Deutsch | English

Terms from the professional world

On our website you will find various technical terms and expressions that often only professionals understand. For better understanding and general information, we offer a wiki below that explains the most common terms. If you notice any other technical terms not yet listed, please feel free to let us know.

  • Filtration housing

    The filtration housing is used to accommodate one or more membranes and to spatially separate the feed and permeate chambers via an appropriate sealing system.

  • membrane filtration

    In membrane filtration, dissolved or suspended substances are separated from a feed solution by means of a partially permeable structure (membrane). The driving force for this process is usually a pressure difference. Depending on the membrane material and membrane structure, substances are retained based on their molecular size or molar mass. The material flows entering and leaving the process are referred to as feed, permeate and retentate.

  • feed

    Designates the initial solution to be prepared, which is fed to the filtration housing / membrane and then subjected to a separation process through membranes.

  • permeate

    Partial flow of the feed that passes through the membrane (filtrate)

  • Retentate

    Partial flow of the feed retained by the membrane

  • R&I flowsheets

    Piping and instrument flow diagrams symbolically illustrate the structure of a plant and the interaction of various plant components. Important components shown are e.g. pumps, vessels, heat exchangers, sensors or piping.

  • HAZOP procedure

    In the HAZOP ( Hazard and Operability) is the hazard analysis of a plant, which is usually carried out by several parties (client, plant manufacturer, notified body). This analysis is carried out at an early stage of plant design so that identified potential hazards can still be minimised or eliminated by appropriate technical measures.

  • membrane filtration plant

    A membrane filtration plant comprises the entire periphery required for the technical implementation of a filtration process. These are, for example, plant racks, filtration housings, circulation and pressure pumps, heat exchangers, sensors and actuators, analytics, safety equipment, automation, visualisation and control. Furthermore, this plant allows the spatial separation of the fluid flows, which, depending on the application, can be collected in containers or routed to further process stages via pipes and hoses.

  • ceramic metal oxide membranes

    In comparison to polymer membranes, inorganic, ceramic metal oxide membranes are characterised by increased mechanical, chemical and thermal stability. The materials used include, for example, aluminium oxide (Al2O3), silicon oxide (SiO2), zirconium oxide (ZrO2) or titanium oxide (TiO2). These membranes have a multilayer structure, ranging from a coarse-pored carrier to the comparatively very thin and fine-pored separating active layer.

  • GMP - Good Manufacturing Practice

    GMP is the English abbreviation for "Good Manufacturing Practice". Translated into German, this stands for "Gute Herstellungspraxis".
    In principle, GMP guidelines ensure the quality of production processes for products that come into direct contact with humans or animals and therefore require special monitoring. This applies, among other things, to the production of drugs, active pharmaceutical ingredients, cosmetics, foodstuffs or animal feed.
    Compliance with the European GMP guidelines is regulated in Germany, for example, by the Ordinance on the Production of Drugs and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients. In the USA, the guidelines are known as "cGMP".
    For plant engineering, compliance with GMP standards means, for example, that certain specifications must be met concerning design, automation and documentation.
    Design measures can ensure, for example, that
    - the formation of bacterial biofilms is counteracted by the avoidance of dead spaces and the use of low surface roughness
    - complete discharge of the plant is possible (e.g. through inclined component and piping design)
    - good cleaning of the plant is possible
    - product purity is maintained even after batch changes/product changeovers



Filtration process

  • Microfiltration

    Microfiltration enables the separation of particle or molecule sizes that are in the range of 0.1 - 10 micrometers (µm). This includes, for example, suspended particles, algae or bacteria. This pressure-driven membrane process requires only relatively low working pressures of 3 bar maximum. This process is used, for example, in municipal wastewater treatment or in the food industry.

  • Ultrafiltration

    Ultrafiltration enables the separation of particle or molecule sizes that are in the range of 0.01 - 0.1 micrometers (µm). This includes, for example, macromolecules and viruses. This pressure-driven membrane process requires working pressures of up to 10 bar. This process is used, for example, in food treatment, wastewater treatment or potable water treatment.

  • Nanofiltration

    Nanofiltration enables the separation of particle or molecule sizes that are in the range of 1 - 10 nanometers (nm). This includes, for example, multivalent ions (salts) or viruses. This pressure-driven membrane process already requires working pressures of up to 30 bar due to the very small pores. This process is used, for example, for partial desalination and heavy metal separation in drinking water, for solvent treatment and for the separation of textile dyes from process waters. In addition to a purely mechanical size exclusion of molecules, electrostatic interactions between membrane and molecule can also have an effect on the separation success.

  • Pervaporation

    Pervaporation is characterised by the fact that the medium passing through the membrane undergoes phase switching from liquid (feed) to gaseous (permeate). This is ensured by a vacuum applied on the permeate side and a low overpressure on the feed side. The permeate is then condensed in a cold trap. Pervaporation can be used, for example, where narrow-boiling, azeotropic liquid mixtures (e.g. water/ethanol) can no longer be efficiently separated by conventional thermal separation processes such as rectification. The membranes used are no longer open-pored, but have pore sizes smaller than 1 nanometer (nm). Inorganic membrane materials used include zeolites (crystalline aluminosilicates).
    Vapour permeation is related to pervaporation. Here, however, the feed is already present in vapour form.

Project terms

  • electrical project management

    Electrical project management is a planning activity for the automation of complex plants and systems. In our case, electrical design includes the creation of circuit diagrams individually tailored to your project using electrical design software, the programming of the PLC and the visualisation of the graphical user interface.

  • automation

    Automation is the equipping of a technical plant while reducing the need for human intervention to operate it. This ranges from simple work simplification to full automation. We implement your wishes with simple relay technology up to memory-programmed control.

  • visualisation

    Process visualisation is the dynamic representation of relevant, mostly physical, variables at process plants. From simple displays to touch panels or panel PCs, we provide your system for your task from the relevant process variables to the mapping of the technical process.