Short Courses
Course Summary Table
Course Descriptions and Outlines
Liquid Filtration General Overview
May 12, 2026, from 8:00 – 10:00 a.m. ET
Description
This overview course provides a high level yet thorough introduction to liquid filtration, focusing on essential terminology, concepts, and equipment used across the filtration industry. It is designed to give participants a clear understanding of how liquid filtration works, what influences performance, and where different filtration technologies are applied.
Emphasis is placed on practical understanding rather than detailed theory, making the course accessible to participants without a technical background while still valuable as a refresher for experienced professionals. The course also provides context around the breadth of liquid filtration equipment and media, helping participants better understand how filtration technologies differ and where they are most effectively applied.
The course content is based on the instructors’ extensive industrial experience spanning material suppliers, filter manufacturers, and end users, providing a balanced perspective that integrates technical fundamentals with real world business and application considerations.
Course Outline
- Introduction – What is Filtration
- How Do Material Properties Affect Liquid Filtration
- Basic Liquid Filtration Principles
- Liquid Filtration Media Overview
- Introduction to Key Liquid Filters
Instructors
Wu Chen and Chris Wallace
Course Fees
Member Pricing: $245.00
Non-member Pricing: $315.00
Polymer Aerogels as Filter Media
May 12, 2026, from 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. ET
Description
Aerogel literature is about 90 years old with very little known applications in separation problems. These high surface area materials offer variable porosity and pore sizes (10 nm-1 micrometer) and a strong potential for air and liquid filtration. Size exclusion, electrostatic charges, surfactant adsorption, and coalescing filtration are some of the mechanisms that work in such materials. The research group of the instructor among others established this field of research and would like to share the knowledge with the AFS community.
Course Outline
- Introduction to aerogels synthesis, fabrication, characterization, and manufacturing
- Applications of aerogels in airborne nanoparticle filtration
- Applications of aerogels in oil/water separation
- Applications of aerogels in PFAS and surfactant separation
- Benchmarking with industry standard media
Course Fees
Member Pricing: $425.00
Non-member Pricing: $495.00
Introduction to Solid/Liquid Separation
May 12, 2026, from 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. ET
Description
This introductory short course provides a comprehensive overview of solid–liquid separation technologies, covering both liquid filtration (using filter media) and field separation methods (without the use of filter media). The course begins with the fundamentals of liquid filtration, including how liquid and particle properties influence separation performance, key filtration principles, and the major categories of liquid filtration equipment and their industrial applications. It then expands into field separation technologies—such as settling, centrifugation, coagulation, and flocculation—which play a critical and complementary role in many separation processes. Using clear terminology and practical examples, the course is designed to give participants a solid foundational understanding of solid–liquid separation across industries.
The course content represents many years of collective industrial experience of instructors with backgrounds spanning materials suppliers, filtration equipment manufacturers, and end users. As a result, it delivers a well balanced perspective that integrates fundamentals, real world practice, and commercial considerations. Importantly, the course covers the breadth of commercially available filtration and separation technologies. Even participants with deep expertise in a specific technology will benefit by gaining insight into competing and complementary approaches, improving technology selection, troubleshooting, and customer engagement. This makes the course highly valuable for both new entrants to the filtration industry and experienced professionals seeking broader perspective and career development.
This course is one of the required courses in the AFS Certification Program to become a certified filtration professional.
Course Outline
The course is composed of four modules to provide thorough coverage of solid–liquid separation fundamentals and applications.
- Liquid Filtration
- Introduction
- How Do Particle and Liquid Properties Affect Liquid Filtration
- Key Principles of Liquid Filtration
- Introduction to Liquid Filtration Equipment
- Liquid Filters – Operation and Design
- Straining Equipment
- Cake filters
- Depth filters
- Membrane filters
- Liquid Filtration Media and Filter Aids
- Where Liquid Filter Media are Used
- Types of Filter media
- Selecting Filter media
- Filter media tests
- Filter aids
- Settling, Centrifugation, Coagulation and Flocculation
- Introduction to Field Separation
- Particle and Liquid Properties related to Field Separation
- Key Principles of Field Separation
- Gravity Separation Equipment and Design
Instructors
Wu Chen, Wenping Li, and Chris Wallace
Course Fees
Member Pricing: $625.00
Non-member Pricing: $795.00
Introduction to Liquid Cartridge Filtration
May 12, 2026, from 1:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Description
This course provides an in‑depth, practical overview of industrial liquid cartridge filtration, focusing on how cartridge filters are selected, sized, and applied in real process systems. Participants are introduced to the full spectrum of commercially available cartridge filter technologies, along with the principles that govern their performance. The course covers particle and liquid properties, filtration mechanisms, cartridge terminology and ratings, and the characteristics of key cartridge types and equipment. It also addresses cartridge construction, compatibility, cartridge life, pressure drop, system sizing, and industry‑standard test methods used to evaluate cartridge performance. The curriculum reflects real‑world industrial practice and emphasizes practical decision‑making for proper selection of liquid filtration systems.
Course Outline
- Introduction to Liquid Cartridge Filters
- Particle & Liquid Properties
- Absolute, Nominal, Beta Ratings & Efficiencies
- Particle Entrapment Mechanisms in Filter Media
- Maximizing Cartridge Life & Surface Area
- Key Liquid Cartridge Filters & Equipment
- Liquid Cartridge Filter Construction & Design
- Common Applications & Cartridge Filter Selection & Sizing
- Cartridge Filter Testing
Instructors
Course Fees
Member Pricing: $425.00
Non-member Pricing: $495.00
Liquid Filter Testing
May 12, 2026, from 1:00 – 5:00 p.m. ET
Description
The Liquid Filtration Testing basics short course is an introductory course on liquid filtration testing, testing methods and the standard equipment and instruments used. The course will cover filter test techniques and standards for water, fuel, lube oil, hydraulic fluids, and other industrial liquids. In addition, particle characteristics and efficiency methods and ratings will be reviewed.
Course Outline
- Standardization organizations and test standards
- Types and Applications of Liquid Clarification Filters
- Types and uses of filtering media
- Characteristics of liquids, particles and suspensions
- Characteristics of filtering media and filtering cartridges and methods of measurement
Course Fees
Member Pricing: $425.00
Non-member Pricing: $495.00