THE DEFINITIVE TRUCKING SITE

July 2010

Huge challenges for
filter makers

In a paper delivered at the ninth international filtration conference, Phillip Johnson of the Donaldson Company in the USA says while current filter designs address contaminants such as dirt and water, the filters of the future will have to deal with newer impurities such as gas entrainment, fuel oxidation and the products of degradation, a range of different fuels, additives and lubricity agents. The list goes on.

The rapid pace of engine development and the introduction of a range of different fuels have resulted in filter compatibility problems cropping up all over the place. This further resulted in engine makers embarking on a campaign to have a worldwide fuel charter that would set international standards for fuels.

The quest for a global fuel standard may sound like a noble goal but a grievous error on the part of the architects of this aim saw the filtration industry standing on the sidelines with the only guidance sent its way being an illustration showing ISO 4406 particulate cleanliness specification of 18/16/3. This, he says, was in recognition of the need for cleaner fuels to be delivered from the distribution channel.

Even these specifications are under constant review as fuel injector pressure continues to escalate meaning that filter makers have got their hands full in developing new and better products to meet more extreme demands for even cleaner fuel.

In the not too distant future, filters will have to remove significant quantities of solid particulates below four microns in size. It will also mean filter life could be reduced to as little five to ten days. Johnson says a future scenario is that bulk filtration will be a pre- equisite for clean burning engines. Ultimately, he says, filter makers will have to develop new filtration technologies.