GE Energy Announces New Conductive Media Technology For Its Ecomagination-Certified Pulsepleat Filters

GE Energy’s environmental services team has announced a new conductive media for the PulsePleat® filtration product line helping customers gain production efficiencies and manage static electricity issues in the baghouse. The upgraded filtration media is suitable for use in dust collection systems applications where customers have determined static electricity may be a concern.

The media is FDA grade acceptable for food contact and helps eliminate product contamination. The announcement was made at the Powder and Bulk Solids Southeast conference being held at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta from April 24-26, 2007.

GE’s PulsePleat filtration technology recently received ecomagination certification after completing the company’s rigorous environmental and operational evaluation. Ecomagination is GE’s commitment to address challenges such as the need for cleaner, more efficient sources of energy, reduced emissions and abundant sources of clean water.

In today’s process industries, the collection and conveying of dusts and powders can create static electricity hazards in certain applications. Since static buildup can occur in dust collection equipment handling conductive, insulative dusts and powders, much customer attention is directed to preventing potentially hazardous electrical discharges from conventional filter bags and support cages. GE Energy’s new pleated, conductive media has been developed for those applications needing the benefits of Pleated Filter Elements made with static-charge dissipating filtration media. Use of suitable media is only one part of an effective program for addressing static electricity risks in applications where such risks are present.

The improved conductive media, which is now available, provides surface conductivity equal to or less than 1 megohm/square as determined per ASTM D-257. It also conforms to FDA’s food contact guidelines per 21 CFR 177.1630.

Fabric filtration is used in baghouses to capture particulate matter (fine dust) created by different manufacturing processes. The baghouse fabric filtration technology is used by more than 50 industries globally, including utilities and the cement, metals, food, pharmaceutical and chemical industries.

“This latest update to conductive media will address the issue of product contamination for our customers,” said Daniel Heintzelman, vice president of GE Energy’s services business. “Our PulsePleat technology helps the industry meet increasingly stringent emissions control regulations and benefit from improved production levels and lower operating costs.”