Filtration media specialist Dryden Aqua is highlighting the latest independent results from leading independent European performance testing institute IFTS (Institut de la Filtration et des Techniques Séparatives), showing that the company’s AFM® 1 (activated filter media) will remove more than 95% of all particles down to 4 microns from water.

By contrast, the tests show that sand and other glass filter media can achieve only 20 micron filtration at an efficiency of 95%.

Different glass filter media and sand were tested without flocculation at a filtration velocity of 20 m/h to obtain a representative comparison.

AFM® 0 has been designed to be used without flocculation to achieve better than 99.9% performance at 4 microns. However, in combination with good coagulation and flocculation, Dryden Aqua says that AFM® can achieve values of 0.1 micron.

Dryden Aqua manufactures AFM® using green container glass. AFM® replaces sand in all types of sand filters for the treatment of any type of water, including drinking water, swimming pools, industrial water and wastewater.

The glass is washed, disinfected, thermally treated and then reduced to a specific grain size and shape for maximum filtration effectiveness. After size reduction, the grains are activated in a patented three-step process. This creates a mesoporous structure with a huge catalytic surface area of 1 million m2/m3. The surface area is 300 times larger than the surface area of sand or other glass filter media.

The catalysts on the surface of AFM® generate free radicals which prevents AFM from biofouling.