vanes, raising internal leakage and air consumption.

    How it solves it

    Your valves, cylinders, regulators, air motors and instruments suffer less abrasion, sticking and blockage.

  • Dust spread through the network

    The problem

    Desiccant beads and carbon granules rub against each other and release fines that deposit along pipe walls and shed later in flow surges.

    How it solves it

    A filter straight after the dryer or carbon adsorber holds these fines inside the air treatment room, so they never enter your distribution network.

  • Defects in your product

    The problem

    Particles deposit wherever compressed air touches a surface: paint films, food, packaging, moulded parts, wafers and optics.

    How it solves it

    Paint finishes, packaging, moulded parts and wafers stay free of particle marks and inclusions.

  • An audit you must pass

    The problem

    Regulated customers audit compressed air against a particle class, which cannot be met without dedicated particulate filtration.

    How it solves it

    Tested grades deliver the particle class your specification or audit requires under ISO 8573-1:2010, verifiable by particle counting under ISO 8573-4.

  • Costly stages downstream

    The problem

    Sterile filters, membranes and analysers have a finite dirt-holding capacity and are expensive to replace.

    How it solves it

    A particulate filter upstream takes the bulk particle load, so these high-value stages last longer.

  • Guesswork on element changes

    The problem

    An overloaded element can tear and release its collected dust downstream in one event.

    How it solves it

    Differential pressure shows the loading, so elements are changed on evidence, and a sudden fall reveals a ruptured element at once.

Where it’s used

Wherever dust would mark the product or wear the machine

From the air treatment room to the machine itself, particulate filtration protects the processes where a single particle matters.

  • Wine bottles moving along a bottling line

    Food and beverage

    Bottle blowing, product ejection, cutting knives, packaging and powder conveying, where BCAS Guideline 102 specifies particle Class 2.

  • Yellow tablets spilling from a medicine bottle

    Pharmaceuticals

    Tablet coating, capsule filling, blister packaging and fermentation air, where vented air must not raise cleanroom particle counts.

  • Robots welding a car body on an assembly line

    Automotive and surface finishing

    Spray painting, powder coating and body-shop air, where particles show as visible defects in the paint film.

  • Blue plastic bottle caps in a moulded tray

    Plastics

    PET blow moulding, material drying and mould release, where the air must not mark the product.

  • A row of yarn winding machines in a textile mill

    Textiles

    Air-jet looms and texturing nozzles, which block and wear when abrasive particles are present.

  • Electricity pylons and power lines at sunset

    Power and process instrument air

    Instrument air in oil, gas, refining and power generation, protecting the small orifices in positioners and pneumatic controllers.

Also healthcare, electronics and semiconductors, nitrogen and oxygen generation, laboratories and analytical instruments, printing and paper, and breathing air.

How it works

Hold every particle in the fibres

The gaps between the fibres are far larger than the particles caught, so the medium works in its depth: each particle is held once it touches a fibre.

How a particulate filter works: dry air from the dryer enters the head and fills the bowl around the element, then passes from outside to inside through a pleated glass microfibre medium that holds particles by straining, impaction, interception and diffusion. An O-ring seal stops air bypassing the medium, and the clean air rises up the perforated core to the outlet. A differential pressure gauge shows how loaded the element is. Dry air inFrom the dryer Clean dry air outDown to 0.01 µm Differential pressure gauge Pleated glassmicrofibre medium Perforated core Inside the fibresInterception · ≈ 0.3–1 µmImpaction · above ≈ 1 µmDiffusion · the smallestStraining · coarse scale Manual drainStays dry in service 12345Dry air carrying dustClean dry airCaptured particlesPleated filter mediumO-ring seal

  1. 1. Air entersDry air enters the housing head and is directed into the bowl, around the outside of the element.

  2. 2. Through the mediumThe air passes from outside to inside through the pleated glass microfibre medium. Particles are caught by straining, impaction, interception and diffusion, and held on the fibres.

  3. 3. Supported and sealedThe perforated core carries the pressure load so the element cannot collapse, and an O-ring seals the end cap against the head so no air bypasses the medium.

  4. 4. Clean air outThe clean air rises through the element core and leaves through the outlet. The collected dust stays on the outer layers and leaves with the element when it is changed.

  5. 5. Watch the gaugeThe differential pressure gauge shows how loaded the element is. The manual drain should stay dry: liquid in the bowl means something upstream has failed.

Get the full details

Our brochure covers it in detail, and our questionnaire tells us what we need to recommend the right one for your plant.

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