FAQ

Not necessarily. If the cost of filter replacement is not a concern, BCA and filters work quite well together and have an additive effect since they represent more lines of defense against contamination. On the other hand, it may be more cost effective to put BCA on mission-critical high performance equipment and upgrade non-critical filters.

No. Not all applications require the purity of BCA. ISOPur recommends BCA for the following:

1) High performance mission critical applications. For some equipment, the cost of downtime or machine problems can wreak havoc with a plant’s profitability. When these machines go down, it has a ripple effect on the entire production of the plant.

2) Problem equipment with a troubled operating history. Equipment that has a long history of breakdown, bad oil, varnish, sludge, particle ingress, grinding and pitting, etc.

For non-critical applications, most plants can “get away” with unpurified or filtered fluids. These machines are not critical path, and have plenty of time and budget built in for maintenance. For non-critical applications, ISOPur would recommend sticking to conventional filtration or centrifugal separation.

Yes and No. Electrostatic precipitation is a novel purification technology that has attracted a niche following. These machines charge particles in a unipolar fashion (i.e. all the particles are charged in only one direction). The particles are then attracted to a grounding plate with the opposite polarity. Thus, the system looks like a sandwich with alternating charging electrodes and collection plates, with the fluid flowing between them, which requires frequent cleaning.

BCA separates the fluid into two streams and charges particles in opposite directions, thus balancing the charge. Particles are mixed and are attracted to each other, growing in size. Once agglomerated, contaminants are easy to remove with ISOPur filter media.

Yes. There are three major differences between BCA and EP:

1) Water sensitivity. EP units are highly sensitive to water. One vendor warns that EP’s not be used when the water content exceeds a meager 0.5%. Water in the system can cause shorts between the charging electrodes and the collection plates. To accommodate this problem, EPs will have a bypass mode that effectively shuts down the unit when the water content increases.

On the other hand, ISOPur is relatively impervious to water. ISOPur units can work with fluids containing up to 20% free and emulsified water.

2) Flow Rates – For a variety of technical reasons, EPs are flow-rate limited. Most EPs operate at or below 1.0 gallons per minute, with the highest flow versions coming in at 2.8 gallons per minute. ISOPur on the other hand markets units that start at the low end of 0.5 gallon per minute and can go higher than 10 or 20 gallons per minute with the MR or HR01 Series respectively.

3) Cleaning Efficiency – EP’s collect particulate on a polar collection plate. As the plate collects particles, the efficiency of the plate decreases over time. On the other hand, ISOPur units do not have a polar collection plate that is affected by contamination. Over time, there is nothing in the ISOPur system to inhibit the charging and mixing of particles. Therefore, ISOPur continues to purify without any decline in performance.

Yes. BCA naturally sheds water as it purifies the fluid and increases its surface tension. In the presence of high water contents, ISOPur offers a coalescer option to remove water. ISOPur continues to work with fluids containing up to 20% free and emulsified water.

Yes. The tolerances on important control valves such as servo valves and proportional valves is very low (1 to 4 microns). When small polar molecules attach themselves to valve internals, it forms varnish which causes valves to stick. ISOPur purifies to the sub-micron level and removes varnish, allowing valves to move as designed without adhesion. View a case study.

Yes. The tolerance on bearings such as roller bearings and journal bearings is quite low (as low as 0.3 to 0.5 microns). When small polar molecules attach themselves to bearing internals, it forms varnish and sludge that trap particles, and eventually cause grinding or adhesive wear. ISOPur purifies to the sub-micron level and removes varnish, allowing bearings to move as designed without grinding or adhesion. Varnish deposits also divert the oil flow, causing loss of “oil wedge” in journals.

By ultra-purifying the oil, BCA increases the surface tension of the fluid, which naturally forces water out of the oil. Therefore, BCA typically results in decreased water content. However, some systems have a higher ingress of water than can be removed by BCA. For these high water applications, ISOPur offers a coalescer option that is capable of removing up to 100 gallons per day.

Yes. We are frequently approached by customers who have a contaminated specialty non-conducting fluid that requires a high level of purity. Examples include chemicals used in paints and specialty fluids used in aluminum production. ISOPur is willing to work with prospective customers to structure cost-effective trials that will allow customers to test the BCA technology before committing to a large company-wide program.

Yes. ISOPur can do an excellent job purifying phosphate esters commonly used in turbine EHC systems.

No. Lubricating and hydraulic oil are non-conducting fluids and do not pick up a charge. Instead, only contaminant particles are ionized, then separated out by the ISOPur collection media.

In most cases, no. Since the 1970’s, manufacturers have used soluble additives in lube oil. Most additive packages consist of these soluble materials dissolved into the fluid. The BCA electric field does not affect dissolved particles, and therefore does not affect additives. After usage, many additives ‘die’ and attach themselves to particles, and BCA successfully removes these dead additives. Some additive packages contain molecules that are designed to be insoluble. One example is anti-foaming agents. These additives may be removed by BCA. However, BCA has such excellent anti-foam properties, that users have found that they may no longer need an anti-foamant after installing BCA.

ISOPur’s patented BCA technology works by passing contaminated fluid over a series of electrodes that carefully charge particles in the oil, both positive and negative, until the net charge is balanced. As charged particles mix, they attract and grow in size, making for easy removal with filter cartridges. BCA is a revolutionary technology within the purification industry because of its effectiveness on sub-micron particles that would otherwise pass freely through premium filters. BCA accomplishes this level of ultra-fine purification while maintaining fluid lubricity and water content without affecting additives.

BCA also “pulls” sticky sludge and varnish off the internals of machine valves, bearings, shafts, and other critical parts, enabling equipment to operate more efficiently and reliably. Conventional filters impart a net static charge on particles, causing them to attract to internal surfaces and initiating the process of varnish formation. BCA restores a balanced charge in the fluid, blocking particle attraction and eliminating the fundamental cause of sludge and varnish formation.

The precursor of sludge and varnish is the oxidation of oil that can be caused by excessive heat, water contamination, aeration, and metal particle contaminants. These oxide insolubles are typically under one micron in size and are highly polar. Being charged, they naturally ground themselves to the internal surfaces of machinery. Once a sticky foundation has been laid, other particles naturally stick as well, and a varnished surface is formed. Sludge is created when water mixes with this sticky surface.

ISOPur attacks sludge and varnish by removing these highly polar sub micron particles. BCA removes them so rapidly that they never have a chance to enter the machinery and find a grounding surface. In addition, the particles that do manage to get through on the first pass carry a balanced charge and will therefore not be attracted to a surface.

OEMs have long been aware that extremely pure fluids will lead to significant life extension of units and decreased maintenance costs. Prior to ISOPur, there was no cost effective method for purifying fluids to the sub-micron level. Therefore, OEMs recommended oil specifications that could be achieved given the state of filtration technology. In addition, most OEMs run a business where the original equipment is designed to run for a certain period of time, then fail. This sets up a recurring stream of spare parts and new equipment business. With BCA, internal contamination buildup is minimized and sludge and varnish are removed, thus greatly extending the original equipment life and decreasing expenditure on maintenance and new equipment.

Yes. ISOPur is the developer and owner of BCA technology, and owns the patents to all aspects of the technology. ISOPur continues to innovate in BCA, making the process more and more efficient and proving its ability to succeed in an ever expanding set of applications?

Nearly all contaminants greater than 0.1 micron in size (an order of magnitude greater than even the finest, most expensive industrial filters). ISOPur removes particle contamination, ferrous and non-ferrous wear debris, products of oxidation, and bacterial/biological contamination.

ISOPur BCA is compatible with nearly all lubricating and hydraulic oils, including most mineral and synthetic oils. ISOPur is also compatible with most non-conducting fluids including phosphate esters, cooking oil, diesel fuels, de-ionized water, and certain specialty chemicals.

The vast majority of particles, including the stickiest oxide insolubles and the hardest sub-micron particles pass unhindered through the finest filters. The finest traditional filters that can be practically used in high flow industrial applications is a 3 to 5 micron filter. These filters are good at removing larger “sticks and stones” that can cause immediate damage. They are helpless against the particles that build and grow to cause long-term machine wear.

As example, a typical servo valve has a 1-4 micron clearance between the spool and sleeve. A typical roller bearing has a clearance between 0.1 to 3 microns. Fine filters are helpless at defending these critical components from contamination.

By making these small particles larger, these particles are easily trapped by ISOPur’s collection cartridge, preventing them from re-circulating through machinery. As an analogy, think of the difficulty of collecting lint off a shirt one piece at a time, versus rolling the lint up to a larger piece and then plucking it off in one motion.

ISOPur units are not intended to be portable filter carts. Though ISOPur is capable of rapidly purifying oil, we believe the greatest benefit we offer is continuous purification of mission-critical machinery and the removal of all contaminants including sludge and varnish from the system. A portable unit could certainly clean oil, but it does not continuously protect your equipment.

Yes. ISOPur will drastically improve the effectiveness of most vacuum dehydration units because the BCA technology can cause water to be shed out of the oil allowing it to be more easily removed by the vacuum dehydration system.

ISOPur installation is extremely simple and does not require specialized engineering skills. The units are installed in a kidney loop fashion of the reservoir of the fluid to be purified. Since ISOPur units are not in-line, it is easy to schedule time to install the system without significant downtime. ISOPur technicians are also available should installation assistance be required.

Sizing an ISOPur product to an application is based on several considerations including the size of the reservoir in question, the flow rate, the type of application, the cleanliness goals of the customer, and criticality of the equipment being served by the reservoir. Ideally the entire volume of the reservoir should be processed at least once every three hours however this is not always possible. The ISOPur sales team will work closely with the technical staff to find the right solution for your particular application.

• Fluid volume
• Dirt ingress
• Water ingress
• Air/Gas ingress
• Cleanliness goals
• Maintenance/payback goals

Very Reliable. The ISOPur charging and mixing technology is highly robust and not susceptible to mechanical breakdown. ISOPur units have only one moving part assembly consisting of the pump and motor. ISOPur recommends that customers with multiple ISOPur units or those that have ISOPur installed on mission critical machinery, keep spares of pumps, cartridge filters, motors, and all seals/o-rings in stock.

ISOPur can provide units to run on a variety of electrical supplies including single phase and three phase, depending on the customer’s need. ISOPur requests that each unit be given a dedicated circuit as to assure there are no power fluctuations from other equipment operating on the same circuit. ISOPur units use no more power than a hair dryer.

All components of the product are designed to handle a temperature range of 32˚ F (0˚ C) to 200˚ F (90˚ C).

ISOPur units are intended to operate with viscosities of 150 cSt (or less) at operating temperature. This does not mean 220 and 320 grade oils cannot be processed, but rather that they must be heated to a point where the viscosity is 150 cSt. Future units will have a softstart feature that automatically senses fluid temperature and viscosity and then intelligently adapts the flow rate to changing fluid conditions.

Yes. ISOPur offers an explosion proof option for each of its models. Explosion proof standards include: NFPA, ATEX and IECEx

The fourth vessel houses an optional coalescer, which is recommended for applications that require high volume water removal or acid removal.

ISOPur prefilters have a 6 micron nominal rating with an typical efficiency rating of B₅ = 200. ISOPur collection cartridges have a 3 micron nominal rating with an typical efficiency rating of B₅ = 200. Additional filter options are available based on the system application.

The pre-filter and collection cartridges are made by ISOPur Fluid Technologies USA. Other pre-filters and collection cartridges would void the system warranty and likely limit performance.

The ISOPur purification solution is a three step process, with each vessel containing a step in the process:

1) The first vessel contains a six micron pre-filter that removes the sticks and stones in the fluid, leaving smaller particles to be removed by BCA.

2) The second vessel contains ISPOPur’s patented BCA system and the patented charging and mixing units. In the charging section, the contaminated fluid is passed over a series of electrodes that carefully charge particles, both positive and negative, until the net charge is balanced. In mixing section, the two fluid streams are mixed so that the charged particles attract each other and agglomerate.

3) The third vessel contains a collection cartridge that is a tortuous path medium, designed to efficiently trap agglomerated particles.