Filtration of ultrafine metallic particles produced by thermal spraying processes

Industrial filtration installations are confronted with clogging of the filters by ultrafine metallic particles produced by thermal spraying or arc metal-cutting processes. The study, conducted on a pleated filter cartridge and a panel filter recovered with a PTFE membrane, confirms the high clogging capacity of these fumes. Results show that reverse pulsed-jet cleaning technique is inefficient on the pleated cartridge. The filter precoating technique has shown a marked improvement of filter cleaning but only in off-line mode (i.e. without filtration airflow). Panel filter seems to be more easily cleaned due to the flexibility of the media.