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Show review: Filtech 2007: a review
16
Feature
Filtration+Separation April 2007
Show review:
Filtech 2007: a review G
raham Rideal, former chairman of the UK’s Filtration Society, looks back on a successful Filtech 2007 and reviews the new technology and research on display at the show.
At the opening ceremony of Filtech, which took place in Wiesbaden, Germany at the end of February, there were two very interesting presentations noteworthy for quite different reasons. In a brief opening address and welcome, the director and founder of the Filtech organisation, Mike Taylor, announced that, in this its 42nd year, Filtech attendees were still discussing exactly the same things they talked about all those years ago – the only difference being the technological advancements now being used to solve the problems. The other most significant point Mike Taylor made was regarding ‘the filtration family’ – but more of this later. The theme of technological advancements was ably taken up and developed by the plenary speaker, Professor Gerhard Kasper, who gave an excellent bird’s eye view of the developments in the filtration industry.
are now being very successfully applied in the filtration industry to locate challenge particles used to penetrate 3-dimensional and complex filter media.
filtration. A very interesting ‘virtual’ filtration process was demonstrated showing the ‘dendritic’ build up of particles during air filtration on a non-woven filter medium.
The biggest advances... seem to have been equally shared between the computer modelling of filtration media and the application of diagnostic techniques from other scientific disciplines
The plenary lecture was warmly received and was an excellent harbinger to the technical content of the succeeding three days. One satisfied attendee declared it was so good he could go straight home safe in the knowledge that he was now up to date with the latest technologies.
The other interesting development is in the application of computer graphics. It is now possible to apply the mathematical modelling to construct simulated or virtual
New training developments On the subject of basic training, the short courses giving an introduction to filtration were again a resounding success with record
Technological advances The biggest advances in the two years since the last conference seems to have been equally shared between the computer modelling of filtration media and the application of diagnostic techniques from other scientific disciplines. With the advent of ever more powerful computers, mathematical modelling has to a degree been simplified, however, actual experimentation is still required to prove the theories. Techniques more commonly found in clinical applications such as X-Ray, CAT scanning (Computer Axial Tomography) and MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging)
The exhibition drew a variety of visitors seeking the latest technologies
Feature
Filtration+Separation April 2007
The importance of the ‘filtration family’ mentioned by Mike Taylor in his opening remarks cannot be over emphasised. The Filtech conferences have a unique ‘family’ feel to them as exemplified by the Peters family. Professor Thomas Peters (Neuss, Germany) a member of the scientific committee who presented the last plenary lecture not only contributed scientifically, but his daughter Silvia, part of the organising team, also sang at drinks and buffet evening.
The networking side to the conference continues to be a reason to attend
numbers of attendees. Professor Richard Wakeman and Dr Steven Tarleton from Loughborough University (UK) and the Filtration Society introduced solid/liquid separation while Professor Eberhard Schmidt (University of Wuppertal, Germany) presented a review on dust separation. The technical papers from 33 countries then developed the basic themes to include solid/ liquid separation, gas/solid separation and membrane processes. Being held in Germany,
it was not surprising that almost 30% of the contributions were from German contributors. However the second most prolific country to contribute was Brazil, with 10% of the papers. Such was the success of the exhibition, that a second hall used this year was full to capacity, with a total of 130 companies displaying the very latest instrumentation and technology. Of course the success of a conference cannot be measured by statistics alone.
This may seem like a trivial thing to mention, but of all the conferences I have attended, this must be the most friendly. With at least 33 languages being spoken, question time after a lecture can seem quite threatening if English is not your first language. The casual relaxed environment of the buffet creates a perfect environment not only to follow up technical questions, but to make new friends. The term networking seems quite cold to what was actually going on: a spirit of warm and friendly cooperation, which was the trademark of Filtech 2007 and the reason why it continues to be a success after 42 years.
•
Graham Rideal is managing director of Whitehouse Scientific and a past chairman of The Filtration Society in the UK.
17
Feature
Filtration+Separation April 2007
Show review:
Filtech 2007: a review G
raham Rideal, former chairman of the UK’s Filtration Society, looks back on a successful Filtech 2007 and reviews the new technology and research on display at the show.
At the opening ceremony of Filtech, which took place in Wiesbaden, Germany at the end of February, there were two very interesting presentations noteworthy for quite different reasons. In a brief opening address and welcome, the director and founder of the Filtech organisation, Mike Taylor, announced that, in this its 42nd year, Filtech attendees were still discussing exactly the same things they talked about all those years ago – the only difference being the technological advancements now being used to solve the problems. The other most significant point Mike Taylor made was regarding ‘the filtration family’ – but more of this later. The theme of technological advancements was ably taken up and developed by the plenary speaker, Professor Gerhard Kasper, who gave an excellent bird’s eye view of the developments in the filtration industry.
are now being very successfully applied in the filtration industry to locate challenge particles used to penetrate 3-dimensional and complex filter media.
filtration. A very interesting ‘virtual’ filtration process was demonstrated showing the ‘dendritic’ build up of particles during air filtration on a non-woven filter medium.
The biggest advances... seem to have been equally shared between the computer modelling of filtration media and the application of diagnostic techniques from other scientific disciplines
The plenary lecture was warmly received and was an excellent harbinger to the technical content of the succeeding three days. One satisfied attendee declared it was so good he could go straight home safe in the knowledge that he was now up to date with the latest technologies.
The other interesting development is in the application of computer graphics. It is now possible to apply the mathematical modelling to construct simulated or virtual
New training developments On the subject of basic training, the short courses giving an introduction to filtration were again a resounding success with record
Technological advances The biggest advances in the two years since the last conference seems to have been equally shared between the computer modelling of filtration media and the application of diagnostic techniques from other scientific disciplines. With the advent of ever more powerful computers, mathematical modelling has to a degree been simplified, however, actual experimentation is still required to prove the theories. Techniques more commonly found in clinical applications such as X-Ray, CAT scanning (Computer Axial Tomography) and MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging)
The exhibition drew a variety of visitors seeking the latest technologies
Feature
Filtration+Separation April 2007
The importance of the ‘filtration family’ mentioned by Mike Taylor in his opening remarks cannot be over emphasised. The Filtech conferences have a unique ‘family’ feel to them as exemplified by the Peters family. Professor Thomas Peters (Neuss, Germany) a member of the scientific committee who presented the last plenary lecture not only contributed scientifically, but his daughter Silvia, part of the organising team, also sang at drinks and buffet evening.
The networking side to the conference continues to be a reason to attend
numbers of attendees. Professor Richard Wakeman and Dr Steven Tarleton from Loughborough University (UK) and the Filtration Society introduced solid/liquid separation while Professor Eberhard Schmidt (University of Wuppertal, Germany) presented a review on dust separation. The technical papers from 33 countries then developed the basic themes to include solid/ liquid separation, gas/solid separation and membrane processes. Being held in Germany,
it was not surprising that almost 30% of the contributions were from German contributors. However the second most prolific country to contribute was Brazil, with 10% of the papers. Such was the success of the exhibition, that a second hall used this year was full to capacity, with a total of 130 companies displaying the very latest instrumentation and technology. Of course the success of a conference cannot be measured by statistics alone.
This may seem like a trivial thing to mention, but of all the conferences I have attended, this must be the most friendly. With at least 33 languages being spoken, question time after a lecture can seem quite threatening if English is not your first language. The casual relaxed environment of the buffet creates a perfect environment not only to follow up technical questions, but to make new friends. The term networking seems quite cold to what was actually going on: a spirit of warm and friendly cooperation, which was the trademark of Filtech 2007 and the reason why it continues to be a success after 42 years.
•
Graham Rideal is managing director of Whitehouse Scientific and a past chairman of The Filtration Society in the UK.
17