The Hidden, Ongoing Costs of Disposable Media Filters in the Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Processing Industries
Ask Filter Man
efficient and effective filtration can improve your bottom line. From
industrial chemicals to polymer processing, fluid clarity and purity
are essential in the pursuit of high-quality finished products.
Traditionally, chemical engineers have opted for disposable media
filters such as bags or cartridges due to their lower initial cost.
While initial cost may be lower for small batch operations, this is
seldom true for continuous operations that require a costly, redundant
filtration system - including piping, valves, support, and service
connections - to maintain production.
Moreover, there are significant hidden costs associated with disposable
media filters. When users purchase disposable media filters they often
fail to account for the true costs of doing so.
Hidden costs:
To begin, there's the ongoing disposable filter purchase price, which
typically runs at least $3 per bag or cartridge per day, plus the
ongoing cost of waste disposal.
For non-hazardous waste, disposal is already $400-$800 USD per drum,
while that of hazardous waste is approaching $1,000 per drum.
It's not unusual for the typical pharmaceutical company or other
fine-chemical based manufacturer to produce up to 20 drums per year of
filter media for disposal, not counting the cost of treating or
eliminating any run-off process fluids.
Beyond this, there are significant labor costs involved with
transporting, handling and storing disposable filter media, as well as
with replacing it.
Example:
For just a small 30-gpm cartridge filter with six 10-inch cartridges,
the operator must:
Remove 16 separate parts including the cover, compression seals,
cartridges, and seal plates.
The operator must reassemble all 16 parts with proper alignment to
ensure good seals.
Then someone must haul away the spent filter media.
There's also a housekeeping cost for cleaning any spillage from
disposable media, along with increased emissions, safety risk, and
liability.
Then there's the potential cost of disposable media rupturing or
overflowing (as bags sometimes do), contaminating product or machinery
downstream and slowing production.
Finally, add the cost of buying, maintaining, and cleaning workers'
protective clothing for replacing disposable media. As well as the
extra time and labor required to fill out MSDS forms and other
paperwork required for items hauled to landfills or incinerators.
This is where automatic filtration and separation products can make
your operation more efficient, and most importantly improve the
finished product quality.
by Ask Filter Man
Visit this link for a simple method to determine whether a change is
worthwhile for your applications:
http://www.rpaprocess.com/Industrial-Filters-Technical-Information.asp#Bag-Filter-Costs.
For questions about industrial filtration, please visit the Ask Filter
Man forum at http://www.rpaprocess.com/Ask-Filter-Man-Blog.asp.
If you would like to discuss this filtration solution with one of RPA
Process Technologies highly-trained Applications Specialists, please
contact us at http://www.rpaprocess.com/ContactUs/Contact-Us.asp.
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