Industry sector: Petrochemicals
Company activity: Polymer manufacturing
Company type: International group
Founded: 1950s
Contact: Production Manager
Company context
On production lines manufacturing special polymers used for electrical cable insulation, water loops are used to clean the finished products.
Filtration challenge
Le nettoyage des produits polymères fabriqués génère des microparticules de plastiques. Celles-ci perturbent donc en continu la qualité d’eau. Pour pouvoir être réutilisée dans le circuit de nettoyage, cette eau doit être en permanence filtrée, et ce avec une efficacité constante et totalement reproductible, donc absolue.
Une autre contrainte est que la conductivité de l’eau doit être maintenue à un niveau très faible (résistivité de 18 mΩ.cm). Ainsi, la demande de finition interne des pièces métalliques est significativement élevée, et impose un coefficient de rugosité (Ra) inférieur à 0.4 µm.
Pemflow filtration solution
Until now, operators were using a backwash unclogging filter system consisting of 36 filter candles. The system was quite old and therefore not ergonomic — for example, it had a hinged lid and hundreds of bolts.
This filtration setup required 8 to 9 filter replacements per year, plus system shutdowns for cleaning every 2 months.
Between the cost of new filter candles, maintenance labour (minimum 2 operators for 4 hours) and lost production, each shutdown cost approximately €50,000.
The objective was to extend the intervals between filter replacements. We proposed a special custom solution composed of 48 filtration cartridges (40″).
The filter housing was designed to accommodate 60″ filter cartridges, allowing the system to handle increased production without further equipment changes.
Today, annual filtration costs are below €50,000.
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