Frequently Asked Questions
Many of these questions are answered in the Molecular Filtration blog and the answer will simply link to that post. Have a question that you can't find the answer to simply submit it in the contact us form.
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What is the difference between gas phase filters, carbon filters, and molecular filters?
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Nothing. They are all synonymous, but molecular filtration is the most appropriate term. Gas phase is a close second as the chemicals we are targeting with molecular filters are almost always in a gaseous state. But the term carbon filter is just silly. Why do we call a particulate filter as such? Because it filters particulate. So why do we call molecular filters carbon filters? Because they are sometimes filled with activated carbon? See it's silly. A filter is identified by what it removes and molecular filters target molecules that are irritants, odors, toxic, and/or corrosive.
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Is there any benefit to having potassium permanganate in a carbon pleat?
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A blend in this filter is a 50/50 of sodium (or potassium) permanganate and coal carbon. That 50/50 sodium permanganate is a marketing ploy that consumers have been buying into for years, but it is completely a flawed strategy from a performance and lifetime perspective. There are over 130 million known chemicals in the world and coconut shell is the best for removing over 99% of them. Sodium (or potassium) permanganate is good for removing hydrogen sulfide, formaldehyde, and sulfur dioxide; however, coconut shell is just as effective on sulfur dioxide as well. I should also mention that the Clean Air Act identifies ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide as the three molecular contaminants that need to be managed to maintain good indoor air quality and coconut shell happens to be the MOST effective against all three of those contaminants. To summarize, any blended embedded media filter’s effective media is essentially cut in-half: reducing your contact time, initial removal efficiency, and the lifetime of the filter.
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If their application calls for the need to remove formaldehyde or hydrogen sulfide I can guarantee you that they will not be able to achieve that with an embedded blended media filter as you need much longer contact times than an embedded filter can offer to remove those contaminants effectively. You are much better off going with an impregnated embedded media than a blend if very light duty aldehydes or acid gases are present. But, nothing would work against these contaminants in a 2” pleat anyway.