Visiting Professor, University of Warwick (UK)/Beijing University of Chemical Technology (BUCT).

Speech Title: The growing potential of sintered metal fibre filters
Abstract:During the last years, the development of technologies for particulate removal from hot gases has been growing in importance. The long term needs of novel power generation systems have driven this development, but due to a “wait and see” attitude, the focus increasingly shifted to refinery and (petro-) chemical process industries, with 33% of the applications in catalyst recovery. However, the situation has changed and the need of the power generating industry is growing: hot gas cleaning technology offers the potential of a lower cost approach to pollutant control, leading to simpler cycle configurations with associated efficiency advantages.
The paper will firstly review typical applications of these sintered metal fibre filters in refinery and petrochemical/chemical processes, and in the power generation, respectively. Generally, pulse jet filters are used to clean refinery off-gases in order to meet the environmental legislation and/or to recover catalyst from process gases in the chemical industry. In-depth filters, which are cleaned off-line, are mostly used to protect downstream equipment such as catalytic (fixed-bed) reactors.
Secondly, the selection of fabrication materials in oxidizing and/or reducing atmospheres will be evaluated, and their long-term durability will be illustrated as a result of extensive testing. The manufacturing of filter elements will be discussed.
The properties of the metal fibre filters, fabricated from various metal alloys besides AISI 316L such as Inconel^® 601, Fecralloy^® and Alloy HR for gas filtration applications allow the use in extreme conditions: high temperature, high pressure and corrosive atmospheres. The primary benefits of sintered metal filters are: strength and fracture toughness, high pressure and temperature capabilities, high thermal shock resistance, corrosion resistance, cleanability, all-welded assembly, and long service life. The inherent toughness of the metal filters provides for continuous, back pulsed operation for extended periods. The proper selection of filter media with appropriate pore size, strength and corrosion resistance enables long-term filter operation with high efficiency particle retention.
Finally, the design parameters and procedure for developing hot gas filtration using sintered metal fibre filters will be presented.
Keywords: particulate removal, power generation, refinery and (petro)chemical processes, catalyst recovery, pollutant control, sintered metal fibre filters, pulse jet filter, in-depth filter