Contents of
this chapter:
·
OVERVIEW -
ENVIRONMENTAL AIR / PROBLEMS
·
STATE-of-the-ART
/ WHY HAVE CONVENTIONAL APPARATUS FAILED TO SOLVE THE PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH
LARGE SCALE AIR PURIFICATION?
·
WHAT IS REQUIRED
OF APPARATUS TO ACHIEVE THE PRESCRIBED GOAL?
·
MOBILE
PACKED BEDS
·
MOBILE
EXTENDED SURFACE ELEMENTS
·
THE MILLER
UNIVERSAL SYSTEM FOR LARGE SCALE GAS PURIFICATION REQUIREMENTS
·
APPLICATIONS
OVERVIEW - ENVIRONMENTAL
AIR / PROBLEMS
In an
analogous situation to environmental WATER the continuing consumption of environmental AIR is
accompanied by its continued contamination.
As with water this
contamination is primarily caused by human activity and as with water the
dangers posed can only be eliminated by a change in human behaviour.
It is becoming inevitable
that both fluid mediums of the environment after consumption and contamination
must be purified and reused on a broad basis.
Crucially however in both
cases contemporary purification technology is not up to the task of providing
an economical methodology for achieving this.
The chart on
the right shows that the heating of buildings in the northern hemisphere is
responsible for the major part of domestic energy consumption. Also depicted is
an approximation of the large savings in energy that can be achieved by improved insulation and internal
air purification by means of total recycling of air within
all types of buildings.
The
innovative technology to be presented here points to the possibility of at
least a 25% reduction in the present domestic energy consumption in European
countries.
(The
accompanying infra-red photograph of the external surfaces of a typical
building gives a convincing verification of heat losses from a typical
building.)
1.
LARGE
THERMAL ENERGY SAVINGS
Increasingly much of the external
air in metropolitan areas used for air renewal in buildings consumes
a large part of the present heating requirements of all types of
buildings. Total recirculation and purification would exclude the requirement
of external air and cut heating/cooling costs considerably.
2.
IMPROVED
HEALTH OF ALL PEOPLE NOW CONFINED IN SPACES CONTAINING POLLUTED AIR
Todays burgeoning motor traffic
density despite legislative restrictions causes serious external air pollution.
This external air is transferred to the internals of buildings as “renewal”
air.
Added to this is the pathogenic pollution caused by micro-organisms from people
occupying these spaces. Little if any of this contamination is removed by
contemporary air conditioning plants. Published assessments claim that at
least a 20% reduction in NHS (health) costs would accrue from the complete
avoidance of RENEWAL AIR and the removal of pathogenic pollution in enclosed
spaces including all hospitals.
This would be similar to that
already being achieved in manned space flights for astronauts. A high priority
requirement is the complete removal of all micro-organisms and noxious gases
from used air.
STATE-of-the-ART
WHY HAVE CONVENTIONAL APPARATUS FAILED TO SOLVE THE PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED
WITH LARGE SCALE AIR PURIFICATION?
The answer is
straightforward and simple:
The application of such
apparatus as depicted below cannot achieve cost effective sterile
filtration and media regeneration. Fitted with either
membranous or tightly packed beds of suitable bulk materials they are wholly
unsuited for media regeneration and reuse on a large scale.
Packed
elements commonly installed in ducting
systems of air conditioning plants could provide high quality filtered air.
However an increasing quality demand is offset by a shorter stand time with the
requirement of manual intervention for replacing the elements whereby the used
elements can seldom if ever be regenerated and reused.
The use of packed elements is
restricted to such applications as surgical spaces in hospitals and working
areas in the electronic industries.
Conventional packed elements
are unsuited for the demands of total recycling of sterile air in building
spaces.
PLEATED MEMBRANE CARTRIDGE
Cartridge filters fitted with
pleated membrane elements are the most widely used designs for achieving
“absolute” purification of fluids in industries such as the pharmaceutical
industry.Their employment in air conditioning plants is not commonplace.
The reason is
the high initial and renewal cost and the manual operation associated with
these designs.
Cartridge filters fitted with annular packed or wound beds are widely
used for general application in a variety of gas filtration applications.
They are generally not
suitable for “absolute” filtration and media regeneration.
REGENERABLE FABRIC FILTERS
Back-flushing candle filters find application in large industrial processes in
specialist applications ranging from macro-filtration with recovery of the
filtered solids to removal of toxic
gases in a pre-coating mode of operation.
However the use of membranous
media to provide “absolute” filtration is not a practicable proposition.
All the above depicted and
described state-of-the-art apparatus are unsuited for the total
recirculation and purification of air for breathing purposes in
buildings and factories.
WHAT
IS REQUIRED OF APPARATUS
TO ACHIEVE THE PRESCRIBED GOAL?
1.
They
must be capable of removing all pathogenic micro-organisms, extraneous odours
as well as molecular species of a noxious nature.
2.
They must
be capable of controlling the temperature, humidity and concentration of
extraneous gases in the circulated air.
3.
All media
used in the purification SYSTEM must be susceptible to fully automatic
regeneration and reuse.
4. The apparatus must be capable of round-the-clock fully
automatic operation without supervision.
The key innovative apparatus
to achieve the above requirements are
·
MOBILE PACKED BEDS
·
MOBILE EXTENDED SURFACE
ELEMENTS
Analogous to
liquid purification layered packed beds of graded granular material can be used
for PRIMARY or SINGLE STAGE purification of all types of gases. SINGLE STAGE
plants ensuring particulate removal in the size-range 1 - 500 microns are
especially suited for many industrial environments.
MOBILE EXTENDED SURFACE
ELEMENTS
Analogous to liquid
purification, SINGLE units with EXTENDED SURFACE
ELEMENTS are ideal for particulate removal in the size range 0.001 – 0.1
micron for air and gas purification in large industrial, business and institutional
environments.
The extended surface
pleat-like arrangement consists of membranous
and monofilament woven textile materials
as integral sections of the filter belt.
Section 1 is reserved for filtration with or without
pre-coating filter aid.
Sections 2 and 3 are used alternatively for the purpose of media
regeneration with high pressure fluid jets and/or ultra-sonic
generators.
FOR LARGE SCALE GAS PURIFICATION REQUIREMENTS
·
Centralised TOTAL
recirculated sterile air conditioning
·
Sterilisation and
absolute filtration of industrial air and gases
·
Industrial
off-gas purification
MILLER
UNIVERSAL SYSTEM
Comprising individual innovative liquid purification
stages:
1.
Mobile size-graded layered packed beds
2.
Mobile expanded surface elements
3.
Residue filter with fluid recycling
4.
Filter aid regeneration and reuse
APPLICATIONS
The sterile filtration, conditioning
and complete recycling of air in buildings with concomitant improvement in their insulation offers an ideal method
for achieving large reductions in the consumption of fossil fuels and the
emission of green house gases.
The MILLER UNIVERSAL SYSTEM offers
what is perhaps a unique solution for achieving this.
On a global scale industrial
stack off-gases are a continuing source of environmental pollution. The
elimination of these stacks should be a prime objective.
Particulate matter, noxious
gases and vapours from such sources as power stations and industrial furnaces
can be removed by MILLER UNIVERSAL SYSTEMS leaving purified CO2 for disposal.
Regenerative heat recovery
presents an added incentive!
·
electrostatic purification,
·
catalytic transformation,
·
purification by contact with activated carbon,
·
drying with silica gel, etc.
can be carried out with the MILLER UNIVERSAL SYSTEM
p.a.miller2@btopenworld.com