Long-Time AFS Supporter and Filtration Student Mentor, Professor George Chase Retires from the University of Akron

Professor George ChaseThe American Filtration and Separations Society wishes to extend its sincere congratulations and warm appreciation to Professor George Chase, as he retires from a long and distinguished career with the University of Akron (UA).

Professor Chase joined UA in 1989 as Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, a post he held until his recent retirement. For the past four years, he also has served as interim director of Research Initiatives and president of the University of Akron Research Foundation.

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On-Demand Filtration Courses Available in the AFS Learning Center

The AFS Learning Center provides a great wealth of technical knowledge for filtration and separations professionals. Our hub of educational resources represents the many years of technical knowledge we have assembled.

The AFS Learning Center contains two-hour and four-hour virtual courses on a variety of topics designed to educate both novice and expert filtration professionals and taught by leading experts in the filtration industry. Courses are priced affordably with discounts for AFS members and for the employees of AFS Corporate Sponsors. Learn more about joining as an individual or becoming a corporate sponsor here.

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Membrane Fouling and Cleaning Short Course on August 31

The AFS is presenting a new short course, “Membrane Fouling and Cleaning,” which will be taught by industry veteran Peter Cartwright.

Plant operators often deal with expensive elements fouling prematurely, creating additional maintenance expenses. This course will provide an understanding of the mechanisms of fouling of crossflow, pressure-driven membrane elements. Attendees will learn numerous strategies for minimizing fouling and cleaning membranes.

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New AFS Short Course: Requirements and Classifications of Facemasks and Respirators for General, Medical and Industrial Use

Christina CrimiThe AFS is presenting the short course, “Requirements and Classifications of Facemasks and Respirators for General, Medical and Industrial Use,” taught by Christina Crimi, Business Manager – Chemistry for SGS North America.

Included in this course will be coverage of:

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The State of Filtration in the Race to Zero Emissions and in the Wake of COVID

Brian Lane headshotAFS FiltCon 2021 included a plenary presentation from Brian Lane, expert filtration industry consultant and retired Vice President of Engineering, Technology and Innovation at Parker Hannifin. His presentation, “How Global Mega Trends, Particularly the 'Race to Zero Emissions' and COVID, are Impacting the Filtration Industry,” provided valuable insight into the state of the filtration industry, especially in light of the events of 2020.

Brian began by referencing the 2017 AFS Point of View Publication, written by former AFS Chair Tom Ramsey. Brian highlighted six global mega trends that formed the basis for chapter two of the report, emphasizing that after four years, all are still vigorous drivers of change in the filtration and separations industry: Population Growth and Social Change, Disruptive Digital Technology Changes, Rapid Urbanization on a Global Scale, Climate Change and Natural Scarcity, Transformative Healthcare Advances, and Reduce, Reuse and the Race to Zero Emissions/Discharge. In fact, the events of 2020 even accelerated the pace of change for several of them, most notably in the social change, healthcare and emissions areas.

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Impacts on Filtration Market Growth, Before and Since COVID


 

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World Filtration Congress 13 Rescheduled for October 2022

The World Filtration Congress is a global congress with presenters, exhibitors and attendees from all over the world. Originally scheduled for April 2020, WFC 13 was forced to postpone due to the pandemic. At that time, we were hopeful that by September 2021 we would be able to resume this event. Unfortunately, the virus continues to rage in many parts of the world, with government and corporate travel restrictions still in place.

Therefore, AFS and WFC leadership have again made the decision to postpone WFC 13, this time to October 5 – 9, 2022. Short courses will be offered Wednesday, Oct. 5, and the Congress will run Thursday, Oct. 6 through Sunday, Oct. 9 at noon. The Expo will be open Thursday morning through Saturday afternoon.

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AFS Elects Seven to Board of Directors for 2021-2023 Term

The American Filtration and Separations Society (AFS) is pleased to announce the results of its recent board of directors election. The following filtration professionals have been elected to two-year terms that will begin September 1 of this year:

Neil Burns, Founder and Director, Croft Filters Limited, Warrington UK. Neil Burns has more than 34 years of experience developing and delivering high quality filtration solutions to a range of industries both in the UK and worldwide. 
John Hancock, Sales Manager at Cerex Advanced Fabrics in Cantonment, FL. John manages the Filtration Business Unit and works with engineering teams to grow Cerex's market share through unique product design and performance attributes.
Brian Lane, Consultant, retired from Parker Hannifin. Brian Lane has been a sponsor and active member of AFS for more than 10 years, including giving plenary talks at the 2017 Fall Conference and AFS FiltCon 2021.
Wenping Li, R&D Director, Agrilectric Research Company in Lake Charles, LA. Wenping oversees product development and application, product quality and filtration lab management for Agriletic and has over 20 years of practical industrial filtration experience. She holds two patents and has published in more than 40 publications.
Jon Rajala, Senior R&D Product Engineer at AAF Flanders in Louisville, KY. Jon manages test labs and product development projects for AAF Flanders. He is active in ASHRAE leadership as chair of the TC 2.4 Programs Subcommittee and the SSPC 52.2 Research Subcommittee, and he leads the standards activity committee among AAF employees.
Chris Wallace, Vice President of Technology for Filtration Technology Corporation (FTC) in Houston, TX.  Since joining FTC in 2003, Chris has been involved in production engineering, application engineering, research and development, and technical sales of filtration and separation products for liquid/solid, gas/solid, liquid/liquid, and gas/liquid applications. Chris serves as an instructor of the AFS short course “Introduction to Liquid Filtration.”
Dr. Lin Zhao, Associate Research Scientist with the Dow Chemical Company in Pearland, TX. Lin’s work is focused on solid-liquid separation with practical industrial experience on most filtration and centrifugation operations. Lin serves as an instructor of the AFS short course “Basic Solid/Liquid Separation.”

 

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AFS FiltCon 2021 is a Wrap!

By Shagufta Patel, AFS Chair

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New AFS Short Course: Review of the Regulatory Requirements and Classifications of Respirators and Facemasks

An upcoming AFS Short Course, “Review of the Regulatory Requirements and Classifications of Respirators and Facemasks,” will help attendees gain a fundamental understanding of the medical mask and respirator industry. It also will provide must-know information about usage, regulatory and test methods. It is an excellent course for anyone who aspires to learn more than the basic information about medical masks and respirators. It is especially useful for those interested in this market, as it will provide the information needed to make informed decisions regarding a possible market entry.

The course will be presented live online on Tuesday, April 13, from 9 to 11am central and will be taught by Matthew McGarrity of AFS Corporate Sponsor SGS-IBR Laboratories. The course fee is $245 for AFS members and $345 for non-members.

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FiltCon 2021 Conference Schedule Posted, Early Bird Deadline March 26

A primary mission of the American Filtration & Separations Society (AFS) is to provide a forum for the exchange of information among engineers, scientists and technologists from all areas of our industry. One initiative that upholds this mission especially well is our upcoming major conference, FiltCon 2021.

FiltCon 2021 will be held virtually April 19-21, and our full conference schedule is now online. The conference will feature two plenary presentations, 42 technical presentations, an expo and a student poster competition. New Product Awards for 2019 and 2020, as well as Honorific Awards for 2020, will be announced at the awards ceremony on Tuesday morning.

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The Latest and Greatest: AFS Corporate Sponsor Webinar on Seal Gas Filtration for API 692 Standards

John Crane recently released a webinar on Seal Gas Filtration to provide insight on API 692, the latest standard for Dry Gas Sealing Systems for axial, centrifugal, rotary screw compressors, and expanders.

In this webinar on Seal Gas Filtration, Rogier Verheijen and Brian Adamson share the John Crane in-depth understanding of the newest API standard and its implication for the industry. Taking a close look at key changes to specifications, the rationale and in-the-field benefits of API 692 are explained in a practical manner, including changes to operation and documentation. Where applicable, API 692 optimized products such as new filtration systems are discussed.

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Upcoming AFS Chapter Meeting: Overview of the Current Requirements for General Barrier Face Coverings

The Great Lakes Chapter will meet Thursday, March 18, from 9:00 to 9:45 am central time. The topic, “Overview of the Current Requirements for General Barrier Face Coverings,” will be presented by Matthew McGarrity of AFS Corporate Sponsor SGS-IBR Laboratories. The meeting will be held virtually and is open to everyone.

AFS chapter meetings are an easy way to pick up specific and valuable knowledge from industry experts. The meetings are free for all AFS members and just $15 for non-members.

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The Latest and Greatest: AFS Corporate Sponsor Product Spotlight on Antimicrobial Filter Media from PureAir Filtration

PureAir Filtration’s FiberShieldTM is a Nylon 6,6 nonwoven spunbond microfiber material impregnated with silver (Ag) ionic nanoparticles. The silver ionic mesh creates an antimicrobial Zone of Inhibition around and in between the fibers that deactivates viruses, bacteria and fungi. For example, FiberShield deactivates >99.89% of the SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19).

FiberShieldTM has a basic weight of 34 g/m2 per layer and a pressure drop of 0.11 iwg (27 Pa). The thin and light substrate allows for more pleats in the same size filter housing, increased media surface area and dirt holding capacity, lower pressure drop, and smaller and lighter weight filters. The particle filtration capability is rated as MERV 4. The melting point of the fiber is 265oC, and its heat capacity is 1.47 J/g*K, with thermal stability that can withstand 150°C consistently.

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Nominations Open for AFS Board of Directors, 2nd Vice Chair and Annual Honorific and New Product Awards; Deadline is March 5

Nominations are now open for key AFS leadership positions, including multiple 2-year Board positions (2022-2024) and 2nd Vice Chair, who serves one year as 2nd Vice Chair, a second year as 1st Vice Chair, a third year as Chair and a final year as Immediate Past Chair. All terms begin September 2021.

All nominees and nominators must be current members of the American Filtration and Separations Society. Read the AFS leadership nomination guidelines here.

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New AFS Short Course: Automatic Filtration Technologies for the Chemical Process Industries

The AFS is presenting a new short course, “Automatic Filtration Technologies for the Chemical Process Industries,” which will be taught by industry veteran Barry Perlmutter.

The use of manual filtration solutions, such as plate filters, bag filters and filter presses, can create process problems and operator safety concerns in chemical manufacturing processes.  This course covers automatic technologies designed to help alleviate these potential problems and is designed to relay first-hand experience on the case for automatic filtration solutions.  Case studies are presented for each technology to illustrate existing problems and the improvements experienced with automatic filtration.

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Abstract Submission is Open for FiltCon 2021 Through March 1

AFS FiltCon, our signature spring conference, will be a fully virtual conference and expo this year, with two concurrent tracks taking place Monday-Wednesday, April 19-21, 2021. Attend the full conference or drop in for select sessions that fit your interests and schedule. All presentations will be available for two weeks post-conference for registered attendees.

The three-day schedule will offer remarkable access to technical content. Through two concurrent tracks over three days, the schedule offers a total of 36 technical presentations.

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American Filtration and Separations Society Launches AFS Learning Center

The AFS Learning Center is now fully launched, providing a great wealth of technical knowledge for filtration and separations professionals. Our hub of educational resources represents the many years of technical knowledge we have assembled.

The AFS Learning Center contains two-hour and four-hour virtual courses on a variety of topics designed to educate both novice and expert filtration professionals. Courses are priced affordably with discounts for AFS members. Learn more about joining here.

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Polymer filtration systems: Stop experimenting, start simulating

Guest blog by Paul Hulme, Business Development Manager, John Crane

Before the recent shifts in the global economy, the polymer industry had been expected to grow with a CAGR of 3.9% over the period 2015-2020. The demand for polymers is driven by growth in multiple end use markets, such as packaging, automotive, infrastructure, transport and telecommunication, and mainly from emerging economies. Polymer is continuously substituting metals, glass, paper and other traditional materials in various applications due to its light weight and strength, design flexibility and low cost.

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Keynote Addresses at Virtual Fall Conference Include “The Air We Breathe: What's Inside Matters” and “Filtration and Air Cleaning in the Age of COVID-19”

The American Filtration & Separations Society will devote its entire fall conference on December 2 and 3 to the air filtration industry’s response to COVID-19: What we have witnessed, what we have learned, and what is on the horizon. To accommodate a wide range of time zones, the virtual conference will take place from 10am to 2pm CST on both days.

The conference includes a keynote address each day:

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